BUSINESS TROUBLES.
The second year of my labors in building the Waxahachie Tap Road
required all of my time, and, in consequence, a neglect of my business.
This, coupled with the fact that many good farmers seemed to shun my
business, fearing I would tackle them for a railroad stock subscription
and the further fact that jealous competitors, joined by a man
representing P. J. Willis & Brother of Galveston, a house I was dealing
with most extensively and with whom I had a credit and a running account
of about twelve or fifteen thousand dollars, and the representations of
these competitors that I was investing heavily in the tap road, which
was not a fact, caused me to become embarrassed in business. I paid my
account with P. J. Willis & Brother in order to get rid of this jealous
competitor, and this amounted to a withdrawal of fifteen thousand
dollars of my capital.
In November of that year I owed nearly twenty-three thousand dollars,
which I reduced to ninety-four hundred dollars by the first of March
following.
At this time I was caught with a remnant winter stock and, in order to
keep up my business and to arrange for a spring and summer stock of
goods with no money to buy, I decided best to proceed to St. Louis and
submit a statement of my condition to my creditors. This statement
showed an indebtedness, as stated, of about ninety-four hundred dollars,
and assets, about fifteen or sixteen thousand. These assets consisted
largely of East Texas accounts, a balance of my old Rusk business, a
winter stock of goods and a few acres of land in East Texas that could
not be sold for more than a dollar an acre. At that time, everything I
had in business was unavailable.
The object of my St. Louis trip was to get an extension of my
indebtedness until the next winter. The largest part of my indebtedness
was with L. Cannon & Company of Galveston, cotton commission merchants,
who were satisfied with any arrangement I made for an extension. The
next largest creditor was Samuel C. Davis & Company, St. Louis, whom I
owed a balance on open account of about eight or nine hundred dollars.
After submitting them my statement, the manager, whose name I have
forgotten, told me that I was not entitled to an extension and they were
not in favor of granting it unless the balance all agreed, but if they
all granted an extension, that they were willing to do so, but would not
sell me any more goods. They explained to me that upon a review of my
assets, I would not be able to pay more than thirty or thirty-five cents
on the dollar, and if I succeeded in compromising on that basis, they
were willing to sell me again, on their regular terms, any reasonable
amount and would consider my credit unimpaired. I told the gentlemen
that I would never compromise, as it was considered disgraceful in
Texas.
I next went to see the house of Hamilton & Brown, who were then in their
infancy in their business, but were considered one of the rising shoe
houses in St. Louis.
On presenting my statement their judgment was the same as Samuel C.
Davis & Company: that I was not entitled to an extension and to continue
in business, having to ask further credit, my only course would be to
compromise, say thirty cents on the dollar. I owed these people little
less than two hundred dollars, a small balance of a considerable
account. I told them I would never compromise, when one of the gentlemen
said, “You are working with a millstone around your neck and we want to
put you on your feet. If you don’t compromise before you leave St.
Louis, we will send your account to an attorney at Waxahachie, with
instructions to sue.” I said, “If you do, I will make an assignment and
quit business, and in doing so you can take the coat off my back—you
will never find me behind a valuable Texas homestead.” In connection
with this I will state that after a two weeks’ stay in St. Louis, trying
to persuade these people to meet my proposition, I heard from my friend
Cannon in Galveston, who offered to let me have money to settle with the
St. Louis creditors on the basis of thirty-five cents. I finally gave it
up and on my return home found the Hamilton & Brown account in the hands
of Judge Rainey for collection with order to bring suit, and I
immediately made an assignment in the Bankruptcy Court at Tyler, thereby
protecting all of my creditors.
When the United States Marshal came and took possession of my assets he
persuaded me, for the protection of my family, to retain two hundred
acres of land in Cherokee County, which at the time could not have been
sold for more than a dollar an acre, for which I had paid two dollars
and seventy-five cents an acre. This land I traded for a few town lots
in Waxahachie, on one of which I built an humble little home the next
year and out of the balance realized about three hundred dollars.
It is hardly necessary to say that my business failure proved very
discouraging at the time and caused the breaking down of my general
health. My jealous competitors in business continued to refer to it,
claiming that it was injuring the prospect of the building of the road,
the presidency of which I finally concluded to resign.
Considering that several of these men were the richest of any men in the
community and that I had sacrificed my all to build up their interest in
connection with the town, I felt that it was one of the most unjust and
worst cases of persecution without cause a man ever had to submit to,
but I determined to outgrow it and ignore these foolish people’s work
against me.
Recurring to my visit in St. Louis where, as stated, I spent a couple of
weeks: I stopped at a private boarding house, where I formed the
acquaintance of a business gentleman, who, with his wife, had a room
next to mine and in a few days invited me to visit their cotton
exchange, which invitation I accepted. I, of course, had not told him of
my financial embarrassment, but had made him acquainted with my railroad
enterprise.
At the cotton exchange I was shown a great deal of attention by some of
the members present and especially Mr. J. W. Paramore, the president.
When about ready to depart Mr. Paramore extended me an invitation to
join him in a visit to his compresses, saying that he had a horse and
buggy at the door, waiting. I accepted his invitation.. On our drive out
to the compresses, he gave me his history in connection with the
business, saying that he came to St. Louis from Nashville, Tennessee,
with seventy thousand dollars in cash and decided that St. Louis ought
to be made a cotton market. For this purpose he met some of the leading
business men and suggested the building of a large compress and asked
them to take stock, which they considered a huge joke and readily turned
down his proposition. He then concluded to undertake the building of a
compress by himself, which he did, meeting with great success the first
season. These same men whom he tried to induce to take stock with him,
came to him and begged for stock, with the proposition to enlarge the
plant, which he did and had made it a great success the second year. The
enlarged plant enabled him to pay a handsome dividend. After showing me
around his compresses and expressing himself much interested in Texas
cotton shipments, I finally suggested to him the idea of getting up an
excursion of a number of his business friends who were interested to
know about Texas conditions and resources, to visit Waxahachie, where I
was anxious to show him our little railroad enterprise and especially
our rich land in this black land district.
Meeting with him again upon another occasion I again urged him by all
means to get up this excursion, satisfied that he and his friends would
find it interesting and profitable, and having no doubt but they would
succeed in opening business relations. I found he was much interested
and he became somewhat enthusiastic on the proposed visit, promising me
that he would certainly do so.
Some three or four months after, I saw an account in the Galveston News
of where J. W. Paramore, a business man of St. Louis, with a number of
other business men, had arrived at Tyler, Texas, on an excursion to
investigate Texas resources and conditions, with a view of establishing
business relations and will here state, knowing the business community
of Tyler, its brains and capital, I immediately concluded that their
proposed Waxahachie visit was doomed, which proved to be a fact.
Tyler had just completed a short line narrow-gauge railway to connect
with the Texas & Pacific at Big Sandy and soon induced Mr. Paramore and
associates to buy this road and extend it, an independent line, to St.
Louis, which, after a few years, they accomplished, creating the St.
Louis Narrow Gauge, and after a few more years, changed it into a
standard gauge, which is now the Cotton Belt.
I trust the reader will not consider me egotistical, but I have always
taken a great pride in the belief that I was perhaps instrumental in
having one of the great lines of railroad built from our State to St.
Louis. Had I not suggested this excursion to Texas by these St. Louis
people, which was altogether a new idea with Paramore and his friends,
the St. Louis Narrow Gauge might never have been built. It was only
through just such men as Paramore that great enterprises are started in
their infancy and carried to a successful realization.