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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1902)
Home Life of Steel Trust Magnate Charles M. Schwab A r, T ' .i PI IT . 5r it - SCHWAB'S HOME, SITUATED OX A HI!. OVERLOOKING LORETTO AND THE. VALLEY. MR. AND MRS. SCHWAB DRIVING OVER THE ROAD ALONO WHICH HE ONCE DROVE COACH. i r 7-- j : .. j ir zzzts. - .it.- .: ' . 5 It J MARTIN SCHWAB, AN UNCLE, IN FRONT OP THE LIVERY STABLE SCHWAB S FATHER RAN. " '-J" """" 1 11 - """"" " ""--f!' tT! ' ! 1 i I f! - f !k',f E1 " f ' -SC.':!)' J u PADDY MORAN, THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH, WHO WAS A BOYHOOD FRIEND OF SCHWAB. mm U 1U. rl.. D0DI. D. BDflClKl OI DUHinPHl. lnflri IS DO fllRH flV AnVWHArA. rmmiul - 1 - a ..... I . I CorreaDondencc of Th. Be-In EvorTthln 1. .tmnlicltr and old .tVl.. i.- " . ' ".v!. .D" C 'ege lf . greet ?. tall, thin, hollow-cheeked man who be- time 'round and the old gentleman spurted I IJ ...... .1 ... ' . T. " . "I ! ' . " i.i:uer. oromeri lnomas neves in taking life easy. He lives In a as ha Mm. 'rnnnH th. nnrn, .n lais inn viiingf on me cresi 01 mere is no oiner man me granite cnurcn and Ambrose mn fc , . . , . ; , , the Allegheny mountains Charles for miles around. There la no need of an- w- .t. ... v ""UBO i '". wnicn we Knowea it mere he was over the line 7 b u w . . . .1 n .t. .7 V ui grwwuDciB win mey is siocKea with groceries, worth DerhaDS M Hfhwah la lint nlaln Charlie nthnr. Nn nnrann not a Pathnllo tin over - .. . ... liuapo. o v v 1. V, .11 Tt , R,cw u ,u luo ' nousenoia and are JaOO. The success of his old crony has W- ... . v , . , t 1 .Vk ln,Loretto- f:unded ,10? ne"ly ! ame age-and they chat and aroused no envy In his heart On the He Is called that by almost all of Ln- years ago by the famous prince-priest laugh over the days when they stole apples other hand he Is oulte contented with his retto". 300 Inhabitants, who live their Demetrius Gallltiln. It Is noted In church and pitched horse shoes and slept to" lot He says- wlt contemplative days In real Pennsylvania history as the home of Catholicism In west- eether "who. aI i .t.. 1 . r, ., . .. vlllaw style, scattered alonK a single crn Pennsylvania. t . h. ..d 1 Ahlnk of Charlle! .CharUo The people of Schwab's boyhood home hl8 parent, an(1 B,gter. Tn e,ther mt,e " uu uiui or ne on mem, ana, as m the days 1 a rather have the appetite or me long, long thoughts." It Is "pappy" and "mammy" and "Gertie." "2apit" and "Mammy" Srbwab. John Schwab, the father, Is the nabob of Loretto. He Is the richest resident, Its of shaded street that runs the length ridge. have one predominant trait of living to The backs of the houses rest on the hill gether as one family, entirely under th-) slopes, and the occasional visitor must spiritual, and largely under the material, perforce run the gauntlet. He cannot stroll guidance of Father Klttel, the Franciscan around the town except In the light of brothers at the college and the gentle sls- publlclty. ters of the convent. At one end of the mile-long thorough- Their other characteristics are those of fare stands a church not the usual villagers whose only link with the outside only retired merchant. All the rest have wooden structure of the sleepy, slow-going world is the now famous stage line running to keep right on trying to scrape In the village, but granite, large and Imposing, twice a day to Cresson, the nearest railroad pennies tnat are sufficient unto the By Its side, sheltered in a grove Is a con- point, six miles away. They are simple Several years before his son had managed vent for Sisters of Mercy. tance away, down In the valley red building of St. Patrick's college peeps laughin' and shoutin' at Charlie, he still runnln.' 'Guess your old pappy can run a little yet, even If he is 65.' " Charlie Schwab didn't begin to make the acquaintance of his staunch friend "Paddy" Moran and other Loretto folk until he was 12 years old, when his father moved here from Williamsburg, bought out Loretto's only livery stable and ran the stage be- Among me Schwabs there Is a strong tween Cresson and St. Augustine, carrying bond of appreciation. Between the Schwabs passengers and mall. Charlie left Loretto o? fHnaM . V T 18 8trnK Ue ,n 1880 and went t0 Braddock, but despite of friendship, and the townsmen and ad- tn6 fact that he spent only six years here Srrll."Thh.t " Ut t0 fl0V brimful of stories of hi. boyhood Charlie Schwabs house" whenever they dav feel like it. aa' t jjureiiu is iDsisieni on one point ana ae- tne t ... v.. .il . . . . uwi ciiu is lusmieui on one poini ana ae- day ra '.r- T 'Ju'ySchwb heard th.t mands the visitor's minute attention to it. ri . ... . ames Beck, Farmer Rudolph and u ia tnt Charlie didn't d rive thA atapa " " vwu- r J - - ' -o-- ma -nanas, tne storekeeDer of nmnifernna . A short dls- minded, simple In their needs, open hearted to creep very far up the ladder In Brad- farae and all the rest were lero"s nearly as much as contemporary chronicles ey. the brick and as unaffected as the day 1. long. dock, John, by means of a livery business he went t0 tn6 ct d "bountiful rePreeeV .. U-k. 1 M ol W ...I...,. an1 s farm n inaalho. . i.kl. ' "uu Sul UOUU11IU1 Aprnrrtlnir tn T.nrottn ta Jn.i. ..I. from many trees. At the other end of the street, on an other knoll, commanding, like the church, a superb view, reaching to the hazy moun tain ranges far away, is a handsome house In the center of a scrupulously kept and picturesque estate of 100 acres. This and the church certainly seem out When Charles M. Schwab arrives here no one stands In awe of him, notwith standing the fact that he has been the only man who ever went out from Loretto and amassed great wealth. When h drives along the street "Paddy" Moran, as typical an Irishman as ever said 'Oi," waves a forge-begrimed hand at his boy hood companion and yells, "Hello, Charlie; a farm, got together a comfortable lmnl, of -... " u"uu"lu According to Loretto he drove only when for use In his declining years; .0 now .,, refrBBllrnon,. d, T ne felt llke lt . .uHv muuj .iiui a u ut- and sum he divides his time between his home and reading the papers In company with host O'Donnell, seated on the latter's roomy porch. John Schwab Is 65 years old, but his six feet of spare body remain as straight as ' an arrow and not a gray balr shows In his or when his father was short of place and certainly are out of tone with how be T" Mri- Margaret McElhenny. black hair and beard. He is of few word. their humble surroundings. For every thing else Is as It should be In an unpro gres.ive country town. The weather beaten blacksmith shop of "Paddy" Moran Is Just across the street from the village's finest house, that of John, father of "Charlle" Schwab. Corpulent and puffing "Charlle" O'Donnell's inn, nearly all porch which circumstance ia held to be a bless ing by the town loungers adjoins Wha len's livery stable. Many circus posters adorn the stable front, and In such largo types are they printed that the entice ments they set forth can be deciphered from "Ed" Shields' general merchandise store snd "Lltilmaler's Omniterous store, estab. A. D. 1837," on the other aide of the street. This ancient business always has occupied the same building, a small, one story affair pathetically in need of a coat of paint and many repairs. W. C. Schwab's little grocery store is "up the street a piece," and there, too, la the postofflce, stuck In a corner of an otherwise aban doned dwelling. Loretto's oldest Inhabitant, greets him with. "Well, Charlie boy, I'm right glad you're back," when Mr. Schwab makes his usual call at the McElhenny home. The old lady then passes a pleasing half hour telling her rich guest all about how her muscular rheumatism Is as bad as ever, how the old cow kicked over a bucket cf milk last night and that the "father" dropped in to see her the other day. And she never falls to mention "My Mary, who died while you was down In Braddock, and was Just about your age; and do you re member she used to play with you?" Even the whittlers of boxes In front of the stores sing out, "Hello. Charlie!" "Howdy, Charlle." and Inclined to be taciturn even with his best friends. He attained his education by experience and has allowed himself to be burnished by occasional Journeys Into the world. He Is a devout Catholic; some representative of the church can nearly always be found under the Schwab roof. The mother Is the opposite of her hus band. She is typically German. Her fig ure is short and stout, her face round and full and her complexion and hair fair. She Is exceedingly affable. The villagers say that "Charlie takes after his mother In everything except his nose," which is prominent, like his father's. All the other and children Mary, who took the veil years ago, and Joe and Gertrude are more like their father. scribes feelingly as "simply illgant." To "Paddy's" mind, however, the foot races were the best of the whole evening. "The way they began was this." says "Paddy." "Two farmer lads went up to Charlie's man that they call a butler, and says, 'can you run some?' " 'I can that says the butler. 'I'm a One sprinter,' he says. "Then the boys go to Charlie. 'Your but ler says be can run some,' they says. " 'Does he?' says Charlie; well, if he can beat you boys I'll give him $20 he says. of "hands.1 Charlie couldn't have drtvL. 1 regularly, or often, and attended school aniPr college at the same time, Loretto explains. After Schwab left the "common" school where he wasn't a particuarly shining mark, and where the untruthful dime novel appealed to him quite as much as the vora cious spelling book, he went under the care of the brothers at St. Francis' college. Here Charlie took a lively Interest in things and soon became the head of his class. He had to work, though, to keep the honor, for Harry Flick was his close and constant competitor. Charlle Schwab replies In kind. Except their father. tween Charlie and his father John. 'Tws for the big house on the hill his life wheu The parents are averse to talking about a lht I'll never forget. 'I can beat you ne comes Da ex ncre is airaosi as simple as ineir xamous son. They look askance on ruuulu' pappy,' says Charlie. In his boyhood days. every stranger who knocks at the door of He still goes over to the Flick (arm on their comfortably furnished house. Mr. the town's edge, not as in the days of his Schwab says that of course he Is proud of youth to seek out Harry and Frank Flick his son and his success. Mrs. Schwab ac- and go fishing, gunning or '"coon hunt- qulesces, but says no more. Tbey never ing witn tnem, out 10 leu meir gray- nave expressed themselves further than So the butler has to get out snd run T'""'y and Bluff. Charlie gives him a good start on the The gentle Brother Ambrose says that lads and then yells 'go They llckety Schwab, during his two years at college, split lit to kill down the road through was noted mainly not for special intellec Charlie's big yard, with Charlie yellln' like tual acumen, but for bulldog tenacity and mad at his man, to run harder. But what. In these modern days, is called "bluf twasn't no use. The lads run the butler off fing." These two characteristics, the brother hit feet and got the money. declares, put and kept Charlle at the head "C harley" and "Pappy" Harr. of his class. But you should have seen the race be- 'Charlie especially likes arithmetic." Brother Ambrose explains. "Generally it waa easy for him, though sometimes it wasn't. But If it wasn't, Charlle would 'Ah, go on, Charlie says the old gentle- never ,et on that he didn't know his prob- doe; busing oid met who" b .J'i. .L "l"!'! IJL' will limrud.. . iiuui iii iuv airvi uima m uiiuuun, wuen iu aisivr, laia ui uer Dromer, lor Whom man " 'But. I can,' says Charlie, 'three times 'round the house.' " 'Done says the old gentleman, and they pull off their coats. " 'Go says somebody and ntt Ik.. . . " &w lems. Instead, he'd a-o to the blackboard and mark away with might and main. And he wouldn't stop until he had solved the problem, or had convinced us that be knew how to get the right answer. in all things Charlie was a boy who at farm In a- and moved to town alt In tha . ----- . tor wnom "'c,'uuu7 cueep oi farming and moved to town, sit In the n , former tchoolmate has seen to It that she often acts as secretary. "He has Charlie!' shouts hospitable doctor's chair, and sun them- ,hey have good po,uloni clerki. ke(, u, to y BothlnE.. Jey John ahouu , The only Schwab who will say anything twice 'round, keepin' pretty even- it was Vh about "Charlie" Is "Will." and he says c'P and tuck and us shoutin' like lnluo. ,0 pl little. "Wlll"-chrlstened William C.-ls But darned If Charlie didn't weaken third He still goes to the homes of Charlie A Place of simple Ho aura. Adelsberger and Charlie Yinger, also old- Homes sre aa unostentatious as the places time chums, for the same reason, and he everyDoay cheeHn' like mad. 'Hurrah for ,,ever Ba'i I don't know.' He went on some one, and 'beat him principle of 'pretend that you know, others. Well, thev run a 11 aon flnl out mighty quick.' " une ne was at college Charlie learned ay the piano. Father Bohn, the col- (Contlnued on Eighth Page.)