The Omaha Sunday Bee
PARTJIU
HALF-TIME SECTIOII
PACKS 1 TO
No Filthy Sensation
THE OMAHA DEE
Best tlT. West
VOL. XXXVII NO. 23.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 24, 1907.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
HENRY W. YATES HONORED DEAN OF NEBRASKA BANKERS
Active Career of a Man Who Has Been Conservative and Successful Because He Was Not Too Conservative During the Years When Omaha Was Growing from Village to Metropolitan Proportions
N OLD Persian proverb says: "Be bold, be bold and ever-
Amore be bold; but be not too bold." Change this proverb
somewhat materially and make It read: "Be conserva
tive, be conservative and evermore be conservative; but
be not too conservative," and you have a summing up of
the character of Henry V. Yates, president of the Nebraska Na
tional bank and dean of Nebraska bankers. Moderate conservatism
is a virtue in any man, but In a banker it is the sine qua non, the
indispensable quality. The progressive conservatism of Henry W.
Yates Is what has raised him from the position of a bookkeeper to
that of president of one of the foremost banking institutions of the
west. During forty-five years he has been a prominent figure in the
banking interests of Omaha and today at the age of 70 he occupies
a position as leader. In a crisis It is his cool brain which masters
the situation and makes him a dominant force In conserving the
delicate financial machinery of business.
Though Henry W. Yates is a banker by profession, the tale of
his life's activities has by no means been told when that is said. He
is a man of remarkably wide and multitudinous interests. He lives
his life in the broadest sense. It is not measured by the bounds
of the counting room. From 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. he davotes his atten
tion to business. But when the bank's doors close behind him a
little door in his brain closes on a certain compartment and he
thinks no 'more of notes and discounts until he returns the next
morning. He diverts his attention to church affairs, in which he is
prominent; to literature, which he admires; to social pleasure,
which he enjoys, or to sports, of which he Is passionately fond. Of
these things more will be said later.
He had the advantage of being born poor. His father, William
Joseph Yates, was a mechanic in Leonardtown, Md., where Henry
was born January 1, 1837. The boy attended the village schools
a short time and then his parents moved to Washington, D. C. There
be had the privilege of three additional years of instruction and
that was the extent of his education so far as schools could give
it to him. Though he was only 11 years of age when he graduated
into the world, he had already shown those strong qualities of mind
which have been conspicuous ever since in all his dealings. He had
won a medal for scholastic excellence and he was chosen from among
all the Washington school children to make the Fourth of July ora
tion In Arlington cemetery. He was the juvenile hero of that day,
and after delivering his oration he had the honor of being con
ducted before President Millard Fillmore and Introduced to him.
The president shook hands with the boy and said a number of
pretty things, which are not forgotten even to this day.
Trained in Country Store
At the age of 14 years he took a position in a country store,
where he continued as clerk and bookkeeper until he was 21 years
old. During all this time he pursued .his studies, reading at night
and at hours when his time was not taken .up by work, storing up
Information which would come useful in the future.
A boyhood friend of his, James C. Greenwell, had been in the
west and had returned to Maryland. He told Mr. Yates of the
, country, and Mr. Yates decided it was good enough for him. He
resigned his place in the country store and with a little money he
had saved started westward. He made the trip by rail, though In
those days bridges had not been built and at all the big rivers it
was necessary to detrain and cross by ferryboat. He arrived in St.,
Louis in the spring of 1858. It was not a large city then, but he
declares the busy sight along the river, where at that time there
were hundreds of steamers loading and -unloading, was one never
to be forgotten. Within two dajs after his arrival he assumed his
duties as a clerk in the wholesale drygoods house of Pomeroy &
Benton. He remained there one year and then went to Savanna,
Mo., ten miles from St. Joseph, to accept a position as bookkeeper
for the wholesale grocery firm of Nave, McCord & Co.
He had been in the employ of this firm only two years when it
was decided to establish a branch house in Omaha. So well had he
made his abilities felt that he was sent to manage the Important
work of establishing the branch. The steamer Omaha was char
tered, loaded with groceries and everything needed by overland
emigrants, and with Mr. Yates in charge it sailed up the Missouri
river. The trip to Omaha took eleven days. Harry Deuel was
steamboat agent at the port of Omaha when Mr. Yates arrived with
his cargo. A frame one-story shanty on Farnam street, between
Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, was rented by Mr. Yates and
the stock of goods was Installed. The firm did a large business from
the beginning.
Wedded Forty-Five Years
In the spring of 1862 Mr. Yates returned to the main house in
Savanna and on April 22 of that year he was married to Miss Eliza
Barr Samuel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Warren Samuel,
pioneers of Missouri. Mr. Samuel was at that time a banker in
Savanna and later became very wealthy.
Mr. Yates' banking career began in the fall of 1863, when he
received the offer of a position from Kountze Bros., bankers. In
Omaha. He decided to accept and in August arrived and entered
the employ of the pioneer bankers as bookkeeper and cashier. A
sphere of activity fitting his abilities arose at once. Kountze Bros,
wanted to organize under the national banking laws, and the young
cashier completed the organization papers and received a small
allotment of Stock. The First National bank opened for business
August 26, 1863, with Edward Crelghton, president; Herman
KounUe, vice president; Augustus Kountze, cashier, and Henry W.
Yates, assistant cashier. Its banking room was" a small frame struc
ture at Twelfth and Farnam streets, measuring 22x50 feet In the
rear of this room was a safe fastened with a hasp, staple and pad
lock. Two of the bank's employes slept In the building as guards.
Much of the business of the day was done In gold dust. A shelf
which ran along the north and east sides of the room was used to
set the pans of gold dust on. The First National bank soon moved
to its new two-story brick building at Thirteenth and Farnam streets
on the site now occupied by it. Mr. Yates became a director of the
bank soon after its organization and when Augustus Kountze went
to take charge of the Kountze Bros.' Interests in New York he was
made cashier, a position which he held until 1882, when he sold his
Interests, resigned and organised the Nebraska National bank.
Starts His Own Bank
He was only 4 5 years of age when he became the head of this
Institution. He received considerable financial help lu its estab
lishment from his father-in-law. It had a paid-up capital of 1250,
000 at the time it opened for business, April 27, 1882. This was
the largest capital possessed by a Nebraska bank. Samuel R. John
son was president; A. E. Touzalln, vice president, and Henry W.
Yates, cashier! In 1883 Mr. Johnson resigned and Mr. Yates suc
ceeded to the presidency and has held It since then. For a year the
new bank occupied quarters in a building standing temporarily in
the street at Twelfth and Farnam streets. This was only until the
palatial new building, its permanent home, was finished. This build
ing cost 165,000 and is still occupied by the bank.
As stated before, Mr. Yates' life has been broad one, a full
one, a life of honesty, coolness, cheerfulness, a well-rounded life, a
life of modratlon in all things. He seems to personify that "majesty
of calmness" of which William George Jordan speaks in his book
of that title. In times of crisis In Omaha the calm brain and the
cool deliberations of Henry W. Yates have done much to restore
confidence among the bankers and among the people. Never has
a panic arisen of such proportions as to unsettle his equanimity in
the slightest degree, though his Interests are great In the most
troublous times he leaves his office as calm, eats his dinner with as
keen an appetite, spends as happy an evening with his family and
sleeps as soundly as in the days of highest prosperity.
The big financial Institution of which he la the head ii bv no
means the luu and substance of his business interests. He has been
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HENRY W. YATES.
connected with almost every public business enterprise started in
Omaha. With C. E. Perkins as.iiarge W. Holdrege he was one
of the incorporators of the East Omaha Land company, the Nebraska
Telephone company, Carter White Lead company, Omaha Electric
Light and Power company and the Interstate Bridge and Street Rail
way company are Just a few tig enterprises with which he has been
and is closely Identified. He was a charter member of the Omaha
club and has been its president and director; he was a charter mem
ber of the commercial club and of the board of trade.
In banking, his reputation Is national. He was one of the earliest
members of the American Bankers' association, was lta vice-president
for Nebraska several years and for three years a member of its ex
ecutive committee. He was one of the organizers of the Nebraska
State Bankers' association, was the first chairman of its executive
committee and has served several terms as president. The governor
of Nebraska appointed him to address the World's Congress of Bank
ers and Financiers in Chicago during the World's fair. He spoke be
fore that body on "Banking and Resources of Nebraska." He has
also delivered addresses by Invitation before the New York, the Il
linois and the Iowa bankers' associations.
Active in Church Work
If you were to ask Mr. Yates what was his chief interest outside
of banking he would reply unhesitatingly: "The Episcopal church."
He was appointed a vestryman of Trinity Episcopal church in 1866
and has continued in the office shice then. He Is now senior warden.
He was appointed by Bishop Clarkson, treasurer of the Cathedral
chapter of the diocese of Nebraska when the diocese was organized
and continues In that position. He has gone as delegate to a number
of state conferences of the church and has been sent to three of the
triennial general conferences of the Episcopal church.
Mr. Yates has a wide acquaintance with many of the leading
men of the country. He knew Abraham Lincoln personally and vis
ited him in the White House In 1862. He is "a close friend of Grover
Cleveland.
Mr. and Mrs. Yates had eight children of whom five are living.
They are Mrs. Rebecca T. Morgan, Mrs. Florence A. Vops, Mrs. Jen
nie P. Smith, Miss Bessie B. Votes and Henry W. Yates, Jr. The lat
ter Is now assistant cashier In the Nebraska National bank. -
A big stone mansion surrounded by spacious grouuds situated be
tween Thirty-first and Thirty-second street aud between Davenport
and Chicago streets is the Yates home. The grounds are beautiful.
The Interior of the house is palatial but it partakes of the character
of its owner in having about it an air of solidity, of old-fashioned
genuineness and homely comfort. Mr. and Mrs. Yates have honored
and, continue to honor the traditional hospitality of their southern
ancestors in many a social feto and brilliant function in thla beau
tiful home. ,
In His Library
One of the features of the big house Is the library. There he
spends many evenings reading until midnight for he never retires
until that hour. He has gathered about him a great number of vol
umes on the great variety of subjects in which his busy mind Is in
terested. These range all the way from abstruse financial treatises
to no less abstruse theological discussions. Into the lump of these
solid works Is thrown a liberal leavening of poetry, drama and fic
tion. Mr. Yates is a particular admirer of Dickens whose "Pickwick
Papers" he considers about the funniest thing ever published. Of
modern novelists he is also a critical reader. Gilbert Parker and
Margaret Deland are his favorites in this school. He Is also an ardent
devotee of duplicate or scientific whist It is a game which calls for
the use of deep reasoning and long foresight, and for that reason he
enjoys to be pitted against the strongest players.
t Those who read the fact that Mr. Yates was born in 183 5, and
that he Is, therefore, 72 years old, would bo surprised to see the
man. "Seventy years old?" they might exclaim. "Can't fool us. He
Isn't a day over fifty." That straight figure of medium height, that
clear complexion, those keen grey eyes, that full head of thick, iron
grey hair, all give the He to old Time. The springy step of the man
as he walks down to the bank In the morning or his clear laugh as
you talk to him also bespeak the fact that he has "renewed his
youth." There is no secret about this. It's merely fresh air, deep
breathing, plenty of exercise and refusing to worry about anything,
so says Mr. Yates. He has pursued this recipe all his life, and the
living result proves the excellence of tho medicine. Mr. Yates gets
much of his exercise by walking to and from the bank. He Is also a
great admirer of the horse and a lover of horseback riding. He la
a well known figure about the city on his handsome saddle horse.
Frequently he rides to and from the bank. Ho Is also devoted to
hunting and, fishing. He was one of tho organizers of the Dome Lake
club, about twelve years ago. This club has a handsome house at
the summit of the Big Horn mountains, where fish and game are
plentiful. ,
Has No Motto
The biographers of successful men habitually delight to quote
the motto which has been the guiding star of the man, or they
recount how he saved every dollar In his youth and then used his
savings to advantage when the opportune moment came. Henry W.
Yates had no motto, so far as Is known, and as for saving every
dollar and denying himself all the luxuries and many of the neces
Bltles in his youth, he only laughs at the system and unblushlngly
confesses that be spent every dollar he earned. It Is typical of the
broadness and fullness of his life that he acted thus. He did not
believe in the reasoning of that man, who, veracious authors tell us,
pounded his thumb with a hammer In order to feel how good it fel
after the -pounding was over, but rather in the philosophy, "Let us
live while we live."
This little trait is hown In the matter of vacations. Employes
of Nave, McCord & Co. worked fifty-two weeks a year before Mr.
Yates Joined the firm. After that they took vacations. He also in
troduced the vacation habit Into early Omaha. Today he stands for
the same.
"A man cannot do his best work if he always keeps his nose to
the grindstone," he says. "I Insist and have always insisted on my
employes taking vacations. I had to stand for this right when I first
came to Omaha, and had to fight for it. When I had employes of my
own I insisted no less strongly on vacations. If a man didn't want
to take one I made him take it. I didn't want a sick man around and
without a rest he would be a sick man."
In addition to the recipe for perpetual youth' given above there
is another in which Mr. Yates is a firm believer. This Is work. "Many
of our pioneers are now dead simply because they stopped working,"
he declares. "They retired and simply because they had lived sixty
or seventy years they let the feeling take possession of them that
they were old. The business man should stay in the harness and pull
easily, but seriously and steadily, as long as he lives. That's the only
way to be happy and to stay young."
Ben T. Halliday Pioneer of the Great Overland Trail
THE death of Jesse Holllday in Chicago
last month removes the last of the Hol
llday brothers, famous as founders of
the pioneer transporatlon systems of
the west. Jesse Holladay survived his
brother, Ben, a score of years, dying at the age
of 82. Ben was the elder and was more widely
known than Jesse in the overland stage days.
Yet the latter was second only to the elder in the
achievements of bis time.
Ben and Jesse Holladay were western boys,
born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and raised in
Independence, Mo. ' Jesse, being 82 years old
when he died the other, day, must consequently
have been born In 1826, and you can safely bet
that In those days Independence, Mo., waa pretty
close to the frontier.
So these two brothers who were destined to
play such an important part in the subduing of
the west must have been quite young men when
they began their career in the enterprise of pio
neer transporatlon. But from early Infancy they
had Imbibed the spirit of the west andNiv ere no
doubt well equipped for the daring life they were
destined to lead.
They began with freighting and marshaled a
great array of bull trains and bullwhackers." A
picturesque life was that of the western bull
whackers of fifty odd years ago. It was fraught
with hardships and dangers; but the hazard waa
not quite so great as that attending the life of the
pony express rider and the overland stage driver,
for the very good reason that the bull teams trav
eled in trains, were more strongly armed and
guarded.
If attacked by Indians It was the habit of the
bullwhackers to "park" their wagons in circular
form, take all their men and stock inside the bar
ricade and then defend it as a fortification. In
this way a few men who were brave, cool and de
termined were able to beat off a comparatively
large body of hosttles. '
A regular bull train of the overland type con
sisted of anywhere from twenty-five to forty
wagons, wlfh six "yoke" joI bulls to the wagon.
For every twenty or twenty-five wagons there was
a mess wagon, which contained the provisions,
cooking and camping outfits of the bullwhackers.
Each train was under the general charge of a
wagon master.
The bulls hauling the wagons were obliged to
subsist enroute upon such grass and forage as
they could browse by the wayside. Along the
river bottoms the feed was always good, but in
crossing the divides tho grazing was ofttimes
found to be very short and the stock suffered
accordingly.
It was one of the regular duties of a wagon
master to start out in advance an hour or so be
fore camping time and ride forward upon his
broncho to pick out a camping place that was well
supplied with grass and water.
It was slow work urging those sturdy old bull
teams across the great plains. Only from ten to
.fifteen miles were made per day, the day's travel
depending upon tho condition of tho trail and of
the weather. During spells of excessive heat but
slow progress could be made, as there was danger
of overheating the stock.
It used to take about three months for one of
these bull trains to trek from Leavenworth, Kan.,
to Salt Lake. In fact, it became a rule to allow
the bulls to take their own time. Each wagon
was loaded to a maximum of six tons. '
But far more hazardous and exciting was the
life of the pony express messenger. It had a very
thin and long-drawn-out line of defense. Of
course, the route was guarded as best it could be
by scouts sent out, from the stations. This method,
however, often proved a doubtful expedient, for
the redskins were always alert, always skulking
about the trail, ready to swoop down upon the
lone messenger flying over the trail at full speed.
The messenger was seldom provided with an
escort; It was a dash between stations and a bold
challenge to fate. But the man was a skilled
marWsman, of bold and dashing courase and an
Indian fighter. He was a picked man, as you
may well believe, who could shoot from the saddle
and kill at a dead gallop. Usually he ran the
gauntlet unscathed, but should he be attacked he
'depended upon the greed and wind of bis pony.
his marksmanship and tojuck generally. It was
a wild and perilous occupation, but it was Just
suited to those bold and fearless men of the
plains.
Then came the great overland stage line. It
was a tremendous undertaking, that spanning of
the Great American Desert, with a string of gal
loping steeds and whirling coaches. But the Hol
ladays Ben and Jesse were born and bred to
such enterprises, knew the great plains and moun
tain ranges like an open book and were imbued
with that dauntless spirit that subdued, by sheer '
pluck and daring, the wildest half of the continent
There were skeptics and knockers even in
, those days, and they made Ben Holladay tired
with their sneers and gloomy forebodings. It
was an era of reckless gambling, and they could
not bluff Ben Holladay worth a cent. On one oc
casion he bet his whole overland stage outfit
against $30,000 cash that he would make the dis
tance between "St. Joe." Mo., and Sacramento,
Cal., within a certain time. And Ben Holladay
won, as he usually did In such cases. It, must
have cost a mint of money to establish that great
line of stases, for thero were no half-way meas
ures entering into any enterprise undertaken by
the Holladays.
Tho coaches were of the best Concord make,
the stock, selected from the best bred roadsters
and the trappings were of the best make. The
drivers were selected from experienced plainsmen;
men not enly bandy with the whip and lines, but
handy with the gun also. It was no holiday
Jaunt, a stage trip over the old overland
trail. Once across the "Big Muddy," it was on
open, .untamed country; great treeless plains
stretching without a break to the western hori
zon. It was so day after day, as the stage rolled
' toward the setting sun, cloudless skies and sun
bathed prairies and matchless star-flecked . heav
ens at night
On and on rolled the stases, Just a halt now
and then to change horses and to take refresh
ments. There was no halt when night came, aud
a passenger must sleep if need be within the
winging, swaying big Concord coacl
The trail struck the Platte river and then shot
onward straight for Pike's Peak, and far out on
the plains the monotony of the level was broken
only by a view of the noble Rocky mountain
range, bathed in sapphire sunlight
There was nothing like dullness about life
along the old overland trail in the days of the
Holladay stage line. ' The business of the line it
self was enough to keep up the excitement But
there was almost an infinite variety of Incident
making up the daily history of the trail. There
was a constant ebb and flow of the human tide
that flowed along the ancient route; trains ot
prairie schooners and bull trains tending hope
fully westward, while moving in an opposite di
rection straggled the homeward-bound disap
pointed ones. Then from the great outlying
regions came scouts, trappers, prospectors, min
ers, Mexicans, Indians and a motley throng. ot
frontier characters, bringing wild talcs of hard
ship, peril, adventure, discovery and hairbreadth
escapes.
Here and there, scattered,at widely separated
points, were stationed squads of troopers, sent
out by the national government to hold the hos
tile red men in check and guard the pioneers
from raids, depredations an(LUloody massacres.
Bodies of blue-coated cavalry traveled long
distances over bleak or blistered plains, encoun
te:lng untold dansers from prairie fire, flood, tor
nado or blizzard, or the more terrible vengeance
of the Indians. Heavily-loaded army wagons
drawn by hardy mule teams wound their way over
plain or divide.
Lifj along the old overland trail was lived in
the midst uf continuous alarms. The line for
hundreds of miles was beset by hostile Indians
and predatory road agents. Among the whites,
too, In that far country every man was a law unto
himself, and the human passions were given the
freest rein. Personal feuds were fouiiht out to
the bitter end und many is the bloody secret held
by tte regions adjacent to that great red way to
the west. But Ben and Jesse Holladay, with thelf
s
(Continued on Page Five.).