SHOR EUGENE M. O'NEILL, ESQ. HORTLY after Mr. Eugene M. O'Neill made his appearance in the news department of the Dispatch, of which his brother Dan was editor and one of the owners, there was a terrible accident on the Panhandle Railroad, at Corks Run trestle and fill, about two miles west of Pittsburgh. It was the wreck of the Pacific Express, and the rear sleeping car left the trestle where it curved and rolled over and over down an embankment until, according to Mr. O'Neill's brilliant account, "it lay at the bottom of a deep ravine, a chaotic mass of broken timbers." The "devils" in some of the offices who had been promoted and were rival reporters would have been jealous of Mr. O'Neill had it not been for his genial disposition and kindness and his ever-ready, original wit and humor and cordial friendship. The railroad managers manifested a deal more than ordinary interest in the Dispatch as they read the introduction to that accident the next day. As I recall it, here it is: "Tuesday morning, at an early hour, while Pittsburgh was as yet buried in repose, and no sound of human voice went up from the thick canopy of fog which overhung it, nor feet, save those of the solitary guardian of the peace, treading his lonely beat, had disarranged the soft carpet of snow that had silently fallen during the night, a train sped westward from the Union depot." That article and a New Year's greeting, which he soon after penned, easily placed him in the front line of the most graceful as well as forceful writers in Pittsburgh, and it was not long until he was high in the scale in the editorial department of the paper, as well as one of its owners. J JOHN W. CHALFANT'S BAROMETER. OHN W. CHALFANT'S barometer of the fluctuations in the iron business was given at a National Convention of iron masters several years ago. Said this remarkable captain of industry: "There are six or seven years when we make money 'hand over fist,' then 'mushroom' concerns spring up over night, get in on the top wave, and cut prices. For the next six or seven years, we do well to 'keep level,' and for the remaining six or seven years of the 20 years, we lose money like the devil.” COL. HENRY WATTERSON 'HE retirement of Colonel Watterson, one of the most widely known men, and editor of the Louisville Courier Journal, from active Journalism, recalls his famous expression concerning the fatal course of a political party, viz.: "It is marching through a slaughter house to an open grave." And that's where the Kaiser is heading. E E. M. BIGELOW WINS AND LOSES DWARD M. BIGELOW'S fame as a city builder will ever be great, and the father of the Parks has many achievements to his credit, including the Bigelow boulevard. But he went against the Board of Directors of the Western Pennsylvania Institution for the Education of the Blind in their effort to secure the site from Mrs. Schenley, and "lost out." One day, with a shawl over his arm and a grip in his hand, as he came out of Old City Hall, looking as if he might be going to Cape May, he was actually on his way to England and Scotland, to do what? To use his own. language, "To pull the legs of Pittsburgh non-resident millionaires" for big gifts to Pittsburgh. To shorten the story, he came back with the Schenley Park scheme practically in his coat pocket, and it was not long until the magnificent Schenley Park, under his skillful manipulation, was a reality, instead of a dream. Some time before the park was ready for the public, "Ed" discovered that it must have a grand entrance. Fifteen acres of Schenley ground was available, and Mr. Bigelow generously (?) proposed to Mrs. Schenley that on account of her generosity, he would recommend to the city that the necessary acreage be purchased and paid for. Mrs. Schenley was advised by real estate men that the property was worth $200,000 or $300,000, but Mr. Bigelow forwarded to her a transcript showing the valuation on the desired acreage, said valuation having been made by the agents of the estate. It was shrewdly suspected, however, that the valuation, $75,000, on the whole tract, might have been made when the tax assessor was around, but when it came to a possible sale, to use the language of a German speculator, "the market schlipped up a leedle." To make a long story short, Mrs. Schenley, without hesitation, accepted "Ed's" offer, assured that the entrance would be the "crown jewel" to her beautiful gift. About this time Col. William A. Herron had interested himself to obtain from Mrs. Schenley the gift of a site for the Newsboys' Home, and also the donation of a piece of property for a school for the education and maintenance of blind children. The State had enacted a law to provide $250 per year for the education and maintenance of the blind wards of the State, and Miss Jane Holmes, in her will, had set aside $40,000 for such a school when an additional $40,000 was raised. Colonel Herron was one of the founders of the school. The money was raised and the school opened in a temporary building in Lawrenceville, where it remained until the beautiful building in Bellefield was erected. And now to return to Mr. Bigelow. He did not want the school located in Bellefield, as he had in his mind his park scheme, and he wanted Carnegie's gifts surrounded by anything and everything in the world, but not the school that might present such sad sights for the people as blind children on the campus. He magnanimously offered to secure the old Schenley residence and 10 acres out on Stanton avenue, in the Eighteenth ward, and warned the writer and those in whose hands were the interests of the popular school for the education of the blind that if they persisted in their effort to induce Mrs. Schenley to donate a site in Bellefield he would use his best endeavors to knock us out entirely. Mrs. Schenley may have feared when our friend "Ed" so earnestly pushed for the Stanton avenue site that he might possibly have in mind the acquisition as a further gift of all the property remaining between Bellefield and the Eighteenth ward for additional park purposes. So the promoters of the institution got together and, finding Mrs. Schenley willing to donate either site, made a compromise to accept the site in Bellefield, a little over five acres (she was willing to make it 10) instead of the Stanton avenue site, which by a consensus of opinion was considered too much "out of the way." But Mr. Bigelow was a persistent fellow. Had he not been so the City of Pittsburgh might not have been rated as the workshop of the world-some city, indeed, that pays out two million dollars a day in wages, but a city also beautiful as well as useful. And he vouchsafed to the writer one day that unless we accepted the Stanton avenue site, the directors of the school would have to buy a site, or look elsewhere for a gift. There were times when our enthusiastic city builder had the board "up in the air," but at this particular time of confiding in the secretary, there was snugly ensconced in the secretary's office the deed from Mrs. Schenley for the five acres and some perches in Bellefield, on which the present school buildings stand. And I am sure no one was prouder of the school and its attainments than Mr. Bigelow. It ranks as one of the best schools of its kind in America. MR. CHARLES W. HOUSTON R. CHAS. W. HOUSTON, one of the founders of the Press, was in the newspaper business when 10 years old. With three companions he published "The Little Chief," 4 pages, 6x9. Capital invested $4.00; length of copartnership 6 weeks; dividends 100 per cent. Dissolution of partnership followed, Houston receiving a "composing stick and galley," as his share of the assets. Charley was the first page boy Pittsburgh Councils employed, and later served for several years as assistant City Clerk. His untiring energy resulted in the establishment of the Press. Called upon to respond to a toast at a banquet on one occasion, Houston got rid of the task with this anecdote. He said he was reminded of the story of Sammy Doolittle, the school boy and Miss Hodgett, his teacher. The latter had offended the boy, and on his slate he wrote A little mouse stole up stairs, To hear Miss Hodgett say her prayers. Showing it to the children they giggled and Miss Hodgett commandeered the slate. She ordered Sammy to the black board and told him if he did not within five minutes add two lines to the couplet, she would give him a severe whipping. There he stood without a word and the five minutes expired. Seizing the ruler and Sammy's hand, she raised the instrument to strike, when Sammy fairly exploded: Before me stands Miss Hodgett, She will strike and I will dodge it. A month or so afterward a friend related how he had been at a banquet and heard a man win great applause, when he got off the best sally of the evening the Miss Hodgett story. |