Chapter I: Preface

I have been silent for thirty years. During that long period I have taken little part in the public life of the world, have written nothing beyond occasional letters and newspaper articles, and have conversed with few persons, except children in parks and streets. I have found children always sympathetic and appreciative. For this reason I have readily entered into their play and their more serious moods; and for this reason, also, have dedicated this book to them and to their children.

For many years I have been a silent recluse, remote from the world in my little corner in the Mills Hotel, thinking and waiting patiently. That I break this silence now, after so many years, is due to the suggestion of a friend who has told me that the world of to-day, as well as the world of to-morrow, will be interested in reading my story. I am assured that many of the things I have accomplished will endure as a memorial of me, and that I ought to give some account of them and of myself.

And so I have tried to compress a story of my life into this book. With modesty, I may say that the whole story could not be told in a single volume. I have tried not to be prolix, keeping in mind while preparing this record of events, "all of which I saw, and part of which I was," that there is a limit to the patience of readers.

I beg my readers to remember that this book was spoken, not written, by me. It is my own life-story that I have related. It may not, in every part, agree with the recollections of others; but I am sure that it is as accurate in statement as it is blameless in purpose. If I should fail at any point, this will be due to some wavering of memory, and not to intention. Thanks to my early Methodist training, I have never knowingly told a lie; and I shall not begin at this time of life.

While I may undertake other volumes that will present another side of me--my views and opinions of men and things--that which stands here recorded is the story of my life. It has been dictated in the mornings of July and August of the past summer, one or two hours being given to it during two or three days of each week. Altogether, the time consumed in the dictation makes a total of thirty-five hours. Before I began the dictation, I wrote out hastily a brief sketch, or mere epitome, of my history, so that I might have before my mind a guide that would prevent me from wandering too far afield or that might save me from tediousness. I give it here, as a foretaste of the book. I have called it "My Autobiography boiled down--400 Pages in 200 Words."

"Born 3-24-'29. Orphaned New Orleans, '33. (Father, mother, and three sisters--yellow fever.) Came North alone, four years old, to grandmother, Waltham, Mass. Supported self since babyhood. Farmer till 14. Grocer-boy, Cambridgeport, two years. Shipping-clerk, 16. Manager, 18. Partner, Train & Co., 20 (income, $10,000). Boston, 22 ($15,000).

"Established G. F. T. & Co., Melbourne, Australia, '53. Agent, Barings, Duncan & Sherman, White Star Line (income, $95,000). Started 40 clippers to California, '49. Flying Cloud, Sovereign of the Seas, Staffordshire. Built A. & G. W. R. R., connecting Erie with Ohio and Mississippi, 400 miles.

"Pioneered first street-railway, Europe, America, Australia. (England: Birkenhead, Darlington, Staffordshire, London, '60.) Built first Pacific Railway (U. P.), '62-'69, through first Trust, Credit Mobilier. Owned five thousand lots, Omaha, worth $30,000,000. (Been in fifteen jails without a crime.)

"Train Villa, built at Newport, '68. Daughter's house, 156 Madison Avenue, '60. Organized French Commune, Marseilles, Ligue du Midi, October, '70, while on return trip around the world in eighty days. Jules Verne, two years later, wrote fiction of my fact.

"Made independent race for Presidency against Grant and Greeley, '71-72. Cornered lawyers, doctors, clericals, by quoting three columns of Bible to release Woodhull-Claflin from jail, '72. Now lunatic by law, through six courts.

"Now living in Mills Palace, $3 against $2,000 a week, at Train Villa. (Daughter always has room for me in country.) Played Carnegie forty years ahead. Three generations living off Credit Mobilier. Author dozen books out of print (_vide_ Who's Who, Allibone, Appletons' Cyclopaedia).

"Four times around the world. First, two years. Second, eighty days, '70. Third, sixty-seven and a half days, '90. Fourth, sixty days, shortest record, '92. Through psychic telepathy, am doubling age. Seventy-four years young."

It may be a matter of surprise to some readers that I should have accomplished so much at the early age when so many of my most important enterprises were accomplished. It should be remembered, however, that I began young. I was a mature man at an age when most boys are still tied to their mothers' apron strings. I had to begin to take care of myself in very tender years. I suppose my experiences in New Orleans, on the old farm in Massachusetts, in the grocery store in Boston, and in the shipping house of Enoch Train and Company, matured and hardened me before my time. I was never much of a boy. I seem to have missed that portion of my youth. I was obliged to look out for myself very early, and was soon fighting hard in the fierce battle of competition, where the weak are so often lost.

It may be worth while to present here some important evidence of the confidence that was reposed in me by experienced men, when, as a mere youth, I was undertaking vast enterprises that might have made older men hesitate. When I was about to leave Boston in '53 for business in Australia, and organized the house of Caldwell, Train and Company, I was authorized by the following well-established houses of this and other countries to use them as references, and did so on our firm circulars: John M. Forbes, John E. Thayer and Brother, George B. Upton, Enoch Train and Company, Sampson and Tappan, and Josiah Bradlee and Company, of Boston; Cary and Company, Goodhue and Company, Josiah Macy and Sons, Grinnell, Minturn and Company, and Charles H. Marshall and Company, of New York; H. and A. Cope and Company, of Philadelphia; Birckhead and Pearce, of Baltimore; J. P. Whitney and Company, of New Orleans; Flint, Peabody and Company, and Macondray and Company, of San Francisco; George A. Hopley and Company, of Charleston; Archibald Gracie, of Mobile; and the following foreign houses: Bowman, Grinnell and Company, and Charles Humberston, of Liverpool; Russell and Company and Augustine Heard and Company, of Canton.

These were among the best known commercial houses in the world at that time. Any business man, familiar with the commercial history of the modern world, should consider this list fair enough evidence of the confidence I enjoyed among men of affairs. Let me reproduce here--partly as evidence along the same line, and partly because of the value I attach to it on personal and friendly grounds--the following letter from Mr. D. O. Mills:

"NEW YORK, _September 30, 1901_.
"Hon. GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN,
"_Mills Hotel, Bleecker St., New York_.

"MY DEAR CITIZEN:

"The many appreciative notices that have come to my attention of
your distinguished talents of early years lead me also to send you
a line of appreciation, particularly as touching the part played
by you in some of the great commercial enterprises that have so
signally marked the nineteenth century, notably in the Merchant
Marine, and in the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, in the
conception and construction of which you bore so distinguished a
part.

"The present generation, with its conveniences of travel and
communication, can not realize what were the difficulties and
experiences of the merchant and traveler of those early days when
you were engaged in the China trade, and your Clipper Ships were
often seen in the port of San Francisco.

"The long voyage around the Horn, the danger experienced from
sudden attack by Indians while traversing the wild and uninhabited
country lying between Omaha and the Pacific Coast, are experiences
which even an old voyager like myself questions as he speeds
across the continent, privileged to enjoy the comforts of a
Pullman car, and a railroad service that has shortened the journey
from New York to San Francisco from months to a few days. In
recalling the many years of our pleasant acquaintance by sea and
land, not the least is the remembrance of your kind and genial
spirit, and I am glad to see that you have lost none of your
sincere wish to do good.

"With kind regards.
"Very truly yours,
"D. O. MILLS."

Mr. Mills has known me in many walks of life. We have at times walked side by side. At others, oceans have roared between us. He is my friend, and I was glad to receive this kindly word from him, after many long years of acquaintance.

Although I am a hermit now, I was not always so. All who read this book must see that. I spent many happy years in society--and never an unhappy year anywhere, whether in jail or under social persecution; and I have lived many years with my family in my own country and in foreign lands. My wife, of whom I have spoken of in the following pages, passed into shadow-land in '77. I have children who are scattered widely now. My first child, Lily, was born in Boston, in '52, and died when five months old, in Boston. My second daughter, Susan Minerva, was born in '55, and married Philip Dunbar Guelager, who for thirty-six years was the head of the gold and silver department of the Subtreasury in this city. She now lives at "Minerva Lodge," Stamford, Connecticut, with my seven-year-old grandson. My first son, George Francis Train, Jr., was born in '56, and is now in business in San Francisco. Elsey McHenry Train, my last child, now lives in Chicago. He was born in '57. I was able to see these children well educated, at home and abroad, and to give them some chance to see the great world I had known.

A last word as to myself. Readers of this book may think I have sometimes taken myself too seriously. I can scarcely agree with them. I try not to be too serious about anything--not even about myself. When I was making a hopeless fight for the Presidency in '72, I made the following statement in one of my speeches:

"Many persons attribute to me simply an impulsiveness, and an impressibility, as if I were some erratic comet, rushing madly through space, emitting coruscations of fancifully colored sparks, without system, rule, or definite object. This is a popular error. I claim to be a close analytical observer of passing events, applying the crucible of Truth to every new matter or subject presented to my mind or my senses."

I think that estimate may be used to-day in this place. It does not so much matter, however, what I may have thought of myself or what I now think of myself. What does matter is what I may have done. I stand on my achievement.

And with this, I commit my life-story to the kind consideration of readers.

CITIZEN GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN.

THE MILLS PALACE,
_September 22, '02_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE

WHEN I WAS FOUR YEARS OLD. 1833 2
New Orleans then my home--All the family except myself
perish from yellow fever.

CHAPTER II

MY VOYAGE FROM NEW ORLEANS TO BOSTON. 1833 16
Four years old and the sole passenger--Sailors teach me to
swear--My aunt shocked at my depravity.

CHAPTER III

MY BOYHOOD ON A FARM. 1833-1843 21
My grandfather a noted Methodist preacher--My first
money earned.

CHAPTER IV

SCHOOLDAYS AND A START IN LIFE. 1840-1844 35
Leader of the school--George Ripley my school-teacher--Emerson
comes to our village to lecture--Boston visited.

CHAPTER V

EARLY NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 45
How I was reared religiously--Ideas of right and wrong--Things
outgrown.

CHAPTER VI

IN A SHIPPING HOUSE IN BOSTON. 1844-1850 52
A place with my uncle--Progress rapidly made--I sell Emerson
a ticket for Liverpool--I engage Rufus Choate and
Daniel Webster as our lawyers--My first speculation--Building
fast ships.

CHAPTER VII

A VACATION TOUR. 1850 79
In Washington I meet Webster, Clay, and President Taylor--A
letter with their autographs that served me well.

CHAPTER VIII

A PARTNER IN THE LIVERPOOL HOUSE. 1850-1852 90
In Scotland Lord John Russell receives me, and I meet
Lady Russell--Reform in the shipping business--Money
we made--The Duke of Wellington--I visit Chatsworth.

CHAPTER IX

MY COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE--RETURN TO LIVERPOOL.
1850-1852 109
How I first met my wife--Engaged to marry her within
forty-eight hours--Governors in my charge--Our wedding
and the commotion that preceded it--Phrenology.

CHAPTER X

BUSINESS SUCCESS IN AUSTRALIA. 1853-1855 126
A fine income at twenty-one--Melbourne in those days--American
ideas introduced--Accused of stealing $2,000,000.

CHAPTER XI

THE GOLD-FEVER IN NEW SOUTH WALES AND TASMANIA.
1853-1855 141
Lucky and unlucky miners--David D. Porter--Sydney in
those days--Free immigrants--Sir John Franklin.

CHAPTER XII

OTHER AUSTRALIAN INCIDENTS--A REVOLUTION 156
Proposed as a candidate for President--Riotous times--Curious
incidents in business.

CHAPTER XIII

A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 1855 171
Failure of ambitious plans--My first love of flowers--A
remarkable Dutch colony.

CHAPTER XIV

IN CHINESE CITIES. 1855-1856 182
Hetty Green's husband in Hongkong with me--Pirates and
the slave trade--Honesty of the Chinaman--Eating rats--
Pidgin-English--Li Hung Chang on board.

CHAPTER XV

TO INDIA AND THE HOLY LAND. 1856 204
New ideas in religion--My early Methodism recalled--Where
Christ was born.

CHAPTER XVI

IN THE CRIMEA. 1856 215
Plans in speculation that came to naught--The war, and
what I learned of it.

CHAPTER XVII

HOME ONCE MORE, AND THEN A RETURN TO EUROPE.
1856-1857 221
Boston and New York after a long absence--With my wife
I go to Paris.

CHAPTER XVIII

MEN I MET IN PARIS. 1857 226
A ball at the Tuileries--Eugenie very gracious to me--An
unexpected woman comes in--William H. Seward.

CHAPTER XIX

BUILDING THE ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.
1857-1858 237
Queen Maria Christina's fortune employed--Salamanca, the
banker--How I secured a great loan.

CHAPTER XX

A VISIT TO RUSSIA. 1857 249
I carry a message to the Grand Duke Constantine--A dinner
with Colonel Greig--Moscow and the Nijnii Novgorod
fair.

CHAPTER XXI

BUILDING THE FIRST STREET-RAILWAYS IN ENGLAND. 259
A line in Liverpool that still exists--Making a start in
London--Better success in Staffordshire.

CHAPTER XXII

ENGLAND AND OUR CIVIL WAR--BLOCKADE RUNNING. 271
Speeches for the Union in London halls--A plan to end the
war--Lincoln and Seward--Arrested for interrupting Sumner
in Boston--Dining with Seward when Antietam was
fought.

CHAPTER XXIII

BUILDING THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY. 1862-1870 283
Early belief in such a project--The Credit Mobilier and its
origin--Men with whom I was associated.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAR WEST. 1863-1870 293
Plan for a chain of great cities across the continent--The
creation of Omaha--Cozzen's Hotel--Tour of the Pacific
Coast.

CHAPTER XXV

THE SHARE I HAD IN THE FRENCH COMMUNE. 1870 301
In Marseilles I help to organize the "Ligue du Midi" of the
Commune or "Red Republic"--Attacked by soldiers and
almost shot--Imprisoned and poisoned--Deported by Gambetta.

CHAPTER XXVI

A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT. 1872 314
"Train Villa" at Newport--Independent candidate for the
presidency against Grant and Greeley--A tour of the country,
in which I address hundreds of thousands.

CHAPTER XXVII

DECLARED A LUNATIC. 1872-1873 323
I defend Mrs. Woodhull--Arrested and imprisoned for
quoting Scripture--Fifteenth imprisonment without a
crime.