Show suaR KINGS TRIALS CLAUS SPRECKELS OUTWITTED BY HIS TWO SONa A Queer Family War Tie Boys con c-on Top But the Father Still in Stl the Hunt Wonderful Rise of 1 German Immigrant There Is n unique war going on in teat te-at this continent The old man who of this continent The old man who landed In New York more than half a century aero with wooden shoes on his feet and 3 in his pocket and conquered untold difficulties in building up the immense im-mense fortune that he 1 now master of has at last met his match in his two sons and they are giving him no mercy The two sons are Adolph and Rudolph Spreckels There is another son Jonn D who is generally spoken of a the good son He stands by his father through thick and thin and being gifted with strong commercial intelligence is a valuable val-uable aid to the old man For it is a financial nancial war that is disturbing the peace of the family and Just now the two sons are on top and have so thoroughly intrenched themselves In their position that the father with l his millions is unable to make them feel the smart of his displeasure I The trouble dates back to January 2rd of low when the two bjys purchased from I the old man tnreequartera of tao stock in the Hawaiian Commercial company Something over a million was the price fixed and a certain sum was paid down on the spot leaving 700000 to be paid in two years that is 3GOOdO on January 2 1895 and the other 5350000 on January 2nd 1896 3500 Janua Some time prior to the purchase old I Claus gave 600000 to each of the boys Now he regrets It for they used it as I ammunition against the coffers of Sprec kels senior The old gentleman not long gEteman ago said that Adolph and Rudolph thought that he ought to have given them I 52000000 apiece instead of 600000 but for t a r I ii CLAUS SPRECKLES I the sake of harmony he sold them the threequarters interest in hi Hawaiian company w This did not hav the desired effect for shortly after the transfer the efe boys packed up their trunks and quit the family home Since then the people of San Francisco have been mightily in terested in the war Although now an old man in years Claus is as active as ever and a stiff fighter I was generally supposed that he would make short work of the two boys but after two years they are still holding their own More than that after a carefully prepared pan on the part of the old man to bring them to terms they beat him brng own game and now he doesnt know where to begin at them again The plan was this The last payment of S3500CO was due op January 2 last and when Claus heard that the boys were hard up for ready cash he saw all the moneylenders in San Francisco and arranged with them not to make any loan to the boys Then he waited for his victory On January 2 he sent a messenger messen-ger to the boys for the 330000 expecting expect-ing a an answer a plea for compromise Then he thought he could make his own terms and resume his former position as undisputed boss of the family But the messenger returned with n certified check for the amount Some money len der had worked to windward of the old gentleman and the latter is after his scalp with a vengeance BEGINNING OF THE SUGAR KING All this is but n small chapter in the career of Claus Spreckels He Is worth today anywhere from twenty to sixty millions and perhaps more And he has accomplished all this in the face of many handicaps His education to begin with amounted to nothing His English is broken and heavily flavored with the accent ac-cent of the fatherland But his moneymaking money-making genius was of that indomitable kind whch smashed every barrier into finders Small wonder then that the two sons should allow nothing even family sentiment senti-ment to stand in the way of their financial nancial progress The old gentlemans thirst for lucre made a great number of I men groan but I looks like a back handed swipe on the part of Dame Fortune For-tune to use his own sons for the purpose of retaliation puroe A GROCER AT FIRST I is interesting at this period to fol I low the fortune building of Claus Spree kela As a newly arrived emigrant in New York he at once proceeded to hunt employment He was unable to speak the English language and being a youth t ADOLPH SPRECKLES o no education worth mentioning was not at all particular as to the nature na-ture of the work he got so long a it was work and brought in the money he was after But he possessed a commercial commer-cial spirit and an inclination to barter and J was not long before he had a corner cor-ner grocery wore a white apron and with limping speech was booming the quality and quantity of his stock in trade But business dragged and collections I collec-tions were somewhat difficult There was a llvelihood in the grocery but Clam wanted more He bought a grocery at Louisville but took his march LoulsvJe up again after the American dollar and brought UD at New Oreans When h eheard that > old had been discovered hi California coast he started straightway for the Pacific NO MINES FOR HD Other men were taking claims getting shot and cut all to pieces and accumulating accumula-ting mere or less gold dust meanwhile but Claus was not of a speculative turn of mind at that particular period of his life American dash and enterprise had not then made an impression on his German Ger-man thrift and caution Therefore while adventurous spirits were out itt the mountains fighting and digging like wildcats Claus was content to resume I his white anon and corner grocery which he did in San Francisco Money was plenty and profits very large Claus I saw his bank account grow day by day He sent to Germany for his brothers and they came In the next ship Then Soreckels and his brothers bought an Interest hi a brewery Their bank account I count grew larger than ever and when Claus was offered something like 75000 for his Interest hi the brewery he accepted cepted the money and invested in a sugar refinery The refinery was doing a large and profitable business Claus thought the matter over and concluded the refinery should be his He set about to get it The stockholders objected to his business methods whereupon he bought them out In the course of time Spreckels got the refinery roof and all But the genius of Spreckels did not display Itself on a grand scale until he was well launched in the sugar business on his own account Then he began to think that the Sandwich Islands offered a flue field for the growing of sugar He took a sail across the Pacific to investigate investi-gate but he was quite dismayed at finding find-ing that every foot of land must b irrigated gated This meant the expenditure of every cent he had accumulated but his confidence was great and he took the plunge te He found 10000 acres of land low connecting con-necting two mountain and regions mountIn considered con-sidered useless He leased this barren waste from Kalakaua ta a song and went to work There was plenty of water in the mountains twenty miles away He dug a canal fourteen feet wide and three feet deep built acqueducts blasted thirty tunnels through solid rock and got water to his desert at a cost of something like SSOOOOO He founded a town calling calng It Soreckelsville He macadamized the streets thereof planted shade trees built a church and established a club for the entertainment of his army of em nloves He extended his main etended canal un til It penetrated every part of his ba ren estate He cause five immense reservoirs ervoirs to be constructed high up in the mountains so that he could have a perpetual per-petual water supply Meanwhile the cano he had planted had been growing and a mill l that soon produced 100 tons of sujrar a day was being built Ounts personal supervision KING KALAKAUAS FRIEND Soreckels became the bosom friend of the old king Kalakaua and the latter made him a knight commander In the kings order He loaned the king big sum at fat Interest and lorded it over the I court officials with a high hand He was diplomatic too and made the portly queen numerous presents of American finery and in short time became the most powerful white man on the island When the eastern sugar magnates tried to down him they met a tough customer He was not content to stand on the defensive de-fensive but at once assumed the aggressive aggres-sive and coming east established a biS I refinery in Philadelphia and soon got a good share of the business In the east He has large beet plantations in southern California and a big refinery to convert the product into sugar He Is a Jolly old man and his wife is a good natured German woman who in her younger days knew what hard work a A dsJja ¼ A1VffiI RUB OLPIT SPRECKLES meant He is a liberal spender when IT 1 business I riles him to be crossed ia any undertaking and that Is the reason I hard the rebellion of his sons strikes him so |