Show ALEXANDER V MAJORS The Famous Westerner Who Died in Chicago Was a V Conspicuous Figure Here in the Early Days L V V i f I j 11 V 4 il 4 V V v I j i r7t i c V In the death of Alexander Majors which occurred In Chicago on Sunday last l the West has lost one of Its his lorymakers and America generally one of those sturdy characters which have caused peoplo of other nations to look on In admiration Few wore there in the olden days but knew him well When last here he vIsltedNamong his oldtime friends such as had been spared and received a royal welcome from all He was born October 4 ISM near Franklin Simpson county Ky moved to Missouri nhen that State was then a Territory and passed through all such scenes as were then enacted and which there as In other then border States required nerve and courage and manhood man-hood Whercvei rugged manhood was needed there was a place where Alexander Alex-ander Majors was useful Rough and rugged physically however it Is said by those of his old companions who now llve here that he governed and controlled con-trolled the hundreds of men who worked for him for so many years by kindness kind-ness almost entirely 1C he ever was unfortunate enough to get Into his employ em-ploy an undesirable character and men were sometimes scarce In those days he remained no longer than was absolutely abso-lutely necessary Probably no man ever paid a prettier tribute to his mother than did this son of the valley the mountain and the plain in his book Seventy Years on the Frontier When after recounting dozens of deeds of danger and adventure adven-ture he said I have never encountered any difficulties diffi-culties so great no matter how threatening threat-ening that 1 have not been able to overcome fearlessly when the recollection recollec-tion of my dear mother came to me Even to this day and I am In my eightieth year I can not dwell long In conversation about her without tears coming to my eyes No words can cx press my love of the dear mother who gave me birth and nourishment I would that all men loved and held the memories of their mothers more sacred than I think many of them do And this coming from a man whom as W F Cody Buffalo Bill wrote could In the face of all dangers and obstacles originate and carry to success a line of freight wagons a mall route from the Atlantic to the Pacific and a pony express flying at the utmost speed of a hare through the land Truly as Cody said he was a giant among tho men In those days both In soul and physique Mr Majors first went Into the freighting freight-ing business between Independence Mo and Santa Fe N M in 1S4S when his outfit consisted of six wagons and loams For years he was In the Government Gov-ernment employ transporting stores to the different forts In New Mexico Colorado Colo-rado and Utah Late in the fiflles the firm of Rus sol Majors Waddell was formed and the stock greatly added to In 1859 they were asked if It were not possible to run a pony express from the Missouri river to San Francisco Knowing no such word as fall the answer an-swer was yes and late In the year 1859 the express was started At one time Mr Majors was reputed to be worth a million but soon aftertime I after-time construction of the Pacific railroads I misfortunes met him at every turn He tried in vain to retrieve his fortunes for-tunes The fates wore against him So for many years ho lived as ho died a poor man Poor so far as the goods of this world arc concerned but rich In the kind memories stored up in the hearts of the people of thc great West Mr Majors was head of the firm of Majors Chapman Goodspeed prominent I prom-inent in mining circles in this city during dur-ing the mining activity of the early seen ties |