Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 267, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1914 — DESPERATE GAME; WAS BIG WINNER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DESPERATE GAME; WAS BIG WINNER

How Francis Judsoo Tietsort Pulled Success Out of Seeming Failure. LANDED IN RIO PENNILESS 11 T Determination, Ability and Good Friends Enabled Him to EsUb- , liah Automobile Review That la Moneymaker.

■ By RICHARD SPILLANE. Mr. Francis Judson Tietsort left Rio Janeiro for New York extremely well pleased with himself. He had been the South American agent of the United, Wireless company and had been highly successful. In Rio he met ** a lot of delightful people and did more business than he had expected. He equipped twenty-one ships* of the Lloyd Brazilelro and extended the service, of his company beyond his fondest expectations. Tie had a good bit of money coming to him in Neur • York, for, aside ffom a set salary, he was to get yf commission. He figured there wa® about $5,000 to hie credit in the New York office. It is a long trip from Rio to New York, but no voyage is unduly long' When one is young and the horizon is rosy. Poor man! One hour after he landed in New York he was in gloom. Colonel Christopher Columbus Wilson, president of the United Wireless, told him things were not going well with the company. The colonel was highly appreciative of what Mr. Tietsort had done in South America, and would endeavor to pay what was due In the way of commission, but he -could not possibly do .it within a month or two. Mr. Tietsort had enough cash to cover Immediate expenses, so he determined to be patient and make the best of-a bad situation. He is a resourceful individual, and it was not difficult for him to get work. He had been advertising manager for a Detroit automobile concern, had been a newspaper reporter and various other things, so he had little trouble in getting a temporary job as an automobile salesman. He did not llke.it He wanted, to go back to Rio. Bound to Return to Rio. i When a young man has his mind set on one thing it is hard to dissuade him. The automobild company assured Tietsort that if he stayed in ’New York he would be earning big money within a year. That did not influence him in the slightest degree. He thought and talked South America. Incidentally he paid many visits to the office of Colonel Wilson. The colonel was frank and honest with him..

"Ton will get your money as soon as I can give It to you,” he said one day. "I will you SSOO one month from today.. That Is the best I can do. Yon will get the rest later on. if we nan straighten out our affairs. Now don’t bother me any more. I’ll give you my word that I will send SSOO to you one month from today.” Tietsort determined to return to South America at'the earliest possible date. There was a vessel leaving one month from that day. He could get his money frpm Colonel Wilson and land In Rio in good shape. The trip would cost him nothing, as he had equipped the line with wireless and was on the friendliest terms with the steamship officials. He notified Colonel Wilson of his plan, and again was assured of getting his money on the appointed day. It Is pretty hot in Rio and gentlemen who are wise go there prepared and with clothing suitable to the climate. After arranging for his passage—and, by the,way, the steamship people gave-a cabine de luxe to him —-he turned himself loose in a haberdasher’s and was nearly “broke" when he got through.! The night before the day of Bailing he sent his baggage aboard ship. Then, in the morning he went to the office of the United Wireless. Colonel Wilson had not arrived, but had telephoned to one of the officers who Informed Tietsort that he was delayed up town and the money was being sent to him at the •hip.

"Money” Came Just In Time. The vessel wfia to sail at twelve, noon, Mr. Tletsort got aboard at 11:16. Several of bis friends were there to see him off. As time passed and Colonel Wilson’s messenger did not appear, Tletsort got uneasy. Ten minutes to twelve he was In distress. He had only a few dollars In his pocket To make a 7,000 mile trip with snch a sum was not to \be thought of. He spoke to one v of the officers of the vessel as to the possibility of getting his stuff ashore. His trunk was lit the hold, and his hand bags and a lot of other truck were In his cabin. The officer did not think It was possible to get the thingß out In time. The vessel was going to sail at twelve sharp. Tletsort rushed to appeal to the captain for a little delay. Just then the order was Issued lor visitors to go ashore. Tletsort was about to join them and abandon his baggage and all wheh he saw one of the United Wireless'men rushing up {the gangplank, and heard him call to him. The man had a big envelope. "Here’s your money from Colonel Wilson!’’ he shouted. "Glad I did not Iggss you.” ! '

Tietsort grabbed the envelope, shook the man’s band, thanked him fervently and then waved farewell to his friends on the pier. As the ship backed out -in the stream, Tietsort stood on the main deck and gloried in the view of New York that sopn was to be lost to him for a long, long-time. He felt a sense of exhilaration. Having the envelope with the money in his pocket and all the rosy prospects' that he pictured in Brazil, he felt that he was fortunate, Indeed. He remained oh deck until the vessel had passed through the Narrows and it was time to think of eating. He went to luncheon and after luncheon he went to his cabin. Then it was that he opened the envelope to put the money in a secure place. Then he gasped! The envelope contained a large wad of paper and a flve-dollar bill. Mr. Francis Judson Tietsort was off for South American traveling like a money prince with exactly $8.15 ( to his name. Tietsort is game. He determined to act up to appearances so far as he ‘could and when the blow-off came, he could not help it. Having come to that conclusion, he gave a dollar tip to the waiter .who served him at dinner, and, although he had a box of very fine cigars in the cabin, he ordered cigars in the card room and handed them around to all present. It was a horrible bluff, but it served to ‘ establish him for a few days. Then he did a little- more spending. He had Just fifty cents left when the steamship was nearing Bardabos. Then Mr. Tietsort went* into executive session with himself. Should he go ashore, or remain aboard? There was just one man in Barbados whom he knew. It wpuld cost fifty cents to go ashore, twenty-five to be rowed from the ship to land, and twenty-five back. Tietsort decided to go. He might as well be "broke” as the way he was.

Effect of Planter's : Punch. He went ashore and was' lucky enough to find his acquaintance. The gentleman was tickled to see Tietsort There is one thing gentlemen do in the West Indies when they meet an old friend, and that is to hunt up -ft

place where planter’s punches are brewed. A planter’s punch is closely related to the well and favorably known mint julep. The Barbados gentleman steered Mr. Tletsort up against a planter’s punch and as soon as that was disposed of Insisted upon another and still another. Before the coming of the third punch Mr. Tletsort had borrowed five pounds from his friend. After the third he had to use all his restraining power to keep himself from borrowing more. That $25 covered the incidental expenses for the rest of the trip to Rio, but_he landed there without a dollar. , He had stopped at the Grande Hotel International, the finest hostelry In the republic, on his former visit and had spent a lot of money there, giving dinners to government officials and others, so he rode up in state. This was all very well but what In the world he was going to do for money was what vexed his brain. He had written jan Indignant letter to Colonel Wilson and mailed it at Barbados and hoped to hear from It In a month or two. But meanwhile he was in a strange land and penniless. Mr. Tletsort;was in the middle of a bad fix for sure. There had to come a . show-down. One of the business projects he had suggested had Interested George J. Smith, who controls the street car advertising in Rio Janeiro. Tletsort went around to see him about noon and the jtwo went to luncheon together. After the meal Tletsort made a clean breast of the whole situation to Smith. "You are the darndest fool I’ve ever met,” Smith declared, Indignantly. "Why didn’t you tell me this before. How much do you owes” Prom the restaurant the~fwo men went to Smith’s office. Smith took out • f \ •• -t '»• - <7 V_ #. • '-U * s

~ '■ ■ \ of his sife a roll of bills big enough to choke a hippopotamus. From this roll he peeled off enough for Tietsort’s hotel bill and expenses for a month. Started Automobile Magazine. The project he sought to put before Smith was the starting of an automobile magazine. Such a thing never had been heard of In South America. Smith had faith and money. The situation Tietsort was in stirred him to -action, so he authorised Tietsort to get' busy, right away. Tietsort did. He has push and ingenuity. He« believes in doing a thing welL He does not speak Portuguese, except indifferently, but that did not bother him. He is an advertising hustler. He can draw a bit, and he can write cleverly. He drew up sketches of advertisements, put them in color and went around to the automobile dealers of Rio.

It seems absurd, but that one North American, by the desperate energy he threw into his work and the interest he aroused, managed to make the advent of that magazine an affair of real Importance to Rio. He called his publication Revlta de Automoveis, which means The Automobile Review. It was of forty pages and, half the pages were advertisements. He charged SSO a page, so he had SI,OOO in business In the first issue. He charged 33 cents a copy for the magazine, that is one milreis, and so eager were the people to get it that the whole edition was exhausted within an* hour of its being placed on sale. - That first edition was of 2,500 copies. He could . have sold 5,000. Nothing bo handsome ever had been taken off the presses in Rio.. It was. a novelty In all Brazil therp are only two other trade publications, and they are not of much account. With such a start Tietsort thought he had the world by the tail. Prominent Brazilians were so delighted apd enthusiastic over the handsome publication that they were eager to do anything or everything to advance its. interest. - Star Writers Helped Him. Bastos Tigre, the most prominent writer in all Brazil, offered to do aU the translating for a nominal sum. Tigre is a poet of fine ability, and ia

the greatest humorist south of the equator. For 300 milrels, that (s SIOO a month, this man translated Tletsort’s 25,000 or 35,000 words of matter into the choicest Portuguese. Not only that, but Vasco' de Abreu, the star journalist of Brazil and a close friend ot the president, gave his services gratuitously. That automobile magazine at Rio, started by that adventurous young mgn who did not have a penny to bless himself with when he landed, brought letters from all over the world. Copies had been sent to all the American manufacturers. . They thought so well of it that they wanted to get In. There were 150 letters from the automobile men of the United" States that came to Tletsort by one steamer as a result of that first edition, and the publication has gone on, and Increased in prosperity and size In great shape. It now has 100 pages. About seventy of them are taken up with 'advertisements.

The Revista de Automoveis has done nothing but shower gold from Its first Issue. It has. a circulation today of 7,000. . There Is only one thing more to tell. Colonel Christopher Columbus Wilson died In Atlanta prison, to which plase he was sent on account of the frauds attending the exploiter tion ot United Wireless stock. Tletsort Is not one /of those who thinks harshly of Wilson. He has no reason to. The colonel kept his word. He sent SSOO to Tletsort that day the ship sailed away. The thieving mer senger stole $405 and delivered- $5 to* the voyager. TletsoH never has been able to understand his moderation In not retaining that last five dollars. (Copyright, 1914. by the McChu* Newspe per Syndicate)

Then He Gasped! The Envelope Contained a Large Wad of Paper and a Five Dollar Bill.