Show ban I 1 i hollay I 1 A brief sketch of or his ilis career IN TIT FAR his steamboat speculations pacific stage r line AND ai ND THE HE IW PONY EXPRESS tile civay his 1118 wealth and THE tim WAY HE FINALLY LOST IT the NV now york death of ili wife litigation with ills brother his HI own deith ri holladay the pioneer din hot holladay the steamboat speculator ben bell holladay hie the prince of tho coach and pony express ben ciolla d da the founder of half a continent alic he millionaire citizen the philanthropist piet the spendthrift the pauper tho outcast lieu bell is dead what an eventful yet withal sorrow fal career liae has tilie this phenomenal pro pero conage o 0 wrought out and awl what a feile vil lating t tale it would all make antho in lie hand hands of a master with cap inroad broad enough and deep enough to compan such a many sided fabric of ability activity end and consummate conium mate genius none we a fear M ill ver know the true senile of tins tills mans character eave save it may be tho who were hero here when he 1125 a here and talked and li lifred ored in some sene it companion to libin in that period fraught with so iauch that as WAS calculated to appall it le lisa s dauntless spirit we hayand with rome rinne reason the th reckless and undignified collapse of so princely a a fortune and fame bat but tho the story with ita ito full category of error and die dis zi ater ter bears tears an ail imprint of that which he world will always recognize aa as greatness great it ita would be tolly folly to enter upon an elaborate ci eulogy of a person whose und and career at any rato ali e in ili ter ting part of it ie is familiar to ewry child in the ivest whose p arents lii be lie tile honorable distinction of having crossed ilia great plains in he the mies with ilia latter litter life people of the wt are not well acquainted ho lias pent Pet many wany of his hi recent year years in portland ft here he ile settled no small portion of 0 his hi vaa fortune but where lie finally filially it all and where he the dakof day of LIM lw need found him dying in the inott abject poverty und ind dodee tion the portland news on tle the oce amion of ilia death which occurred only a few days lays ago published an interesting sketch of hn wc we have have not alie space a to reproduce tile whole of it but tile following extract will be a found well worth a perusal it will show in ili a brief nay the path from airi ambition bilion to groat great begs and a few of tho tile errors and ca lami to the of in tello telle cs last evening at 6 minutes past 8 ben den holladay died at A vincents ente hospital in this city his death wax anticipated i 1 y wit friend fri and tw file kulil ic generally ilia had been failing for several months mont lie hie ilia was augmented by an accident in washington city in thich he broke o his arin arm he be was afflit afflicted ted mith a complicated which could not lc 01 arcome by he the most willful kill ful medical I 1 holladay we was one of the most remarkable men inen of tilie this country and uge ho ile bood indomitable enemy and the inest untiring enterprise I 1 ho to was born bom in crab orchard lincoln i county kentucky in october 1818 ind would have been 09 years of ago had ho lie lived till next october ilis hi i ither was a veil to do tobacco plant cr er mr holladay wae was educated nt at st it loo foe college in ili nelson county and along in 1885 left kentucky for mu gouri and eoon soon embarked in the ilia meri handi eily business busin eee at and ind had branch stores etoi ee in oilier other pla places ceis before going to holladay wa was wedded added to miss calvert Calv crt he ilia daughter dau ahter lliter of a vie wealthy althy kentuckian young Holla disposition was to branch out and bemid hie ills nier chan disc business he ile extended hie his activity into the cattle trade he obtained a contract to fur furnieri large supplies from he the government and the amount paid him will from the nation natio jes treasury gae gale him hie his first large tart start in the elnan anan rul cial world from missouri blent ho went to sait lake in tit 1850 1950 with ill an wagon agon train of good goods and in his this enterprise terp ter prise he lie waa was backed up tip by general Ilu gims president of the ilia pank plank of missouri ouri in 1852 ien ben I 1 roi laday clandod in S san an francisco Franc taco ito organized the mexico Soam hip ship company of I 1 which ho lie was elben pre predent Adent the led to enter enterprises primes of a like character and finally to tho the of tho the overland stage route and the tile pony express along in 1855 or 55 56 front froin the missouri river to san sall francisco means of this tills conveyance the letters and vali alAe table package packager NN were ere carried the conein continent ent in less time than it now takes to carry narry freight by railroads the pony ci ex are was an adjunct to his stage line by which he lie mado made a largo amount of money the pony express was one of the tho most adventurous undertakings undertaking a I 1 I 1 1 ever over conceived and successfully executed on his this continent branches of his ilia stage lino line N were ere run into montana and elsewhere and like midas everything that ben holladay touched turned into gold transporter of pa became world wide the ramifications of hie his stage line extended to oregon on the the lat 1st of july 1964 the first overland left walla walla for the east by way of boise and salt lake and anti on the ath of the saino month the first mail arrived from the last east over the same route the tho rate by this tills route froin from portland to atchison Atch kas was tago an and d 25 pounds of baggage free it took twenty days da s to make tho the trip and cost W 40 to pay for meals while en ell route A stage ride across the continent in the early days was w as a risky undertaking as lie tile route of travel was beset by indians indiana more or lebs leha hostile A short fline before ilia completion of the union and central pacific railroad lines he lie eold sold hia his stages and stock from which aich he lie derived a very large bum n this abt swelled cited his fortune to several r a ax mai million lion dollars elated by hia ills success lie indulged in many extravagance s some eighteen years dilce 13 ben ell holladay desiring to bo be of new york ni without being in it purchased 1000 acres in ili westchester county now Y york ork ho enclosed a largo large portion of it in ili a park and stocked it with ith western game then lie began the erection of a ham mer dressed stone howo that was w as to be big castle ona one million dollars were expended on the exterior before the ro roof ofas a auton put on ono wing of the place vi as finished and here the first wife of mr holladay lived ery very much to herself when mrs holladay hollad ay iy died her tier remains were mere buried in the ilia cosy little chapel that elands stands within the tile grounds grou nAe in the pame same chapel ii is another tomb that of her tier daughter the barones Birone 8 ie do Bu busier miers who ft ho was taken ill on oil shipboard returning from france and died two drys later late r in in a new york hotel she was one odthe of the famous beauties of he ilia american colony in ili paris another daughter the countess de do died lied suddenly in ili a sleeping car vt title on her tier way A ly to the coast at last accounts account 3 her tier hus bandzas band was friench minister to china before the tile house houpe was finis finished lied tha the crab came and ben I 1 holladay loll 1011 aday failed art and the tile house was sold to john koach reach w who lie also failed after mr gave up tip hia his house in westchester WeSte chester liester county N Y he lie married mix hester campbell of this city mho w lio survives eun h es him she has two oung young chil children dien in ili 1807 1867 ben bell gifol laday came to oregon for the purpose of if gaining control of the land grant made by congram Cong rcy to aid iu in the ilia con of the oregon central imail road mr holladay took hold of tins this 0 leation in IM 1868 and by the time alie road had been completed to roseburg big money was exhausted and ho he was forced to transfer it to ilia his creditors from that time forward his good fortune ceased ilia 1113 business became complicated and his ambition was broken with tho the decline of wealth v came a corresponding decline dei lino inbe in health alth congress ignored ilia his laimi claims the litigation beleen ben den holladay and his its brother joe is et frosh fresn in tho the public mind As aarback far back as 1860 he lie began to borrow money from joseph and this wae aa a kept up until 1873 at that time they had an accounting and den bengal gave joe a note for in 1870 1876 another ing was nas had and ben gave joo joe x note for joeleht Joel ept balliu calling for security and ben den deeded him the clatsop hotel the 11 nt 1 street kail bail road inte reet reid weidlers Weid lere mill the clarendon hotel property etc etca and in ili 1879 there was but little leatto left give i joe endeavored to secure all the property under tho the plea that the deeds were abo conveyance by purchase while ben held bela hut that they were vere mortgages after long and tedious litigation judge steams stearns decided that the deeds v ere mortgager mortgages and that joe should deed the property all 11 II back bac I 1 to ben when ilia th latter paid him tho the property lias has increased enormously enor mouly in value in the jaet jast two years ears but it is thought the he immense number of claims against it together og ether with lie ilia almost countless lawyers fee will eat it all up the detate is today to day worth between two und and three million dollars the dath of members of the family coupled with ilia his decreasing fortune fortunes ere hard bard blows and told heavily on him opium was prescribed by his physicians as ars a supporting clement element and it had ita its usual disi disastrous effect the subsequent law suit with his brother joseph and tho the death vl of his ills eon son hurried him min on oil botho to alio llio grave on Oa sunday afternoon mh lie lid wag was taken in a carriage to st vincents hospital to spend hie his list last daya days ie wa ery feeble and groan groaned cd an loveral tt rt alwart men bore hitup to the tile flight of stairs to tho first floor I 1 am d dying ying lie continually said as lie was boing being talento lekeu to a room tho the physician soon saw that no hope existed for tho the p and ilia lie opinion wim was gilen given out that ilia ills jays da acro ere numbered thus lias has passed a away w ay tho tile spirit of one i w ho lie by ilia indomitable willand will and wonderful enterprise won a d dozen ozen fortu fortune fles but whose 9 gances ances and liberality it would have taken an empire to sustain ho ile had many friends and like all men of force who win vast fortu fortunes nesa a number of enemies rejoiced at his down town fall but when lie ilia recording angel a strikes the balance on hia its life led ledger or tho lie good LKA will overbalance the evil he has done a dozen times ra lo ax one ono hundred member members of the house of common commons tuve have formed a committee commit teo for tho the purpose of endeavoring deavo ring to cheapen natal and telegraph charges between the mother country country and the colonies I 1 |