Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1885 — CORNELL’S WEALTH. [ARTICLE]

CORNELL’S WEALTH.

How tb« ex-Governor or NeW TToltej Amassed Ills Fortune: * 1% has often been questioned whether ex-Governor Cornell, when walking down the fitarble steps of his palatial mansion at 616 Fifth avenue, recalls the days when his father toiled early and late in the Mphawk valley, chopping telegraph poles for what is now known as the Western Union. Does he think of his own early struggles as a telegraph operator in an obscure country village ? Does he fpel when he spends S2OO for a Christmas-tide bauble that that sum at one time rep resented his yearly income ? Does the ex-Governor, bo immaculate in his dress, so elegant in his manners, recall those days when one suit a year was a luxury seldom accorded him? And when dining at his favorite club or in company with those whose names have become famous wherever the English language is spoken, does he fail to remember the ragged little urchin who roamed the streets of Ithaca forty years ago? The history of his present vast wealth and the years of struggle and disappointment before the golden goal was reached are peculiarly interesting. To-day, in twenty-four hours he can command nearly $10,000,000. Forty years ago it would have been tall scraping for fiim to have gathered 25 cents that he would dare call his own. It is even common gossip in his native vilvage that when the ex-Governor was quite a lad his parents were at the time almost penniless. His father was seldom at home. His friends considered him a mild edition of a crank. In these days he would come under the category of a geuius. In a certain sense, old Ezra Cornell was even then a genius, if a total forgetfulness of all the ties and customs of life could have-given him that title, He had a few acres of land and a tum-ble-down old shanty for a house. He made a bare subsistence from the soil, and his wife’s labor at the washtub eked out sufficient clothing for her children, and now and then a cheap calico lor a “company” dress for herself. Old Ezra occasionally received a New York paper, and in the long winter evenings he would pour over it with the avidity that the fashionable young lady to-day does over the latest novel. Even the advertisements were a source of much joy and comfort to him. Any change from the dreary monotony of his everyday life was a godsend to him. At that time Professor Morse, the Nestor of American telegraph, had about completed his first experiments, but was puzzled whether the telegraph wires should be erected on poles or sunk under ground, This subject was long and even bitterly discussed by the projectors of the infant Western Union, and the question agitated Professor Morse and his friends for years. The reports of the differences over the subject were published in the Courier and Enquirer, then the leading paper of this city, a copy of which found its way into old Ezra’s hands.

That little paragraph ultimately proved to be the hrst Btep in the present colossal fortune controlled by his son, Alonza B. Old Ezra, without instructions from Professor Morse, and, without the faintest encouragement that his course was correct, immediately absented himself from his wretched home. He was lost to his family for months, but when he returned it was with the information that he had out “one hundred cords of poles for them telegraph fellers, and I mean to sell ’em to ’em, too.” He was the laughing stock of the neighborhood. His friends were really concerned for him, and his wife was not altogether sure that her husband had been on a foolhardy mission. Ezra, however, was confident that telegraph wires would be strung on poles, and no amount of argument or persuasion could deter him from a second visit to the wilderness, from which he returned in a couple of months, remarking that he had cut “more poles for them telegraph fellows.” He then made bold enough to address Professor Morse. He stated that he was in position to supply his company with telegraph poles, and could supply him with a wilderness if necessary. Professor Morse replied that he wanted the poles very much, but-that neither he nor his company were in a position to pay for them; but if Mr. Cornell wished to deliver them they would be paid for in stock of the company. Old Ezra after much consideration consented to the bargain, and for several years kept them supplied, always receiving in return a pile of Western Union ohromos. His neighbors continued to think him on the verge of idoov, and his family were in aa desperate straits as ever. It is a legend of Ithaca that so infatuated had old Ezra become with his telegraph-pole cutting that at one tithe his garret and “spare” room were strewn with the original stock of the Western Union, not worth the paper it was written on, and it is stated as a positive fact by the ex-Governor’s friends that his mother became so disgusted by ber husband’s course that she very frequently used the shares of the company to kindle her fire with. All this, however, was changed in a tew days. When the war broke out the demand for increased telegraph facilities brought the Western Union up with a rush. Its stock increased to an enormous extent, and old Ezra hsgan to scour his garret for the reams of it which he haa accepted for his poles. He gathered them up, and packing them in an old leathern trank, came to the city. He soon learned that with each day he became SIOO,OOO richer. The dear old gentleman could hardly appreciate his vast possessions. His family ihat had suffered so long, and Alonzo and his mo her were quickly installed into a beautiful home, with • very luxury t’ at the Monte Cristo wealth of his father could provide. He is now the sole possessor of his father's estate. In politick be is termed the “Sphynx,” but to his fellow members as the Union League Clnb he is a genial and agreeable gentleman, though by no means entlmHastio in his friendships or social relations. —New York Journal. A Theater Lunch in Kansas City. It so happened that there was a long

wait between the acta, during which the attendants handed. round glasses of ▼as passing dowjfßie dress circle an eHipy, well dressed woman beckoned to him. The boy gave her the glass of water, when, to the petrified amazement of the people in the vicinity, the lady produced a paper bag of crackers and commenced to make an elaborate lunch, nipping the water at intervals and otherwise creating a panic in the theater. Ttf the credit of the little boy, be it said, that he remained master of the situation, and waited patient}? until the glass was empty, when he offered her another one. The old lady, however, did not perceive the cold irony of the act, as the orchestra commenced to play preparatory to the rising of the curtain, she declined the second glass. —Kansas City Times,