Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, March 09, 1890, SECOND PART, Page 9, Image 9

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SECOND PART.
FUN WiLDS,
Boger Casement's Unsuccess
ful Hunt for Elephant
PIKED ON BY THE BOXKIS.
The Start From Equator for a Land
Unknown to White Men.
CEREMOXY OP BLOOD BROTHERSBIP
rWElTIEX FOE THE DIErATCn.1
NO. 2.
IFE at tlie equa
tor, 7S0 miles up
the Congo, was
very different
from my experi
ences on the low
er reaches ot the
riyer. My friend,
E. J. Glare, was
in charge of our
station, and was
the "blood broth
er" of many of the surrounding chiefs, and
the friend of nil the natives. They daily
crowded the precincts of the station, carry
ing spears and shields and other implements
of war, yet with friendly smiles on their
faces and good will apparent in all their
actions.
They brought us fowls, goats, palm wine
and eggs, either as presents, receiving in re
tarn suitable gifts, or to sell for beads,
cowries (small seashells, which are the cur
rent money of many Central Afrcan tribes),
brass wire or strips of different-colored cot
ton cloths. Barely during my three nionchs'
stay at Equator was the peace of the district
disturbed by strife between neighboring vil
lages or attacks from outsiders; and although
we heard of the decapitation or slaves in Til
lages not far distant, executed to accompany
their masters to the spirit world, our pres
ence and oft-expressed abhorrence of this
custom restrained our more immediate
neighbors from indulging in their head
cutting propensities.
THE TEIBAL DIFFICULTIES.
Sometimes a canoe full of Bonkis natives
of the banks ot the great tributary of that
name, ibe Konki or Black river which enters
the Congo only four miles above the equator
would pass by our station, keeping well
out in stream and challenge the natives of
Waugatta, our nearest village, to come to
their nyer in search of ivory and see the
tort of reception they would get, and the
Waugatta men lining the banks would
shout themselves hoarse in burling back in
sulting epithets at the Honkis, their mothers,
grandmothers and entire line of female an
cestors. Sometimes at night a descent of Ronki
canoes would be made on some unprotected
"Waugatta settlement and two or three
women or children captured and carried off
to slavery up the bis tributary. Glave and
I remained perfectly neutral in these inter
tribal conflicts, not wishing to identify our
selves with one party, tor we were desirous
of establishing friendly relations with the
Bonkis, and we were sometimes able to pro
tect a small party ot them who came to our
station to trade or buy cowri s from the vio
lence of our own friendly "Waugatta men, to
whom the sight of any one bearing that
hated name was as the red r3g is to the bull.
Soon sifter my arriving at Equator we de
termined to go on a hunting excursion to
the north bank of the Congo, where ele
phants were reported by the natives as being
Tery numerous. Our way lay through a
maze of channels between forest-covered
islands or sedgy sandbanks which stud the
placid bosom of the Congo at this point.
A NIGHT IN CANOES.
Owing to the great heat in the daytime
we decided to start at night and paddle the
greater part of the way before morning.
Manning two canoes with about 20 men in
A Srvth With the Honkis.
all, friendlv natives of Waugatta who were
always eager to accompany us on hunting
journeys, lor the sake of the fun and the
meat we were likely to secure, we started at
9p.m. one night early in October, 1887. A
chief named Mongessi, with one ot his wives
and two slaves, helped to sirell our party,
for Mongessi was ever ready to show his
liking ltr the white man, and it was a
feather in his cap to be a sharer of our hunt
ing exploits. My servant "Tati" (a coast
native I had brought up with me) and
Glare's little native cook, a youth of 12 or
so named Mochindu, came also to attend
on us.
We paddled steadily on for several hours
between thick walls of foliage through nar
row channelsMrout upon the broad stretches
of the river lit up by a glorious moon,
Toward 1 A. M., the men feeling tired, they
suggested a halt for an hour or two's rest,
and seeing fires shining amid the trees on
an island some half a mile off, we made
toward them. As wc drew in nearer the
Ehore we could see many figures squatting
around the fires, which lit up the bare tree
trunks of the forest background and re
vealed several little grass huts scattered on
the edge of the clearing. As onr approach
became known, the gathering round the
fires broke up. "Wild yells arose from a
score of lusty throats, and voices in the
Eonki dialect shouted to us not to dare to
land, and that we should all have our
throats cut if we put foot on shore.
A THBEATENINQ DEMONSTRATION.
Spears and knives were brandished, guns
seized and pointed at us (old flintlock
muskets from tar down the river which had
passed through a dozen tribes in reaching
their present owners) aud an indescribable
hub-bub ensued. "We called out that we
only wished to rest for a few hours, that we
were friends and would do no harm, but it
was all in vain.
The fires were scattered and only a few red
ashes remained, and we could see that any
attempt to land on our part would mean a
fight. So, calling ont that we were going
sway, we shoved ofl and commenced pad
dling out into the stream.
As we got about 30 yards from land, bang!
went a gun in among the trees and a charge
of shot whizzed past us, followed almost im
mediately by another report, and this time
one of our men was wounded in the thigh.
Glave and Z were in the same canoe, and,
"""Wmitirrsm
JtSpSPMP
with our headmen Bionelo and Bakunn.two
"Waugatta natives who carried extra rifles
of ours, we replied with our Express and
Martini-Henry rifles, while the other canoe,
ot which Mongessi took command, poured
in a dropping fire from four or five flintlocks.
We were out in the full light of the moon,
while our foes were completely hidden in
the darkness of the forest bank." Loud cries
of derisiou and shouts from the shore
greeted our fusilade nnd.paddling up stream,
we gave another broadside in the direction
of the smoldering fires, which this time was
received in silence.
A BEST ON THE SEDGE-GEAS3.
Eeeling we could do nothing that night,
while if we remained near we offered a cap
ital aim to our hidden foes, we determined
to make for the opposite bank ot the chan
nel, about 300 yards across. A thick, float
ing mass of interlacing sedge grass clinging
to the bank prevented us reaching the shore.
Accordingly, fastening onr canoes to this,
we stepped out onto the grass, which bore
our weight, although it ro'c and fell be
neath each movement We promptly
stretched ourselves out on this
grassy couch, and although a leg
would sometimes break through and
reach the river flowing beneath we man
aged to keep afloat and get some sort of rest
in spite of mosquitoes and a drizzling
shower of rain. I had an india-rubber
ground sheet with me, useful for stretching
on the floor of one's tent or sleeping on at a
pinch, and this I now endeavored to rig
into a shelter from rain and mosauitoes by
throwing it over my head ana huddling my
knees up to my chin, while I could feel my
self slowly making a deeper impression In
the grass raft and gradually settling down
in the sedge until I expected every moment
to go through altogether and take a plunge
in the riyer.
My comfort was of short duration, for
Mongessi objected to rain and mosquitoes as
much as I did and observing that it was an
unpleasant night for an al fresco entertain
ment on a floating island, he, followed by
his wife and two or three of the men.
promptly crawled under my extempore tent )
0p
UNPLEASANT NIGHT QUAETERS.
and huddled up close around me. I was
MONGESSI AND HIS 'WIFE.
banked in by a olid mass of warm flesh
and could scarcely move a finger, and al
though the mosquitoes were now effectually
excluded from every square inch of my per
son, I soon became aware oi the fact that
there are things worse even than mosquito
bites in this world of-ours, and among them
I was competed to reVkoh "fhS" atmosphere
under that ground sheet I delicately
hinted to Mongessi, in broken tones, that I
thought his wife a very nice woman at a
distance, and that I should be delighted to
see more of her and his companions on a
fine day on shore when the wind was in the
right direction and they were bearing well
to leeward of me, but he only replied by
digging me in the ribs and asking me for
some tobacco and a match to light up his
pipe and smoke. I abandoned the ground
sheet to this happy family, and Blowly the
night wore away, while Glave and I dozed
or chatted alternately. Our Konki friend?
across the water having relit their fires on
our departure under the shelter ot one of
the huts were now dancing round them and
singing wild war songs, brandishing spears
and knives as they hurled defiance at us
across the intervening channel.
With the earliest dawn we re-entered our
canoes, loaded every gun and lifle and com
menced paddling across to renew the fight,
determined to punish the Bonkis for their
unprovoked attack of the previous night
They saw us coming, and renewed their wild
dance and song, but as we came within 100
yards or so of the shore they one by one
sidled off behind the tree trunks and into
the forest, so that by the time onr canoes
grounded on their beach we could not see a
single foe.
BEVENGE UPON THE BONKIS.
We sent a volley in between the trees and
then landed. Our natives promptly seized
all the huts, which contained only a few
paddles and some fishing tackle, and setting
fire to them we pushed off, taking
with us two canoes which we found
up a little creek. These we sank
in mid-stream, and then catching sieht
of two big canoes full of men making off up
river about 800 yards above us we gave
chase, thinking them to be probably of the
party which had fired on u. However,
after half an hour's hard paddling we found
we were no nearer, so we contented ourselves
with seeing them turn up a side creek and
disappear from view in the thick bushes of
the island we had been skirting, and feeling
that, having dispersed our enemies and suf
ficiently punished their wanton attack by
the capture of the two canoes and the burn
ing of the huts, we returned down stream
and continued our journey to the north
bank mainland, passing the scene of the
conflagration, on which the Bonkis were be
ginning to reassemble to see what damage
we had done.
We paddled all that day under a burning
sun until late in the afternoon, before we
reached the mainland ot the north shore.
Camping for the night in a thick forest,
Glave shot a couple of monkeys, which the
men cooked for their supper, and Bukunu
bagged a horn-bill, which served Glave and
myself an evening meal.
NO ELEPHANTS OE BUFFALO.
We spent the two next days paddling
through a long succession of narrow chan
nels of the ereat river, searching for traces
of elephant ground and although we landed
at one or two spots ana naa some hours of
hard tramping through forest and swamp
up to our waists in water and mud, or
scrambling over roots of trees, we could
find no recent tracks of either elephant or
buffalo. The natives of a village we came
to in our wanderings, named Bakanga,
assured us that the buffaloes were so numer
ous in the woods around that they were
obligedto fence in their manioc and banana
plantations with logs and felled trees to
keep out these intruders, and following two
of the men, who offered to guide us to a spot
where we should certainly find game, we
spent three hours in a terribly hot crawl
through a thick wood with dense under
growth to an open patch of long grass with
out coming across anything worth shooting,
Beturning to the village, we determined to
remain there all night and have a try at the
buffaloes in the early morning, when the
natives assured us their manioc plantations
would be overrun by them.
Mongessi, who labored under the delusion
that he was a great sportsman, Ijad mean
while primed himself with a bir r?onrd full
of palm wine, and he now set off with
Glave' Express rifle in a Email canoe, pad
dled by his unwilling wife, to shoot a hip-
TUT?
popotamus which was playing about in the
Congo opposite the village".
MONGESSl'S UNLUCKT EXPEDITION.
The canoe wobbled fearfully owing to
Mongessi's wild attempts to stand upright
in it, and long ere the canoe we promptly
dispatched after him for the recovery of the
rifle had been able to overtake them, he and
his wife were floundering in the river; but
the rifle, fortunately enough, was safe at the
bottom of the canoe. Mongessi returned
somewhat damped, and the poor wife con
soled herself for her ducking by spoiling
his evening meal and making herself gener
ally disagreeable for the remainder of the
evening.
By this time we had had enough of Ba
kanga, so we departed an hour later for the
equator by a new route, through a different
net-work of islands, in the channels between
which we came upon herds of hippos, but
very wild, owing to the presence of many
fisning canoes. We succeeded in shooting
a couple, bnt, although they were badly
wounded, we could not tell it we had suc
ceeded in killing them outright or not, and
were obliged to continue our journey in or
der to reach our station before night, where
I arrived suffering from a severe touch of
fever, brought on by exposure to the sun
during our long passage of the river.
Mongessi endeavored to share with the
wounded native the honors of the expedi
tion, but the production of the piece of stone
shot from the Eonki gun from the latter's
thigh finally raised him so high in popular
estimation that Mongessi was compelled to
admit he was not the hero of our fruitless
elephant hunt.
THE TItir TO THE UALINGA.
On October 23 the long-expected Florida
appeared in sight, steaming round the point
below our station. We had been wearily
waiting for her, Glave and I, to make our
eagerly desired journey up the Lulungu
river, which, with its main feeder, the Ma
linga, native report described as being the
richest ivory-producing affluent of the
Congo. We "were anxious, too, to pen
etrate the country of the Balolo, the
strange people dwelling on the banks of the
Malinga, of whom Rev. George Grenfell, of
nie xjugusu xsapiisi Mission, naa Drought
down some curious information from his
trip up the Malinga on the little mission
steamerPeace. His had been the first visit
of a white man to that river, and we were
anxious to see how the natives would now
receive us, stopping at every village as.we
intended doing, aud endeavoring to make
friends by undergoing the ceremony of
blood brotherhood, done by scratching the
arm of each party and rubbing one abrasion
against the other, and purchasing almost
anything the natives would bring us to sell.
Not wishing to provoke hostilities by in
troducing a quarrelsome foreign element we
left the regular Zanzibari and coast-native
crew of the Florida at Equator, replacing
them bv the best and most capable of our
native friends fromthesurroundingvillages.
There still remained the two Ligos men,
from the British colony on the Gold coast,
who acted as assistants to our white engi
neer in looking after the engines and fires
two or three Loaugo firemen from a district
north of the Congo mouth and my Loango
servant Tati, as well as one Zanzibari, An-
ra.
Making Blood-Brothers.
drew, who had been educated at a mission
in Zanzibar, but who unfortunately proved
a great thief.
DOGS OF THE EXPEDITION.
And last, but not least, I must mention
the canine members of the crew, Paddy,
Snooks and Spot, a fox-terrier belonging to
my friend, the engineer. Paddy, although
in reality the uncle of Snooks, regarded the
latter in the light of a son, and was re
warded by the unfaltering devotion of the
younger animal, who never shirked an at
tempt to urge on his supposed father to wan
tonly assault some snarling or fleeing native
cur, when he would at once profit by the
disturbance to lay hold of a hind leg or take
a piece out of the fleshy part of the thigh
of the unfortunate native dog.
Spot was an older animal than either of
the others,and contented himself with sneer
ing at them, and most other things, too, or
with squatting in the bows of the steamer
and looking forward to the time when we
should reach the evening's camping place.
On Thursday, "November 3, a great crowd
of natives came down to see us off and bid
goodby to their iriends who were members
of our crew. Bionelo, our native head man,
and one or two of the other natives brought
a wife each with them to look after cooking
arrangements.
Amid the cries of farewell and the waving
of cloths from the crowd on shore we steamed
ofl up against the strong current of the
Congo. Soon passing the wide mouth of the
Eonki, which pours a dark flood of water
nearly a mile broad into the Congo, we ar
rived off the grassy shores of the Ikelemba,
a smaller tributary, and continued our way
up toward Lulangu, a large village situated
at the mouth of the Lulungu river, which
we hoped to reach ere nightfall.
A USEFUL GUIDE.
On arriving at Lulangu next morning we
procured a guide who had made several
trading and slave-raiding expeditions up as
far as Malinga town on the main branch of
the Lulungu, which, as I have said, is
called the Malinga riyer. Onr gnde namql
v jl r cs - ss?
PITTSBURG DISPATCH
PITTSBURG, SUNDAY,
was Eleng Minto, literally "Young Man,
and we subsequently found him a very use
ful companion.
The Lulangu people had been accustomed
to the sight of an occasional passing steamer
going up the Congo to Bangala or Stanley
Falls; but we were now leaving the great
highway and following where only Grenfell
and Vaugeli (a Belgian officer who ascended
the Lopori, a second and smaller tributary
of the Lulungu than the Malinga) had gone
before us many months previously. The
Lulangu natives were very friendly, and
crowded the banks in long lines of aged and
youthful loveliness as we steamed past the
two or three miles of huts fronting the
Lulungu.
At noon we arrived off a village we were
informed by Elenge Minto was called
Bolongo, on" the left bank. We put in here
and halted for the day. The chief, an old
man named Nzeniba, insisted on making
"Mood brothers" with us, and then regretted
his inability to give us anything save fire
wood, on account of the siege his village was
enduring, owinjr to the attacks of a neigh
boring settlement
NOVEL PEOTECTION AGAINST INVADEES.
Landing, we found that the place con
sisted of about 200 huts, surrounded by a
high barricade of tree trunks, old canoes
and banana stems, and beyond this lay a
cleared space and then an encircling wall of
forest. Climbing over the fence I jumped
on the ground outside, but cries from the
natives who followed my movements ar
rested by steps. One man climbing the
barrier came after me, and stooping down,
with a smile, revealed many sharp splinters
of bamboo hidden beneath the grass, and so
pointed that they would enter the unpro
tected feet of an advancing enemy.
I thanked the friendly natives,butshowed
them the thick soles of my shoes, which
were a sufficient protection against bamboo.
Isaw, in Bolongo, the highest and biggest
native house I ever came across in Africa.
The center pole was a good thick tree about
30 feet high, the roof was of grass thatch.
circular, aud reaching to within one foot of
the ground where it was supported by a
circle of upright bamboos, with two low en
trances into the interior. Inside was a
blacksmith's shop and room for a couple of
hnndred people if closely packed. We
quitted the friendly Bolongo people early
next morning, and steamed np between
forest-clad islands, and banks of hich trees
amid which troops of silver-gray and black
monkeys were sporting.
THE TILLAGE OF BUKUTILA.
Toward 9 o'clock, as we steamed up the
broad channel of the Lulungu, we observed
a long line of brown huts crowning the high
left bank of the river, and almost overshad
owed by the bright green foliage of the ba
nana and plantain groves which here supply
the natives with the chief article of their
diet.
The district we were approaching, we
learned from our guide, was Bukutila, and
on drawing near we were greeted by an im
mense crowd of men, women and children,,
calling out to us to come on shore, and by a
regular flotilla of small canoes which put off
tons.
On putting the steamer in to the bank,
and coming to anchor alongside the shore,
we were crowded by the numbers of people
desirous of seeing us and selling us pieces of
firewood (of which our stock was never too
ample), and eggs. These latter we purchased
for a single cowrie shell each, which gives
about 22 or 23 eggs for 2 cents.
The population of Bukutila struck us as
being of a somewhat finer build than the
Bolongo or lower river people, although
they cut their leatures with the same tribal
marks as do the natives of the Equator and
Lulanga districts a series of horizontal in
cisions about an inch in length extending
down the forehead from the hair to between
the eyes, with similar incisions on each
temple.
HOW THE WOMEN DRESS.
The women were generally clothed in
grass string cloth. a costnme.consisting of a
belt of woven grass the thickness o'f a piece
of twine from which depended innumerable
strips of dried grass, dyed either black, red
or yellow-brown, reaching to the middle of
the thigh, and entirely encircling the per
son. Some of them were not content with only
one such costume, but had supplemented
the original black garment by attaching a
second red, and even a third yellow herbal
arran gement on top of it, so that they pre
sented theappearance of a row of lightly
clad premieres danseuses of the comio opera
stage; and the agility with which they
changed their reposeful attitudes of rapt ad
miration or wondering regard of our strange
looking selves when the engineer blew the
steam whistle, into frantic attempts to es
cape up the bank or disappear behind
brushes or huts, heightened the
resemblance. How we laughed at this
sudden disappearance, and how timidly
the affrighted ladies, alter quiet had been
restored, would peep out to see if the coast
was clear, or if there was any likelihood of
a recurrence of that dreadlul sound, ere they
again surrendered themselves to their nat
ural curiosity to observe the strange white
creatures who had come to their village and
returned to their posts of vantage on the
river bank. The men were nearly as
frightened as the women on first hearing the
steam whistle and we found it a never
failing source of amusement. And then it
was we learned the true value of a steam
whistle on board a steamer.
Eogee Casement.
HISTORI OP AN EAK TOMB.
A Cnrloni Japanese Slonnment Thnt Recnlli
Barbarisms of the Pant.
Detroit Free Press.
Near by the temple of Sanjinsangendo, in
Japan, is a curious monument called Mimi
Zuka, or ear tomb. It is a small artificial
hill of soil, on the top of which is a monu
ment, the form of which dates back to
Aryan times. The Aryans used to express
unlimited time and space by a circle; a tri
angle with apex upward signified fire, or
with the apex downward, water; ana the
creative power, a composition of fire and
water, was denoted by two triangles
-.Chapter
-iftGWirrH.
-.HTfWFtr'es
.WavVaiei.
-t-fe'Eartji
side by side. The Hymalayans modified it
by inventing a five in one (see sketch.)
The Mimi-Zuka is very nearly the form of
the sketch and similar symbols are found on
many Japanese tombs.
The story of this tomb one founded on
fact is that the two Japanese Generals,
Konishi and Kato, who invaded Korea,
near the end of the sixteenth century, cut
off the ears and noses of their prisoners,
brought the trophies back to Japan and
buried them in this hill. In those times
prisoners of war were not spared. Their
heads were kept as trophies of victory. In
this case the Japauese victors, being so far
away from home, could not even transport
the heads of their enemies, so had to content
themselves with the noses and ears. This
happened only 300 years ago, and it seems
quite possible that soon, in a fit of rriendli-
,j.ea 4l,a .Tan,nA n,a, en...) lin.1. f. i .....
UCMi ,UW VMpHUVUW UIAT DCUU UdUh MJ H.U1CH
the land of the morning calm, these ears
ana noses, as napoieon toe (ireat
noses, as .napoleon the Great was
finally sent home from St. Helena.
MABOH 9, 1890.
FOUK VERY EICH MEN.
The Fortunes of Rockefeller, Astor,
Yanderbilt and Gould.
RICHER THAN THE ROTHSCHILDS.
The Standard Oil and Western Union Mag
nates Inherited Nothing.
THE! WILL BOON BE BILL10NAIEES.
ICOItnESPONDEKCE OP THE DIBPATCH.I
New Yobk, March 8. There are at least
four men in America richer than the richest
man in Europe. They are John D. Bocke
feller, the President of the Standard Oil
Trust; William Waldorf Astor, who has
just succeeded to the fortune of John Jacob
Astor, his father; Cornelius Vanderbilt, the
head of the Vanderbilt Bystem of railroads,
and Jay Gould, the speculator and railroad
magnate. The aggregate wealth of the
Bothschilds reaches nearly 51,000,000,000,
but no individual Eothschild is worth over
575,000,000. Here is an estimate, obtained
from the most reliable sources, of the for
tunes of the Americans named:
John D. Rockefeller 5135,000,000
William Waldorf Astor 125.000.000
Cornelius Vanderbilt 110,000,000
Jay Goald 90,000.000
It has been supposed that the lateJohn
Jacob Astor was the richest man in the
world, and so he was for a time after the
division of the wealth of William H. Van
derbilt, who, at the time of his death, was
worth $200,000,000. John D. Bockefellcr
has made money faster in the past few years
than any other mortal ever made it. He is
so rich that he cannot count his own mill
ions. He Baid under oath in a legal pro
ceeding not long ago, that he could not esti
mate his fortune within $10,000,000 or 12,
000,000. The estimate of $135,000,000 is not
considered excessive. If anything, it is
under the actual amount.
ONCE A NEWSPAPEB BEPOBTEB.
Eockefeller was once a newsper reporter,
and less than two decades ago was a busi
ness man of only moderate means in Cleve
land, O. His attention was attractedto the
opportunities for making money in the
handling and refining of the product of the
John D. Rockefeller.
Pennsylvania oil fields. He started a com
paratively small refinery, and from that
grew the most powerful monopoly on earth
the Standard Oil Trust. How rapidly the
Standard has grown is shown by the fact that
in 1880 its capital was only $3,000,000,
whereas it is now $90,000,000. The par
value of the stock is $100 a share, but it is
quoted at $170. It pays dividends amount
ing to 10 per cent per annum. Eockefeller
owns more than a majority of the stock so
that something like $100,000,000 of his
fortune is represented in the trust. He also
has extensive natural gas interests in Ohio,
and in addition is a large owner of Govern
ment bonds and the securities of railroads
and other corporations.
It has been said, and it is probably a
fact, that the Standard Oil Trust is the
best managed corporation in the world.
John D. Eockefeller is the directing spirit.
He looks and acts more like a preacher than
a schemer. He is in fact a deacon in a
Baptist church. He has stooping shoulders,
drooping eyelids and a face that is almost
sepulchral. He lives in a handsome house
in West Fifty-fourth street jnst around the
corner from Fifth avenue. It is in this
neighborhood where the Vanderbilt man
sions, the finest in New York, cluster.
HE KEEPS VEST QUIET.
His diversions are few. Little is heard of
him and less is seen of him. He is inac
cessible at all times. He wields the enor
mous power of the Standard Oil Trust from
behind portals. And this power is proved
by the irresistible way in which opposition
to the Standard in ail forms has been
crnshed ont. There is, however, one thing
to be said of the Standard. If an opposition
pipe line or refinery is started and assumes
proportions sufficient to make it formidable,
an offer, and a fair one at that, is made for
its purchase. If the offer is refused the
Standard pnts down prices, interferes with
facilities and makes its competitor's busi
ness unprofitable. The competitor in the
end cives up. The Standard never was a
producer in Pennsylvania, bnt when the
Ohio oil field was discovered it proceeded to
William Waldorf Astor.
secure all the productive territory, and now
controls the situation there absolutely.
William Waldorf Astor's wealth is prin
cipally in real estate. The original John
Jacob Astor bought farm after farm along
the King's Highway, the old post road, ex
tending from the Battery in New York to
Albany. TheKing's Highway is now known
as Broadway. His heirs followed his ex
ample, and thus it is that the Astors have,
at one time or another, owned
THE BEST PAST OP BROADWAY.
People who dosired to put up residences
or business structures would obtain ground
leases from the Astors, and on corn fields
and potato patches reared buildings, which,
at the expiration of the leases, reverted to
the Astors. As a rnlc these leases ran for
21 years. The Astors have never been specu
lators, and as a consequence their fortunes
have never been impaired by the mutations
of Wallstreet. They have never been obtrus
ive and the only one of the family who has
ever aspired to political honors is William
Waldorf, who served n both branches of the
State Legislature and was also Minister to
Italy. He is not likely to figure in politics
again. He made something of a name as a
novel writer, but his literary as well as his
political aspirations seem to have recently
subsided. He is under 40, tall, well-built
and agreeable in manner. He wears eye
glasses and dresses very quietly.
His home is a double brown stone house
in East Thirty-third street, three doors from
Fifth avenue. He will soon take possession
of his father's mansion oa Filth avenue, f
ffF
4L
large and substantial, but rather old
fashioned house. The Astor property is
easy to manage, for it involves merely the
collection of rents with the occasional sale
or purchase of a building or lot. Probably
no individual fortune of any magnitude,
either in America or Europe, is so secure as
William Waldorf Astor's. Only an earth
quake devastating Manhattan Island could
wipe it out.
THE VANDEBBILT WEALTH.
Cornelius Vanderbilt inherited $80,000,000
from William H. Vanderbilt. He was pre
viously the possessor of about $5,000,000.
Interest and appreciation in the value of
the bonds and stocks left him by bis father
makeup the balance of the $110,000,000
with which he is credited. His fortune is
very sagaciously invested. It is principally
in stocks and bonds, but of a class that in
Wall street are known as "gilt edged."
Even a panic in the stock market would
not be apt to diminish the value of his for
tune over 10 per cent, and this impairment
would not be permanent.
He was the favorite grandson of old Com
modore Vanderbilt, whose name he bears,
and he was likewise the favorite son of his
father. He is an excellent business man.
His methods are conservative. Vanderbilt
is unassuming. He has never sought polit
ical preferment, nor, for that matter, has any
member of the Vanderbilt family. He is
Cornelius Vanderbilt.
an ardent churchman and his contributions
for church work are large. He attends the
fashionable St. Bartholomew's Church in
Madison avenue, and may be seen any
Sunday afternoon on his way home from
service with his prayer book and hymnal in
hand.
NOT A PUBLIC SPEAKEE.
He is never heard as a public speaker ex
cept at the meetings of the railroad branch
of the Young Men's Christian Association,
which he provided with a handsome build
ing. He and Chauncey M. Depew lunch
together every day that they are both at the
general offices of the Vanderbilt roads in
Forty-second street. He depends on Mr.
Depew for counsel, as his father did before
him, and he is as fond of Mr. Depew's
clever sayings at an assemblage of ban
queters. The estimate of Jay Gould's fortune is
made up on the "market value." In one
way it is a precarious fortune. It is com
posed almost entirely of the securities of
the corporations controlled by him, and
these are speculative in the extreme. A
panic in Wall street might reduce his for
tune one half. Gould has practically re
tired. His health is not good and he has
put the active management oi his properties
in the hands of his two eldest sons, George
and Edwin. He has contracted rather than
extended his interests during the past three
or four years until now bis holdings of
stock are not great outside the Western
Union Telegraph Company, the Missouri
Pacifio Bailroad and 'the elevated rail
roads in New York.
HIS SIGHT HAS FAILED
to such an extent recently that he wears
gold-bowed spectacles almost constantly.
He has grown rather tired of his yacht, buj
in the summer finds it convenient in going
between New York and his country place at
Irvington-on-tbe-Hudson. Eockefeller and
Gould have made their fortunes in a single
generation. Astor's fortune represents the
accumulation of four generations and Van
derbilt's of three generations.
Rockefeller's fortune probably yields, at
its estimated value, 5 per cent. Vander
bilt's yields about the same. Astor's for
tune is calculated to yield 6 per cent. In
asmuch as many of the stocks and bonds
owned by Gould pay no interest at all, it is
not probable that he derives 3 per cent on
his total wealth. Taking these figures the
annual and daily income of the four men,
compounding the interest semi-annually to
allow for reinvestment, are as follows:
TEAELT AND DAILY INCOMES.
Yearly Dally
Name. income. Income.
John D. Rockefeller 16,831,000 $18,715
William Waldorf Astor 8,612,500 23,593
Cornelius Vanderbilt 5,560,000 15.219
Jay Gould 2,718.000 7,8
If the rule of natural increase were fol
lowed, the four great fortunes would be as
follows at the end of the periods named,
counting the interest at the rates named
above aud compounding it semi-annually:
JOHN D. EOCKEFELLER.
One year. (141,831,000
Five years 172,800.000
Twenty-five years 403,779,000
WILLIAM WALDORF ASTOR.
One year.... 183,612,500
Five years 167.937,500
Twenty-flve years 617,900,000
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
One year. 5115,5Cfl,000
Five years 140,800,000
Twenty-five years 377,b94,0OO
JAY GOULD.
One year. $ 92.718.000
Five years 101,445.000
Twenty-five years 189.458,000
HAY BE BILLIONAIRES.
The foregoing figures show how fast for
tunes mount up even at ordinary rates of in
terest. Every one of the four greatest for
tunes in America is likely to be augmented
beyond its natural increase by advantageous
investments. If Eockefeller keeps on piling
up money as he has in the past, and there is
reason to believe he will, he can count his
wealth at $200,000,000 in two or three years.
Jay Gould.
If he lives 25 years, as every one of the four
great millionaires is likely to do, and his
success keeps up, there is no telling how
rich he will be. He may be a billionaire.
H. I. S.
Cozy corners in hotels are hard to find, yet
anyone stopping at the Sturtevant House,
Broadway and Twenty-ninth St., N.Y., will be
able to find a good many ot them. Moderate
prices ana central location,
WEITTEN FOE
SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS.
The story opens at Bryngelly, on the Welch coast. Geoffrey Bingham, a very promising
yonngLondon barrister, is taking an outing at Bryngelly with his little daughter, Effie, and
LadyHonoria, his titled wife. She manned him for an expected fortune, which did not material
ize, has little wifely feeling, frets abont poverty, and makes her hnsband generally miserable.
Geoffrey is cut off by the tide one day, and Beatrice Granger, the charming, beintllaL but some
what eccentric, daughter of the rector ot Brvneeliy, undertakes to row him ashore. The canoe
upset?, and Geoffrey is knocked senseless. Beatrice rescues him, and he is taken to the vicarage
to recover. Here Lady Honoria and Geoffrey have several scenes, after which the former bun
dles off. to Garsington to visit wealthy relatives, leaving Effie with her papa. Geoffrey and
Beatrice learn to admire each other. 'Squire Owen Da vies, honest, stupid and very rich, is madly
in love with Beatrice. She can scarcely bear his society. Elizabeth, Beatrice's sister, is ambi
tions to become Mrs. Owen Davies. The latter makes np his mind the crisis is at hand, and ap
points a meeting with Beatrice. The girl, of course, rejects him. but. touched by his wretched
ness, she gives him the privilege of asking again in a year, though holding out no hope. Eliza
beth, from a hiding place, sees the meeting. After Beatrice goes she comes to Owen and he tells
her Beatrice has refused him. This is her opportunity and she plots accordingly. On her way
home Beatricemeets Geoffrey and almost unconsciously confides in him the story of the meet
ing. Along talk on religion follows. Geoffrey seeming to make some impression upon the pretty
little unbeliever. As time goes on Geoffrey and Beatrice are more and more tog'ether. The
brief in a celebrated law case arrives for Geoffrey, and Beatrice helps him with it, displaying;
great ingenuity and really Dutting him on the track that afterward led him to fame. In a mob
collected by an attempt to 'distrain a tenant Geoffrey is reported shot. Beatrice is shocked al
most into insensibility by the news.
CHAPTER XV.
NOT SHOT AFTEK ALL.
A few yards from the path grew a stunted
tree with a stone at its root. Thither Bea
trice staggered and sank upon the stone,
while still the solid earth spun round and
round. Presently her mind cleared a little,
and a keener pang of pain shot through her
soul. She had been stunned at first; now she
felt.
Perhaps it was not true; perhaps Eliza
beth had been mistaken or had only said it
to torment her. She rose. She flung herself
upon her knees, there by the stone, and
prayed, this first time for many years she
prayed with all her soul. "Oh, God, if Thou
art; spare him his life and me this agony."
In her dreadful pangs of grief her faith was
thus reborn, and, as all human beings must
in their hour of mortal agony, Beatrice real
ized her dependence on the Unseen. She
rose, and weak with emotion sank back onto
the stone. The people were streaming past
her now, talking excitedly. Somebody
came up to her and stood over her.
Oh, heaven, it was Geoffrey.
"Is it you?" she gasped. "Elizabeth said
that you were murdered."
"No, no. It was not me; it is that poor
fellow Johnson, the auctioneer. Jones shot
him. I was standing next him. I suppose
your sister thought that I fell. He was not
nnlike me, poor fellow."
Beatrice looked at him, went red, went
HEK THOUGHTS WENT
white, then burst into a flood of tears. A
strange pang seized upon his heart. It
thrilled through him, shaking him to the
core. Why was this woman so deeply
moved? Could it be? Nonsense; he stilled
the thought before it was born.
"Don't cry," Geoffrey said, "the people
will see you, Beatrice" (for the first time he
called her by her Christian name.) "Pray
do not cry. It distresses me. You are up
set and no wonder. That fellow Beecham
Bones ought to be hanged, and I told him
so. It is his work, though he never meant
it to go so far. He's frightened enough
now, I can tell you."
Beatrice controlled herself with an effort.
"What happened," he said, "I will tell
you as we walk along. No, don't go up to
the farm. He is not a pleasant sight, poor
fellow. When I got up there Beecham
Bones was spouting away to the mob his
long hair flying abont his back exciting
them to resist laws made by brutal, thieving
landlords, and all that kind of gibberish;
telling them that they would be supported
by a great party in Parliament, etc.
The people, however, took it all good
naturedly enough. They had a beautiful
effigy of your father Swinging on a
pole, with a placard on his breast on which
was written, 'The robber of the widow and
the orphan, and they were singing Welsh
songs. Only I saw Jones, who was more
than half drnnk, cursing and swearing in
Welsh and English. When the auctioneer
began to sell, Jones went into the house
and Bones went with him. After enough
had been sold to pay the debt, and while the
mob was still laughing and shouting, sud
denly the back door of the bouse opened
and out rushed Jones, now quite drunk,
a gun in his hand, aud Bones hanging on to
his coat-tails. I was talking to the auction
eer at the moment, and my belief is that the
brute thought that I was Johnson. At any
rate, before anything could be done he
lifted the gun and fired at me, as I think.
The charge, however, passed my head and
hit poor Johnston full in the face, killing
him dead. That is all the story."
"And quite enough, too," 3id Beatrice,
with a shudder. "What times we live in!
I feel quite sick."
Supper that night was a very melancholy
affair. Old Mr. Granger was altogether
thrown off his balance, and even Elizabeth's
iron nerves were shaken.
"It could not be worse, it could not be
worse," moaned the old man, rising from
the table and walking up and down the
room.
"Nonsense, father," said Elizabeth, the
E radical. "He might have been shot before
e had sold the hay, and then you would not
hive got your tithe.
Goeffrey could not help smiling at this
way or looking at things, irom wnicn, cow.
jeyer, Mr. Granger seemed to draw ft little I
mgra; gsiipiS m&
t p
PAGES 9 TO 16.
THE DISPATCH.
comfort. From constantly thinking about
it, and the daily pressure of necessity.money
had come to be more to the old man than
anything else in the world.
Hardly was the meal done when the three
reporters arrived, and took down Geoffrey's
statement oi what had occurred for publica
tion in various papers, while Beatrice went
away to see about packing EfEe'a things.
Tbey were to start by a train leaving for
London at 8:30 on the following morning.
When Beatrice came back it was 10:30, and
in his irritation ot mind Mr. Granger in
sisted upon everybody going to bed. Eliza
beth shook hands with Geoffrey, congratu
lating him on his escape as she did so, and
went at once; but Beatrice lingered a little.
At last she came forward and held out her
hand.
"Good night, Mr. Bingham," she said.
"Good night. I hope that this is not
goodby also," he added, with some anxiety.
"Of course not," broke in Mr. Granger,
"Beatrice will go and see you off. I can't,
I have to go and meet the Coroner about the
inquest, and Elizabeth is always busy in
the house. Luckily they won't want you;
there were so many witnesses."
"Then it is only good night," said Beat
rice. She went to her room. Elizabeth, who
shared it, was already asleep, or appeared
to be asleep. Then Beatrice undressed and
got into bed. but rest she could not. It was
"only good night," a last good night. Ha
was going away back to his wife, back to
the great rushing world, and to the life in
which she had no share. Very soon he
:llinliiiiirJ
OUT IN THE NIGHT.
would forget her. Other interests would
arise, other women would become his
friends, and he would forget the Welsh girl
who had attracted him for awhile, or re
member her only as the companion of a
rough adventure. What did it mean? Why
was her heart so sore? Why had she felt as
though she should die when they told her
that he was dead?
Then the answer rose in her breast. Sha
loved him; it was useless to deny the truth
she loved him body and heart and soul,
with all her mind and all her strength. She
was his, and his alone to-day, to-morrow
and forever. He might go from her sight,
she might never, never see him more, but
love him she always must. And he was
married!
Well, it was her misfortune; it could not
affect the solemn truth. What should she
do, how should she endure her life when
her eyes no longer saw his eyes, and her ears
never heard his voice? She saw the futnre
stretch itselt before her as in a vision. Sha
saw herself forgotten by this man whom she
loved, or from time to time remembered
only with a faint regret. She saw herself
growing slowly old, her beauty fading
yearly from her face and form, companioned
only by the love that grows not old. Oh,
it was bitter, bitterl aud yet she would
not have it otherwise. Even in her pain sha
felt it better to have found this deep and
ruinous joy, to have wrestled with the Angel
and been worsted, than never to have looked
upon his face. If she could onlv know that
what she gave was given back again, that
he loved her as she loved him, she would be
content. She was innocent, she had never
tried to draw him to her; she had used no
touch or look, no woman's arts or lures such
as her beauty placed at her command. There
had been no word spoken, scarcely a mean
ing glance had passed between th'em, noth
ing but o frank, free companionship as of
man and man. She knew he did not love his
wife, and that his wife did not love him
this she could see. Bnt she had never tried
to win him from her, and though she sinned
in thought, though her heart was guilty oh,
her hands were clean!
Her restlessness overcame her. See could
no longer lie in bed. Elizabeth, watch
ing through her veil of sleep, saw Beatrice
rise, put on a wrapper, and going to the
window throw it wide. At first she thought
of interfering, for Elizabeth was a prudent
person and did not like draughts; but her
sister's movements excited her curiosity and
see refrained. Beatrice sat down on the foot
of her bed and leaning her arm upon tha
window sill looked out upon the lovely,
quiet night. How dark the pine trees
massed against the sky; how soft was the
whisper of the sea, and how vast the heaven
through which the stars sailed on.
What was It, then, this love of hers? Was
it merely earthly passion? No, it was
liiimnmii! It'fntimnrrJ
?
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