Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1891 — ATYPICAL CHICAGOAN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ATYPICAL CHICAGOAN.

■R'DE ISSUES IN HIS EVENTFUL ; CAREER. President of a Mine-A Narrow Escape from Ejmcliing 1 —Eo«u'ing j the Great Steamship Fruit Trade with Central America—How Pluck a ,d Perseverance prevailed.

NE of Chicago's pi o n e er business XV men. who has suc--1 II Of I c'cssively made and fl r/ lost enough money YffSSSg/j !; > to till! the northwest passage, aJW 5 shared with me j 1 his seat in an eve’Lp’C H U ning train bound L in I for one hi - \ u/- : eago’s beautiful suburbs, where our homes were sgpjlgxffi located. /r As the newsboy (J/gJ i passed through IJT 111 the car witll llis I I | basketofbananas, I I'* it occurred to me I that I had heard 3W nd at- thatm Y seat-mate T*=-7 had onco been e;ig—(A* Raged in the fruit trade. “Mr. Hustle,” said I, “did you

ever see any of those growing?” “Well, yes,” he replied, with a laugh; “a few scatteringfones! In fact, I may fia-y that in the intervals between the uns and downs of my life as a Chicago business man I have taken in several little side issues of momentary interest to my immediate friends arid’

creditors./ Among these episode I may mention being confronted one dark night in the vicinity of a certain mine in Co'oradb, —owned by a company of which I had iir.-t been elected president—by some vigorous employes, ■who were bent on drawing their wa-

ges for a couple pox .rose aquiric, gov. of years back, or eastern dept., hondrawing me up to dur as. the lower limbs of a mountain pine by a rope which their foreman carried. Some kind gentlemen perceived my embarrassing situation, and gave me an introduction to the crowd, and matters

wore ‘arranged over night.’ Bcfoio night was over I arranged’ myself out the lack door of that mining camp; and have never called since. ” “But what had that to do with the Central Amer lean fruit trade?” I asked. “Why, just this: I concluded that as I was evidently not

Burchard, u. s. con- born to bo hung, my sui, to noNtfl'liAs. only chance for an enterprising death was by water, so when I fell’in, on my journey back from the n ines, with a jolly'lrish Colonel who had spent several years in South and Central America. I listoiied to what he had to say, and when he pretendpd'to give facts ami figures on the mop.oy to be made out of the fruit-carryiiig'trade between Bay Islands and New Orleans, 1 began to ponder. / “Determined to know the truth of the matter, I studied Sjuire's works on ‘South and Central America,’ and game to the conclusion that although the Colonel had stretched the truth in sonjq. fparticu'ars, his account was in tfic main correct. “As my friends who had thought to do mo a kindness in electmg me President of the shaky mining comparin', * into

which we had been drawn by the wiles of a pious old Quaker, had nearly sueoeedi'd in losing my head for mo,T determined to do a little tfii'aiu'ebrlng on my own aceohnt. - r Bo I scraped together what 'the panic had left me, and fttised enough additional funds on my life insurance polity to undertake, in company with an old :friend, who had tired of railroading and wanted an ocean trip, to lease and iit ■out a sail vessel for trade between Central America and our 'Southern ports. “It'was agreed that a certain part of •the profits was to go to the Irish Cofonel, ■who vVa< to chaperon'u« qinong the ssavages and sand-bars of the (julf. *At New Orleans Sire,.chartered a “center-board’ schooner 4 , which 1 ‘afterward discovered was an old lake craft, about as Jit to put’.to sea in as a skim raer. The owner of the vessel also furnished the crew, which we provisioned, fraying so much a month for the use of ■the vessel and crew.

“We loaded the old tub with dry goods, notions, sugar, and salt pork in barrels. “The idea of carrying sugar across the to a country which produces .the fitiest sugars in the world secmod a little edd, but such is commerce'. “The ship’s stock of boots and shoes were comical beyond description, the climax being reached when wo came to the white satin slippers of huge dimensions which, we were told, were the ■favorite if not the exclusive wearing Apparel of the dusky belle's of those .Southern isles bn all festive occasions. “Our company, which shared the three Apartments df’our little cabin, consisted of the Irish Colonel, a t rench physician, -his wifb and three children, her father and a friend, and the latter s wife and ■daughter. “The D6ctor was as gehial as only a ■cultured Frenchman cart be. He had been educated for the priesthood, but. had experienced a' complete change of remodeled, his faith and taken' him self to scientific investigation. His ■mission on board the Harriet Gardner ■was to go to Central America, where he ■could utilize the thousands of bushels of limes, which there'rotted under the limo •trees, io the jnapufactore of quinine, by a secret process, by which he held it could be made for a fraction of what it cost te mako jtin the States by the usual .process. “We had weather fpr the ■first twodayS} of bjw voyagq, qrmj.spqnt much time on deck singing fam Isa • bld ■songsj of which the Sweet By and ■By’ was a favorite. ; “About 4 o’clock of the afternoon of '• <he third day the captain pointed to a long procession of dolphins training off,. | <n single file, towards the horizon, and I remarked that the •sw/wt by and by’l was not far distant In about three < -hours we began to realize the nrcaring ‘

of his words, for it blew a perfect gale, and by 9 o clock all but the crew v»ete down in the cabin, with the hatch battened down. “We were all deathly sick, and the old steward, who had been on the sea for years, was nearly as helpless as any of us. But he managed to circulate among the wretched company with the ship’s breadpan, into which each cast his Contribution. and sank' back with a relieved ‘Oh" The storm lasted for three long days. On the second day, however, I could stand the sickening confinement of the cabin no longer, and managed to crawl upon deck. “The captain lashed me to the mainmast and then hastened to the side of tiro vessel. He was also wret hediy sick In fact, it is safe to say th.at we wen the sickest community on the face of the deep. We every moment expected to g > to the bottom, and were a trifle disappointed to find our misery prolonged, “When we came in sight of the coast wo dare not attempt a landing, as our compass and chronometer were out of order and we were generally ‘off our reckoning’ and along a bad coast The natives, however, came out in their canoes and bartered first for salt pork. “The sea was still rolling high when we approached the island of Utilla. “Again we «'d not dare to land, but raised the signal of d'Stress and with Hie glass watched the natives set out for us in a couple of sailboats. It took them two hours to reach us. We decided to ‘beach’ the vessel and did so successfully with a native for pilot. “The water on shipboard had been so vile that I was frantic for a drink of something that tasted clean. So I went ashore with the islanders. One of their number climbed a cocoanut tree and brought down a large nut, which we tapped, and from which I took a long, refreshing draught of its cooling milk. “At the earliest possible moment we put our vessel into the harbor of Ruitan. “The natives of these islands are a si range composite of negro, Spanish and white blood, and are commonly called ‘Bandangos.’ They dressed with great freedom when they took the trouble to dress at all. A more lazy set you never saw.' It was a great exertion for them to smuggle enough rum from 13ritish Honduras to keep the officers and themselves supplied! “It was next to impossible to get them

to do a stroke of work. Ono athletic i fe.low i ame aboard the schooner in tho I ear.v morning, and we attempted to hire him to go ashore and bring in some pineapples. ■Br J ess ,yo’l Brass yo’! iso got no time,' and spent fully six hours in demons!lating that assertion! “But a very little work will answer in that climate. The soil is so wonderfully fertile that cocoanuts that drop from the trees sprout and grow from the spot whore they strike. “Wo no sooner came into port than the natives came out in forty or fifty little boat* » buy bacon of us. “At Lie consul's we sold for 510.50 per bardour that cost us only 51.25. When we came to sell out our stock of hams and shoulders, and started to weigh them on a pair of new Fairbanks st ales, which wo had brought for the purpose, the Bandangos would have nothing to do with us, but insisted that we should weigh with a pair of old rusty spring balances which/already stood at three pounds. As each ham weighed about

fourteen pounds, they cheated themselves three pounds out of every fourteen. “While at the island of Ruitan the American consul. Mr. Burchard, made us welcome to his home, and we Spent night after night upon his bac'ony, listening to the yarns of the sailors and the songs of the natives. Ttieto, were no hotels on the island and ho one took boarders; but it was good form for any of the crew who could not b rent •rtained'at the Consul’s to drop into the first Bandango hut he came t> and call for breakfast, or any other meal. A favorite dish was cocoanut wluSiin the custard state, just as it was haginpinff..-tx> set. My partner remained at thelpr ncipal liarboron Ruitan Island, where all the cargo but a few barrels bf salt pork, which we took to a second harbor, where we expected it and at once load with a return cargo of fruits and nuts. When the s r 'Con<Fport was reached we failed to sell as we oxpictesd, but loaded with fruits add pjit NeW Orleans, only stopping a moment at Ruitan. “When fairly started on our return voyage, it wasdW,ovened that the as-

s’stant steward had failed to separate the ship’s supplies from the cargo, and both had been unloaded together at Rjiitan. Practically a'l the supplies we had on board barrels of salt pork that we had failed to sell at the second port. /fra o . “But we would have bcon »b}c to stand that had we not been becalmed for many days under the torrid sun of, the Gulf. As-ft•‘was, we suffered intensely. Nor was'that ’the worst of it! “The vessel and all its ogenpants were literally overriin witji banana rats. By the tifljft Hs, s ppt into tj)e harbor at New Orleans, .the delay, hes},

and rats had left but little sound, salable fruit out of the entire cargo of bananas, pineapples, and cocoanuts. “To clap the climax, the ship’s papers could not be made out to satisfy the custom house officials. In vain I tried to discover what was the matter with them. At last I slipped a five-dollar bill into the hands of an official, and the papers suddenly became satisfactory. “Had it not been for the immense margin of profit in the cargoes that we handled, we would have lost heavily on account of being becalmed. As it was, we came out about even in money and our experience ahead. “I saw plainly that the fruit-carrying trade with Bay islands must be conducted by steamships, which would not be subject to calms. Our next move must be to obtain a steamship. “Shortly after returning to Chicago a certain lake steamer was advertised for sale by the Uhited States Marshal at

De Pore. “That official was a German, who lived at Milwaukee. “I took the ♦train at Chicago to go to the sale, and engaged two berths in the sleeping-car. When the United States Marshal.boarded the train at Milwaukee he was greatly troubled to find every berth taken. I explained to him that I had anticipated his comfort and offered him the extra berth, which he gracefully accepted. “We arrived at Green Bay in the morning. took breakfast together and together drove over to tie Pore. “By this you will see that I was in the marshal’s company every moment from the time that wo left Milwaukee. Just remember that fact It played an important part in future developments. “When the sale came off the only man bidding against me was an entire stranger, whom I had never seen before the sale began. “After I had made a bid of >3,500, this man spoke to me in an undertone and said: “ ‘How much are you going to pay for that boat?’ ’ « “ ‘That’s rather a peculiar question.’ I replied. “ ’Yes,’.said he, ‘but wouldn’t it be better for you to pay me SIOO than for me to run it np against you?’ “ 'Perhaps it. would,’ I replied, and said no more. “The boat was knocked off to me at much less than it was really worth. “Its former owners contested the sale on the ground of a conspiracy between the strange! and myself to ffldlt in at a nominal price. I proved by the United states Marshal that -I had been in his company every moment before the sale begun, and also proved by the stranger himself, who was working against me in the case, that he had never seen or known me before that day. But the first court decided against 1 me, on the ground that the price was not an adequate compensation for the vessel. I appealed to the Supreme Court, directed every detail of the case ftiyseff|»and won it, in spite of predictions of failure from even my own attorney, on the ground that I had proven that the stranger was not able to pay for the vessel had ho been the successful bidder. “This litigation took until fall. The vessel had lain dry all summer and her seams nad begun to open. Nevertheless we found parties willing to give us a cargo of iron to 'Chicago. A storm came up and we were obliged to throw much iron overboard in order to save the ship, which was seized by the iron men in Chicago. “By the time I had raised enough money to get out of this scrape and fit! out for Central America navigation had ! closed, and she had to lay over until h spring. That cost no leSs than $5,000 dockage, repairs and everything. “In the spring wo took a cargo of corn to Montreal; went light from there to Cape Breton, where we took a load of i coal for Boston, where I had gone bv rail. “A fearful storm came up after the ship left Cape Breton, and by the accounts of shipwrecks that formed my entire reading, while I was waiting at my hotel in Boston, I hardly expected to j heat fxaai the ship again. But I did.

“As our Captain was a lake captain, and had never sailed on the sea, I wished to get posted on all the difficult details of seaport entry, which is a more perplexing and intricate affair than the tariff. “The custom bou-'e clerks would not give me a particle of information on that t subject and <onfessed complete ignorance of it. But I happened to find an o.d friend —a ship broker—who knew the deputy revenue collector, and introduced me to that official, with whom I had a long talk on the details of seaport entry. “After the ship s papers had been presented, we were informed that certain errors in them laid us guilty of a certain maritime offense, punishable by seizure and sale of the vessel and its cargo by a United States marshal “The deputy-collector, when reminded of his conversation with me, denied any recollection of it. Then I told the officials that, in order to make the whole thing comp etc, they should hang the owner and agent of the vessel—make a clean job of it and prevent further trouble! “When they wanted to know what I was going to do about it, I told them that perhaps I had a better pull in Washington than they imagined, and that I war going to pay a visit to the Secretary of the Interior. « “At that they fixed things up in a hurry, on my making a written statement of the history of the papers, and of the fact that our men knew nothing about making out ship's papers for seaport entry and exit. “The ship was then stocked and in due time reached the harbor of Kuitan. “While here I formed the acquaintance of the Governor of Eastern Honduras—a man of fine presence and ability. "This a"quaintahce would have ended In my accepting an official position under him had I not been determined to make a final test of my enterprise. . “I bartered my merchandise for another cargo of tropical fruits, and we steamed away for New Orleans in defiance of calms. “Unfortunately we decided to take the cargo as far north as Mobile. Just as we icached .there an untimely severe frost nipped the fruits of all our strugg’e into nothingness. ‘•My resouices were exhausted, but others picked up the enterprise whore I was forced ’to drop it, and made their millions from it. I recall, in particular, one old ‘dago,’ then a common fruit vender on the streets of New Orleans, who became a millionaire from the Bay Island steamship fruit traffic, in a few years from the time when I brought the first cargo, by steam, to Mobile. • “From that disastrous voyage has grown the immense fruit traffic with Central America,” '1 he gentleman who gave me this narrative in the true Chicago spirit quickly recruited his fortunis. and is now an .honored and successful Chicago business man.

BREAD FRUIT.

CITRUS FAMILY.