Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1884 — GARRISON GOES UNDER. [ARTICLE]

GARRISON GOES UNDER.

An Assignment by the Famous • Millionaire for the Benefit of, Creditors. t •• . <• 111-Health the Caose—The AeUea Claimed to Have Bern ..........v QinjppKtpi^ [New York telegram.) Cornelius K. Garrison has assigned to John T. Perry, with preferences amounting to $631,000. Commodore Garrison is well known ss formerly deeply interested in the Pacific Midi. New Orleans and Went TwH* steamship lines, and is the largest stockholder in profitable gas companies in this city, Bt. Louis, New Orleans and other large cities* He was the principal owner of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, ont sold out a few yews ago to Jay Gould. He has been interested latterly in numerous railway schemes. He was formerly a resident of St. Louis, and made the balk of Us fortune prior to the rebellion. Tbe preferences amount to $631,390. distributed as follows: Bank of California tSO.OOO Bank of New York and National Banking Association..... J M.OOO United States Trust Company. 100,000 T. W. Pearsoll * Co 60.000 Notes of Karnes «t Moore. so,ooo Michigan Car Company 10.000 KSS Ctrlnnn Bra# . boom Dinwood State Iron Company,' 4^744 Danworth Company S.SSO Sundries so.ooo Aa soon as the announcement was made a crowd of friends visited the Commodore’s office, at No. 6 Bowling Green, where be wgs found prostrated from sickness sad old age, which greatly aggravated his financial embarrassments. He said: “After consultation with my legal advisers', I have made up my mind to take this step, which I believe is for the best interests of myself and my creditors. A temporary pressure was brought to bear on me, and I could see no other way ont of the difficulty than to turn my property over to an assignee.” The Commodore s friends say that ne is really unable to attend to business. Tbe assignee said: "Owing to ill-health, the Commodore made an assignment ae the best course. Np schedule of assets and liabilities has yet been made. Until such schedules are made, tbe onlyopimon to be taken is that of bis friends, who speak conlarge surplus after paying Mr, Rockefeller, of tbe Standard Oil Company, said: "It is undoubtedly true that the Messrs, Andrews are involved in Commodore Garrison’s trouble, bnt no matter what happens to them it can hare no effect on the Standard Oil Company. Tho Messrs. Andrews are simply stockholders, and can easily dispose of their holdings if they think necessary. Reports that officer* of this company are in trouble are unqualifiedly false” Mr. Melville C. Hay, counsel for Commodore Garrison, said: "The Commodore has been forced to make tills assignment because of financial embarrassment, and not for tbe purpose of evading any just claims which might be made upon him." Commodore Garrison is deeply involved in tbe Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toledo Bailroad. He and W. C, Andrews indorsed the notes of the company. One note which was protested was for $50,060 and another for $150,000, both representing part of $300,000 in paper which had been issued by the railroad company. It is supposed that tbe total amount of the Commodore's liabilities is about $5,000,000.” Solon Humphreys stated that the assignment was made solely on account of the advanced age of the Commodore, and that tho assets of tbe estate are millions more than the liabilities. Commodore Garrison has long been a famUkr figure to New Yorkers who in any way were brought into connection with Wall street. Of late years he has suffered from a stroke of paralysis, and he is best remembered as a tall man, with a sallow fsoe and a slow, unsteady step. He was bom at Fort Montgomery, N. Y., March 1, 1809, and tbe ruggednes* of his constitution is attested by his defiance, at bis age, of tbe effect'l of paralysis. He laid the foundation of his fortune in St. Louis, beginning bis business life by steamboating on the Mississippi River, at a time when the turbulent character of the people living along its banks often called for the display of courage on the part of captains 9t river’'steamboats. William C. Ralston was a clerk on the Crmvoy, the first boat that tbe Commodore commanded, and a friendship existed between the two m?n np to tbe unhappy death of Mr. Ralston in 1875. Late in tbe '4os Commodore Gani-

son established a banking house in Pans* ma, interested himself in the steamship lines which were carrying the West India trade, and then went to Hon Francisco as the representative of the Nicaraguan hoe of steamers. In this position ho received $60,000 a year, sad as agent of several New York insurance companies he drew an income of $28,000, He was elected Mayor of Ban Francisco six months after his arrival there. The Commodore was the first cash subscriber for the exploration of a route for the Pacific Railroad, and be became practically the sole owner of what is now known as the Missouri Paeific Baitroad. He sold his iaterest in this corporation to Jay Gould in 1879 for about $4,000,000, He removed to New York before the outbreak of the civil war, and in 1064 his son, William 8., came here to end Ms life in the accident on the New Jeryey Central Road, near Long Branch, in 1882. Among the steamship enterprises with which Commodore Garrison was early associated were the California line Mid fines to New Orleans, fiavannafa, and Brazil, and the United States and Mexico Mail Line. He was one of the original projectors of the Gilbert (now known as the Metropolitan} Elevated Railway, and was heavily interested in the New York Loan sad Improvement Company, which bn iff that rand. Among other enterprises in which be enlisted was the Wheeling and Lake Efts Railroad.