But the young man was not long satisfied to be simply an employé; he would engage in business for himself; and, to that end, bought some cattle in 1873, on his own account, with his frugal savings. He thought he saw in the undertaking a fair prospect of success, which his practical training for the two years previous made a certainty. He not only succeeded, but laid the foundation for a competence. In 1874, Mr. McShane removed to Omaha, but retained his interest in Wyoming. He married on the 25th of April, 1876, Miss Mary M. Lee, daughter of John G. Lee, a resident of the city. She died on the 16th of April, 1884. To them have been born three children, Edward Lee, John A. (who died in December, 1883), and Mary Lee. On coming to Omaha, Mr. McShane quickly determined in his own mind what the prospects for the city were as to its material improvements and increase of population. It is not a matter of surprise, therefore, that "with the energy, quick decision and strong determination for which he is noted, he soon became one of Omaha's most prominent and successful business men, always among the foremost to engage in any project for the development of the city's resources and the promotion of its general welfare.' Mr. McShane retained his interests in Wyoming until -1883, when they were merged in the Bay State Live Stock Company, in 11* "Omaha Illustrated." D. C. Dunbar & Co.; 1888. which he is a stockholder. The herds of this company now number 100,000 head. The Union Stock Yards company, of South Omaha, was organized in 1884 and has 260 acres of land with the improvements valued at $2,000,000. During the past year $160,000 have been spent in improvements, $130,000 in grading, railroad tracks, etc., and enlarging, repairing and building stock. pens, and $30,000 on the addition to the Exchange building. There are forty unloading and twenty-one loading chutes. The daily capacity of the yards is 10,000 cattle, 20,000 hogs, 5,000 sheep and 500 horses and mules. During the year 1888, there were 36,492 cars, containing 340,469 cattle, 1,283,600 hogs, 158,503 sheep and 5,035 horses and mules received, and 14,365 cars, containing 206,064 cattle, 333,228 hogs, 118,208 sheep and 3,799 horses and mules were shipped.† Of these yards, Mr. McShane was one of the original promoters and is president. It is difficult to over-estimate the importance of this "plant" to the material interests of Omaha. It is the foundation of its enormous cattle trade, slaughtering and packing business, all of which are constantly increasing. Mr. McShane was one of the original members of the South Omaha Land Syndicate and is a director therein; he is also a director in the First National Bank of Omaha. Outside of these various enterprises, his time is devoted largely to †The Omaha Daily Bee, December 30, 1888. 684 MAGAZINE oF WESTERN HISTORY. the care of his large real estate in terests. Of vigorous and nervous organization, his capacity for work is almost unlimited. He has all the vivacity, quickness of perception and clearness of mental vision of his race, and they are re strained by sobriety of thought and calmness of judgment, without affecting any of the mere graces; while he possesses, to a rare degree, the faculty of direct, vigorous and persuasive speech. Modest, sincere, generous with his means and liberal in his views and opinions, he inspires all who meet him with confidence in his truth and fair purposes. His chief strength is in organization. He has administered the large interests entrusted to him, not only with fidelity, but with vigor and power, and greatly developed them. His powers were put Mr. McShane has been a successful The nomination as a candidate for This brief account of the career very of Mr. McShane is sufficient to convey an accurate estimate of his character. * "Omaha Illustrated." Already cited. to a most severe test in the canvass which resulted in his election to Congress. The district was overwhelmingly Republican, and his defeat by friends and foes alike was regarded as a foregone conclusion. He was not elected by the enormous majority of over 7,000 votes simply by the unpopularity of his opponent, who was a trained politician, nor by a spontaneous uprising of the people. Of course, the esteem in which he was held, and his popular qualities, made his election possible; but the most thorough and vigorous organization of men and forces alone achieved an astounding result. When he became candidate for Gov- beyond his powers. It was the Presi- party held the Republicans solid together and the field was the State-a region of vast extent with parts of it sparsely populated. It was not possible by any industry or force to reach distant communities. But he succeeded in largely reducing the majority against him. Yet a young man, he has taken rank among the first citizens of Omaha and Nebraska. CONSUL WILLSHIRE BUTTerfield. JOHN BROWN'S LAST LETTER. I have recently seen in the possession of a gentleman residing in Hudson, Ohio, the last known letter ever penned by John Brown, the hero of Harper's Ferry, and I take pleasure in favoring the MAGAZINE OF WESTERN HISTORY with a copy thereof. It is written in a clear, bold hand, that shows that no matter what his feelings may have been as to the doom so soon upon him, his nerves were as true and firm as steel. The document is as follows: "CHARLESTON, JEFFERSON Co., Va. 2nd December, 1859. "LORA CASE, Esq. My Dear Sir: Your most kind and cheering letter of the 28th November is received. Such an outburst of warmhearted sympathy, not only for myself but for all those who have no helper,' compels me to steal a moment from those allowed me in which to prepare for my last great change, to send you a few words. Such a feeling as you manifest makes you to shine (in my estimation) in the midst of this wicked and perverse generation as a light in the world.' May you ever prove yourself equal to the high estimate I have placed on you. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is, as I understand it, an active not a dormant principle. I do not undertake to direct any more about my children. leave that now entirely to their excellent mother, from whom I have just parted. I send you my 'salutation with my own hand.' Remember me to all your and my dear friends. "Your Friend, "JOHN BROWN." Some days previous to the date given above, Brown indited another letter to his cousin, Rev. Luther Humphrey, in which he gave evidence of his highminded and serene willingness to meet the legal penalty of his deeds. In the course thereof, occur these remarkable words: "Whether I have any reason to be of good cheer or not, in view of my end, I can assure you that I feel so, and that I am totally blinded if I do not really experience that strengthening and consolation you so faithfully implore in my behalf. I neither feel mortified, degraded, nor in the least ashamed of my imprisonment, my chains, or my near prospect of death by hanging." JOHN KEITH. THE LOG BOOK. V. THE ARK AND ITS FOUNDERS-WILLIAM AND LEONARD CASE. SINCE the decease of William Case and his brother, Leonard Case,* there is no one living, it is believed, who can write the real and true history of the Ark and its founders. The Ark has a history. These two remarkable men, who were the founders and promoters of the Ark and all that accumulated around and in time grew out of it, ultimately achieved their grand designs in establishing the Kirtland Society of Natural Science, the Case hall, its receptacle, the Case library, and, above all and finally, the Case School of Applied Science. Looking back over fifty years when William Case, imbued with all the ardor of a naturalist and true sportsman, took his first lessons in taxidermy from Professor Jared P. Kirtland and his ingenious friend Captain B. A. Stannard, and mounted his first birds in the Ark, it seems but a natural sequence that as beautiful specimens of the birds and animals of Ohio were brought in, mounted and assigned to their proper places in it, his designs should keep with the accumulating work of his pace hands. When there was no longer room' in the "Old Ark" for his specimens, it was replaced in time by that grand, elabo rate structure known as Case hall. *William Case died April 19, 1862; Leonard Case died January 6, 1880. In 1856 the lot on which the old Ark then stood was sold to the govern ment of the United States, on which was erected the Cleveland customhouse, post-office and United States district and circuit court buildings, all under one roof, and the Ark tempora rily removed to the rear of the Case hall lot. But the work and the farreaching designs of William Case went on. His plans for the erection of Case hall were rapidly matured, and, although he did not live to finish his work, it is well known that his brother, Leonard Case, jr., with a sad heart relig iously carried out and completed his plans to the very letter and the minutest point. Let any friend of progress and science who knew William Case go through that building and see for himself. There is no accident, or evidence of "cut and try" about it. The grand lecture and concert hall, frescoed by the celebrated Italian artist, Garibaldi, so pleasing to the sight, having acoustical perfections so grateful to the ear; the library rooms, so nicely adapted to pub lic and private uses; the spacious hall, wherein are artistically displayed the mounted birds, animals and curious specimens of archæology and nature accumulated by him during many years of patient and unremitting labor, finally donated to the Kirtland Society of Nat ural Science, of which he and his friends and co-laborers, Rufus K. Winslow, Captain B. A. Stannard, Dr. E. Sterling (who remounted and adjusted the numerous specimens where they now are) and many other friends and promoters of that society were the founders and active members; the rooms, numbers 19 and 20, that were reserved and elegantly adorned for the permanent use of the members of the "Old Ark," unmistakably demonstrated the forecast of his liberal, benevolent and active mind. In the meantime, from the day his first specimen was mounted up to the day of his last illness, his activity in public and private life carved out for him a record that will redound to his honor and elicit the gratitude of the citizens of Cleveland beyond the endurance of monumental marble. Prudent and wise in counsel, progressive and enterprising as the chief officer of the city, liberal with his time and money in accomplishing the completion of the two great railroads which gave to the city and the towns and territories through which they passed such lasting prosperity; his directorship in all and his presidency of one would seem enough to exhaust the energies of any ordinary man as devoted as he was known to be to every trust assumed or imposed upon him. But with all these responsibilities on his hands, he never seemed to be pressed for time or lacking for something to do. His splendid nursery and horticultural gardens on the Case out-lots on Lake and St. Clair streets became under his fostering care models of their kind and especially attractive and admired. It was known to a few of his friends that Oliver H. Perry, a great personal friend and companion, and himself contemplated establishing an extensive deer park on the north lake shore road, about a mile or two beyond the residence of Governor Reuben Wood. Negotiations were pending for the purchase of a selected tract of land suited to their designs when the untimely. deaths of Messrs. Case and Perry* closed this grand project. While the original projector and master-spirit of the Ark was thus a busy worker in public and private enterprises, his brother, Leonard Case, jr., after graduating from Yale in 1842, was none the less busy with his books, literature and mathematical studies. One was all business, the other all study, and both eminently social, affable and even-tempered in their intercourse among men. William Case sought recreation in the open air; in his matchless skill with his rifle in pursuit of deer, or his shot-gun in bringing down game birds on the wing in the field, and at the favorite hunting marshes of the famous Winous Point shooting club, of which he was the first president and ardent patron. Here it may be said of Mr. Leonard Case, jr., to correct an erroneous impression of him in the minds of many, that from boyhood up to his return from his visit to Europe with Professor St. John in 1858, he was fond of all athletic sports and excelled in them far beyond the average athletes. He could "walk * Mr. Case died in 1862, O. H. Perry (by railroad accident on Pittsburgh road, near Hudson), December 23, 1864. |