ROMANCES OF OUR OWN TIMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 46

ROMANCES OF OUR OWN TIMES.

TRUE STORSES FROM REAL UFE.

By A. 0. Tibbits, AuthoT of " The Meredyih Mystery," " Fight ing a Lie," etc., etc., in Cassell's Journal.

A CONJURER WITH MILLIONS. George Hudson's railroad to iu,in.

One heavy, sultry July day in 1865 a dingy f ourwheeled cab might have been seen to approach York Castle and draw up at a grim, deep-set, massive wooden door, thickly studded with lusty metal knobs, and with a barred opening in its higher part to admit of its custodian's .scanning any would-be visitor who sought admission. The cab was hardly at a standstill before its door was flung open and a man sprang out. A dismal, harsh jar of clanging in the ! interior of the gloomy building resounded i to his pull at the bell-handle, footsteps | aivoronehing nearer and nearer echoed down flagged corridors, and a whiskered face appeared at the grating. There was a clatter of kej s, the noise of bolts shooting back, the grim door slowly opened, and the man, hastily retreating to the cab, spoke to someone inside. Two others then descended from the vehicle and walked into the prison. The cab had brought a prisoner to the castle. He was a stout man of more than middle height, and of ungainly figure. He walked with short quick steps, assisting the progress of the unwieldy body with the short le^s by vigorous workings of his arms. His head, deep set on Ms shoulders, \va<3 lavgo and round, and as he took off his hat, he | showed bub a few straggling grey hairs upon i it. His forehead was broad and somewhat high, his eyes grey, small and penetrating, the mouth firm and resolute, pud the general cast of features haul and rugged. \ It was a severe, hard, powerful face, but one which, when the firm mouth relaxed into a smile and the grey eyes lit up with animation, was good-humoured and pleasing ! enough. It was firm and harsh now in the gloom of despair which had settled upon it. This man was Georgi Hudson, Hie " Railway King," the man who, but a short while back, numbered piinces and the richest in the land among his friends ; the man whose name was but a year or two before potent to conjure forth millions of pounds from John Bull's purse ; the man in whose honoui the bells of York had on three occasions peeled forth hailing him as its lord mayor. He was now being taken to Yoik Lastle, a prisoner for debt. " You will remember, Mr Hudson,' a certain duke is reported to have remarked to him when irritated by some brusqucness on the big man's part, "that you are of very humble origin." " I remember everything, my lord," Hudson answered, " and am not likely to forget that fact. I also remember that a month or tAvo ago I advised you as to a speculation upon which, as prices now stand, you should have made something like £30.000. I hope

your lordship's memory is a 8 good as mine."

Hudson's origin was, indeed, humble enough, and little calculated to lead one to anticipate the part he would subsequently play on the public stage. He was born at Horsham, a little village near York, being the son of a small fanner who also acted as head constable of the place. At 14 young Hudson became apprenticed to a draper in York, and by 1825 the youthful assistant had so impressed Ins employers by his energy and shrewd business qualities that he was token into partnership, and the legend, " Nicholson and Hudson " appeared over the shop in College street.

Wealth seemed attracted to Hudson, as steel flies to a magnet. By the time he was 27 the poor boy had become rich. Then a distant relative died and left him £30,000, and 10 years later he was one of Yoik's wealthiest, most prominent, and most honoured citizens.

But the flourishing draper's active mind was by this time contemplating a new field for speculation, one which afforded visions of Avealth to be acquired, before which the profits of all other schemes dwindled into insignificance. The first railway in Great Britain — the Stockton and Darlington— had been opened in 1825, and since that time the iron rail had been gradually extending its octopuslike tentacles over 'many parts of the kingdom. Now someone suggested the formation of a line from York to certain parts of the West Riding, and Hudson, attracted by the scheme, devoted all his attention to it. It met with his entire approval. He threw himself into the matter with all his usual fierce energy, vigour and enthusiasm, and when the railway— the York and North Midland— was opened on the 29th of May, 1839, he was appointed chairman of the company. Henceforward railways claimed him for' their own. The line became a great success. The public were eager to invest money in concerns which promised such large returns, and Hudson was determined that they should not be disappointed. The next railway scheme with which he was connected was that of a line joining Edinburgh with Newcastle and Darlington. He became chairman of the company, and a year or two later chairman of what was soon to become the Midland Railway Company. Then "the little fat chap," as George Stephenson described him was fairly launched on his extraordinary career.

"The speed of the railway train moy be wonderful enough, bub Hudson's quickness in grasping a scheme is more wonderful still," one who met him declared. And the boldness of a scheme never staggered Hudson. Very soon the appearance of " the littlo fat chap" in a rural district was a premonitory sign that a railway was coming through those parts. No one ever was equal to him as a surveyor, and no one could so quickly overcome the objections of wealthy squires to a railway being driven through their land. " If anyone comes to me and wants to run j a railway through my estate — there's a duck j pond," 'exclaimed a big landowner warningly vrhen it was hinted that a piece of land ! might be wanted from him. " I'll go and dine with him," Hudson said when it was reported, and he went. He got the land. By 1844 Hudson was chairman 'of almost all the railway companies in the kingdom. Every company he became connected with apparently became immediately prosperous. No railway scheme wos complete unless Hudson, the "Railway King," was at its head, and his name wars accepted without j question as a guarantee of success. The shares in new concerns went up with a bound as r-oon as it was known that the " Railway kinj/ " had undertaken to pilot them. The £25'"'shaies in one line leapt up to £30 premium as soon as it leaked out that Hudson was interested in it..

Dazzled by the apparent immense returns on the money invested, the British public went nearly mad in their eagerness to obtain shares in the projects pub forward. So anxious were they to buy that police had to keep the streets clear leading to the stock exchanges. Al Leeds it was no uncommon thing tor over 100,000 shares to be sold in a day. \ml George Tlwnsori was the one man who practically held the biggest companies in the hollow' of his hand. Befogged and bewildered by the vastness of the schemes they were supposed to wipervise, Hudson's brother ."Ineetors on (he boards of which he was chairman were treated by him in the most contemptuous style. i W alien « into the b->c.vd room of a company j one day ,"'lo found the assembled directors j awaiting him, grave, sclent, and suspicious. "Well, gentlemen, how now? Has anything happened?" he osked. "Only this, Mr HiuLon," replied one, iv^o. bolder tK n tlio vest, constituted liimself the .speaker f -r them : " as we arc equally vespcmsiMc vith yimrs-ilf for what is done, we' want to know vrhxl ycur pl-ms are for

the, future "You do, do you? retorted Hudson '■Then you won't know anything about them ! " -A nil before Ihc wrath of the ""Railway King" the board meekly subsided to business. That Hudson could so e^ily poiviadt^or bully people into calm submission, which left 'him untiammelled to do what he liked will* the concerns lie clonnnolocl, is the more renrvrkablc from (ho ficl (hat very eaily in his c.iroor as " Ruilva-v King " there were hints that accounts is^ncl under his direction wore not always to be trusted. When he became chairman of the North Midland he ridiculed the manner in which he found the books kepi, and, os if to show his contempt, actually sold the account paper he found in the office. "Good accounts," vnute one of Hudson's critics sarcastically, "are troublesome things to keep, and occsionallv cause trouble to the parties of whose affairs they arc the registers. The true chandler's-fihop system is°to keep no bolts at all. A cross for a halfpenny, a down stroke for a penny, a little o for a sixpence, and a larger one for a shilling, all in' chalk, on a board or cupboard door, constitute the acounts of many a money-getting shopbeper ; and this, we doubt not, would suit well the purposes of some of the ralwavß. Chalk is easily rubbed

out and put in again, ink is a permanent

nuisance. "One great company is reported at on© time to have used pencils for their figures in preference to ink, which, we presume, mnst have been for the sake of convenience." In spile of such croakers, however, Hudson was now at the zenith of his power. In 1845 he was elected member for Sunderland, was reported to be worth over a million and a-half, possessed magnificent estates, and to his mansion at Albert Gate, Knightsbridge, all the titled and wealthy folk of London eagerly crowded when the " Railway King " issued his invitations to one of the gorgeous banquets in which ko delighted. Somebody who met Mr Hudson only once, relates how he saw him on that occasion drinking coffee and chatting to three gentlemen the while. They were three dukas — the Dukes of Richmond, Buckingham,, and Newcastle. The short, stout, hard-featured, and roughmannered ex-draper was run after and courted by everyone, in the hope of receiving hints of new projects in which the lucky forewarned one might buy shares before the rush of the general public began. At last, however, the crash came. The accounts of the Eastern Counties Railway Company being gone into, revealed some startling facts. Dividends had been paid out of capital, losses had been carefully, globed over, the figures had been manipulated so as to be entirely untrustworthy. These disclosures gave the death-blow £o Hudson's imputation. The books of company upon company with which he was concerned wore found to be in a similar condition. Confidence was destroyed, a panic ensued, and the railway bubble was burst. Shares went down ,vith a tremendous rush. People were now as eager to get out as they had formerly been to purchase in, and in a month or two the shares of ihe 10 leading companies had depreciated in value by £78,000,000! People who had dreamt that they, possessed stock which represented fortunes found themselves suddenly ruined and penniless. A wild shriek of rage rose from every corner of the land against the man in whom the public had placed such blind faith, but whom they now regarded as having deluded nnd fleeced them for his own personal gain, and ereiy finger was pointed in scorn at the "big, swollen gambler," as Carlyle called him. He resigned his post as chairman on all the companies he was connected with, and. announced his determination to pay off the half million of money for Avhich he was held personally responsible, if time were allowed Mm. Criminal proceedings were whispered aa being about to be taken against- him, but investigations on the whole seemed to show that, although his manipulation of accounts had been most reprehensible, Hudson had not exercised his. power for his own benefit.. He seemed to have a hearty, honest, belief that his schemes would ultimately proye succesful, and his wealth was nothing like what it might have been had he sought but to enrich himself r.fc the public expense. One night, later, he appeared in the House of Commons. Ko friends now thronged round the once mighty man .whose word had so often been regarded as a key to fortune, no one offered him a hand ; he was met by silence and coldness. Ungreeted by j any he took his seat and waited till an ' opportunity was offered him to rise and endearour to explain his conduct. With linn-set face, gleaming eyes, and his long arms waving with ungainly gestures, the deposed "Railway King' defended himself. He was never a very good speaker, and now his voice came rasping, hoaise, in sharp, shot-forth words, formng frequently ill-arranged and ungrammatical sentences. . The House heard him to the end in frigid silence. Two .years later he left England in the vain endeavour to find fortune on the continent. Returning, he was in 1865, as we have seen, conveyed a prisoner to York Castle for debt, where he lingered for some months. IV, is pleasing to record some gleam or sunshine to gladden and cheer the heart of the old man despairing in the gloom of his last years. In 1868 some friends subscribed a sum of £5000, with which they purchased him an annuity, and in the following year Sundcrland' entertained him at a banquet, in recognition of his services to the town and poi+ " He died on (V"W 1^U.1871.

- One in a Thousand.—" And your wife aimed ot and strnclc your head with tho onp?" "Yes, sir."' "Well, then, all I have fo say is that you should be very proud of her. "Most women would have failed •tthere your wife succeeded."

— JuuVe: "And what did the prisoner say v-lieifyou told him that you would have him arrested?" Complainant: "He answered mechanically, yer honor. Judge :1 "Explain." Complainant : "He hit me ca the head with a hammer."