USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Some Fort Wayne phizes > Part 2
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CHARLES M'CULLOCH
H ERE is a man who was one of the first raisers ot shorthorn cattle in the United States. Since Mr. McCulloch started in the banking business he has been raising the surplus of the Hamilton National bank. However, although he is president of the Fort Wayne College of Medicine with doctors all about him, he has not had much success at raising hair on his cranium.
Out on his large farm west of the city on the prairie Mr. McCulloch raises pop corn, umbrellas and the salaries of his employes. He is not really the man with the hoe but he is the man behind the man with the hoe.
He was born in Allen county in the city of Fort Wayne and believes that his parents made no mistake in the location. He says that the reservoir is not a relic of the mound builders because he remembers when it was built. He has been a member of the board of water works trustees and firmly believes in water. He does not float loans with watered stock as security but he waters his stock to the limit on the tarm. Mr. McCulloch was a member of the Fort Wayne city council several years ago and always "points with pride" to the fact that he was never defeated for office. He made a good council- man. He was never spanked and put to bed once while he was a member of that body. He is now president of the Hamilton bank, and a director of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad. He has holdings in most of Fort Wayne's important corporations and does not need to farm for a living. He is interested in many things and, as a result, he is handed interest. It is the interest that makes the hoe go on the farm.
Mr. McCulloch's father, the late Hon. Hugh McCulloch, was secretary of the treasury under President Lincoln.
BACILLUS SITTIWATERCUS
ALBERT H. MACBETH
D R. MACBETH has what the base ball fans call an elegant eye. By getting this optic in conjunction with the business end of a microscope, he can tell the difference between a streptococcus and a coma bacillus as easy as a farm hand can distinguish between a fringe-footed Clydesdale and a muley cow. Dr. Mac- beth is on intimate terms of acquaintance with devil bugs whose names would give a Russian regiment an epidemic of tetanus, In bugology he is past grand master and when he is armed with a formaldehyde syringe the little fellows that cause the ills of humanity flee before his presence or die in their tracks. Before Dr. Macbeth came to Fort Wayne to practice medicine and to be City Health Commissioner he pursued the various sorts of devil bugs "deadly and bemgn," through four or five medical colleges in this country and Europe. He has made life so hot for them that it is now practically ad- mitted that it was a microbe that suggested to Bill Shakespeare the line :
" Macbeth doth murder sleep."
The only kind of a bacteria that ever came uut first best with him is the bacillus automobilensis with which he has been severely afflicted since the advent of the motor car. Besides the elegant eye Dr. Macbeth has a nose of such peculiar construction that he is always able to tell when the garbage man has failed to visit any part of the city for three or four weeks The doctor has one curious fad. He believes in vaccination. The tyrant Nero wished that all Romans had but one neck that he might chop all heads off at once but Dr. Macbeth wants all mankind to have but one arm that he may apply the vaccine virus to the whole community. Strangely enough he thinks, with the other masters of medicine, that this helps prevent small-pox. The worst thing that can be said about the doctor is that he is a bacteriologist.
LOUIS M. BECK
THE picture shows Mr. Beck in the act of asking for fifty cents. The fact is that the money belongs to him as he has already earned it. Don't you think that any man who has the skill to fix up an old, back- number watch so it will tick-tick just as good as new. deserves that much for his services ? Why, of course, you do. Well, you see, Mr. Beck is an expert fixer of watches and clocks and knows a lot more about his busi- ness than many other jewelers do. He has also the ability to select the finest kind of silverware, jewelry, rings, and so on, and if you want to see just how he goes to work to dispose of them, step in and ask him to show you. Mr. Beck came here in 1897 from Peru. Indiana. where he served a complete apprenticeship under one of the finest watchmakers of Switzerland.
Along with all the other things which he does, Mr. Beck contributes continually to the general happiness of folks by supplying them with whatever they may need in the camera line-kodaks, plates, films, tripods, chemicals and all that sort of thing. It seems very likely that if we were to take a popular vote as to what particular invention had lent the most pleasure to the present generation and those to come, we would find that the modern kodak had carried not only its own ward but all the outlying precincts. How we treasure the old faded tintype of grandmother or the defective daguerreotype of great-grandfather, although neither conveys a definite impression of the faces of those whose memories we cherish! How different it will be for those of the future who wish something definite by which to recollect our departed faces-the kodak will have pre- served them in all their various moods and expressions. Mr. Beck, remember. can tell you all about them.
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COFFEE
JAMES M. M'KAY
H ERE we see Mr. Mckay pushing a truck laden with coffee and a few other varieties of breakfast necessities. This little act is in keeping with his past history which has been one continuous roond of posh.
Mr. Mckay came to the United States from Canada, but his name traveled all the way from bonnie Scotland, whence it was brought by his father. The Mckays seem to have become tired of Ontario, as they crossed the border in 1864 and four years later were numbered among the citizens of Fort Wayne. If anyone is sorry they stopped here and decided to stay, we haven't heard them mention it: while on the other hand, we know of a good many who are glad they did, and this includes the Mckays.
Mr. Mckay is a member of the large wholesale grocery house of G. E. Bursley & Co. He has been so established for twenty-four years, during which time that concern has done some good, steady growing, ontil today the aroma of its coffees, its cheeses and its fruits fills this enlightened portion of our commonwealth. Much of this is due to the aforementioned pushing qualities of Mr. Mckay.
As you may rightly judge, the development has not been of the mushroom kind, and yet this Mr. Mckay is a conoisseur of mushrooms. He had to learn this outside of business hours. From his cellar where he cultivates these delicacies have come many a succulent dish to gladden the palates of his numerous friends. Who wouldn't he a close friend of a generous man who knows how to raise mushrooms ?
Mr. Mckay has taken an active interest at all times in the growth of Fort Wayne. Among the concerns with which he is actively identified is the People's Trost Company, of which he was one of the organizers,
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JOHN W. WHITE
I F you want to know how Mr. White would look hxed up in dudish togs, just take a look. Ordinarily, he doesn't dress thusly, but we tried them on just to see how he would appear in them.
Mr. White is one of our most progressive, and, at the same time, conservative, financiers. He is president of the White National bank which he founded with his father in 1892. Mr. White has done other things besides founding a big financial institution. After leaving col- lege he returned to Fort Wayne and was soon made manager of the White Hub and Spoke factory. The factory flourished and greatly increased the value of east side property. The White bank has grown in im- portance and financial worth under his management. After the death of the late R. T McDonald, Mr. White assumed the management of the financial affairs of the Fort Wayne Electric Light & Power Company. He brought order out of chaos and success out of what threatened to be financial failure. His conservative management triumphed. In his business affairs he has retained all ot the triends who were so intimate with his father, the late Hon. James B. White, and has made many new ones.
In social life he is also popular. He is president of the Caledonian club, the Fort Wayne Scotch society, and is a member of the Sons of Veterans. The local camp was named after his distinguished father.
On the links of the Kekionga Golf club he requires the services of an active caddie. Mr. White has not broken as many records on the links as he has sticks, but he plays the game not only because he is a Scotch- man by birth but because he needs the exercise and gets tired counting money all day. He plays golf for the change.
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CHARLES A. WILDING
M R. WILDING is an author. He has written and published a number of books on how to get rich, the moral of which is, "Save your money." The appli- cation of the moral is to put it into one of the several companies of which Mr. Wilding is the boss and permit him to pay interest on it. Mr. Wilding is so willing to part with his spare change in this manner that he doesn't hesitate to let people know about it.
The discovery uf natural gas in Indiana is largely ac- countable for his becoming a financier. At that time, he was a bookkeeper for his father in the coal business. Mr. Wilding lost his job when gas was struck and about that time he became secretary of the newly organized Tri-State Building and Loan Association. The assets of that concern have since increased to nearly four million.
At about the same time, the Fort Wayne Land and Improvement Company was organized. Mr. Wilding became its secretary and treasurer and immediately got busy at building Lakeside.
During the period of which we have been speaking, Mr. Wilding has acquired a line of titles which would do credit to an officer in the Cuban army. He is secretary of the recently organized Tri-State Trust Company, sec- retary of the Lindenwood Cemetery Association, a director in the First National bank; he is, in fact. con- nected in some way or other with most of the solid financial institutions of the city. In spite of his busy life, he has found time to devute to Masonry, and has been favored with the thirty-third degree. Mr. Wilding is a living illustration of his valuable books and his judgment on affairs that affect the city's welfare is re- spected by the substantial men of the community.
WILLIAM L. MOELLERING
"H ELLO, HELLO. Yes, this is Mr. Moellering talk- ing. What's that? What? Want a sketch of my life ? What for > For a book? Aw, come off ! Did you say everybody else has given you his history ? O, well, then, go ahead with your questions.
"Yes, I was born here in Fort Wayne. When ; Wait a minute till I figure it out. Let's see. Forty- five, forty-six. forty-seven years ago in October. School > Yes. I graduated from St. Paul's Lutheran School, then spent a year at Clay School, then a year in a business college, and finished my education in a drug store. What's that? Yes, I worked for another man a couple of years and then, when I was twenty, I started in for myself. I stayed there until I was forty years old and then sold out. Successful ? You het ! Since then-that is, since 1899-I've been wrapped up in the telephone business. Yes, I've been secretary and manager of the Home Telephone and Telegraph Company. and since Igor have held the same job with the National Telephone and Telegraph Company.
"How many subscribers has the Home Company ? Well, sır, it runs away above the three thousand mark now. We employ something over a hundred people.
"Yes, you see, the National Company owns the toll lines running out into every direction from Fort Wayne. as well as the local exchanges at Kendallville, Auburn, Sturgis, Mich., New Haven and other points. These two companies, you know, represent an investment of over half a million dollars. Their business has doubled since 1899.
" What else do I do? Nothing much. Got a few easy jobs, such as president of the People's Trust and Savings Company ; president of the Fort Wayne Building, Loan and Savings Association, and treasurer of the Archer Printing Company : but that's about all. Good-bye."
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CITY
TREASURY
F. WILLIAM URBAHNS
FREDRICK WILHELM URBAHNS is a name that might do for one of the kingly courtiers to the Sul- tan of Sulu. Billy is a kingly fellow all right, but not because he has the prologue and frontispiece to his name Even in his rag doll days he was never called Fredrick Wilhelm.
Billy has no excuse to offer for being born in Val- paraiso. The town is all right Normally and otherwise. Two railroads pass through Valpo and they both come to Fort Wayne. When Billy got old enough to know, he got on to a Nickel Plate train and came to Fort Wayne. He owed so much money to the road for that trip that he started to work tor it. In the telegraph department of the road he arose till he was the top insulator on the highest pole. When he retired as train dispatcher to enter the insurance business for himself he was held in high esteem by the company. The insurance business seems to have been too much like work so he went into politics. He entered the race as the republican candi- date for city clerk. He tripped at the third quarter, but finished in fine form without throwing a boot or break- ing a hopple. The tickets on him were toin up. He was elevated to the position of exalted ruler of the Elks and held the position two consecutive terms. His brand of ginger for a goat is the best. Now he is secretary of the board of water works trustees. The picture show's how he does his work. At first glance, the lively-look- ing objects proceeding from the faucet may easily be mistaken for a new species of bacteria. They're not. They simply refer to another kind of back-greenbacks. Billy is popular in every position he has ever occu- pied and as a public officer is thoroughly efficient.
ROBERT J. FISHER
M R. FISHER is the man who peddles the car wheels for the Bass Foundry and Machine Works of this city. When he came to Fort Wayne in 1801. he was a bookseller. But he was not of the kind that you want to kick out of the door. He embarked in the book business, although he was never " stationary." Later he was employed in the Reed & Wall drug store. He did not like soda water, so he quit and began work for the Bass manufacturing institutions. He was soon elevated to the responsible position of treasurer. While counting the money at the Bass works he was elected a member of the city council on the democratic ticket. He was a councilman-at-large but knew absolutely where he was all of the time. He was right on all public questions and was left on any graft that might have been floating around. He heheved in honest government and honest car wheels. He sells car wheels but has gone out of the honest government business. He was one of the honored presidents of the Fort Wayne Club and his personality made the club popular socially He spends most of his time now in palace cars calling on the railway magnates of the United States. He shows his wheels to his customers. Millionaires don't. as a usual thing, deal with men who have wheels, but they are compelled to give attention to Mr. Fisher's kind, and he probably sells more than any other man in the world. He is one of Fort Wayne's most progressive and most active business men
The car wheels made at the Bass works in this city carry thousands and thousands tons of freight annually from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the car wheel product of Fort Wayne is now disposed of by Mr. Fisher who devotes all of his time to the railroad affairs of the Bass Foundry and Machine Works. The fruits of his labors give employment to hundreds of men in the shops uf Fort Wayne.
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SAMPLES OF
CAR WHEELS
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ALLEN ZOLLARS
T "HE ancestors of Judge Zollars must have been a ro- bust, sturdy lot of people. They were willing to leave their native land of Prussia and brave the dangers of the uninviting shores and still more forbid- ding inland portions of America at a time when nothing but strong bodies and stout hearts were proof against the foes that lurked therein. This element of substan- tiality of character has been continued through the generations since those days.
Judge Zollars is the son of a father who, while still in good health at the age of eighty-six, assembled about him his children, his grand-children, his great-grand- children and one great-great-grand-child-hive genera- tions. This father was a man remarkable not only for his physical strength, but for his strong mental develop- ment, and to his children he granted all he could for their tuture betterment. So Allen Zollars had a good beginning. After passing through the common schools of Licking County, Ohio, the place of his birth, Mr. Zollars attended a private academy and there prepared to enter Dennison University, at Granville, Ohio, which he did, graduating in 1864. At that time he received the degree of A. B., and three years later the university conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M., and in 1888 the degree LL. D. Then came the series of events through which Mr. Zollars rose to heights of honor and responsibility. From the University of Michigan, where he graduated from the law department in 1866. he re- ceived the degree of LL.B. He came directly to Fort Wayne. Two years later he was elected to the State legislature on the democratic ticket. From then forward his rise was rapid. As city attorney of Fort Wayne, as judge of the Superior Court of Allen County, as judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and in the various places of prominence in which he has been subsequently found he has attained a wide reputation for his remarkable ability. At present, Judge Zollars is president of the Allen County Bar Association.
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LOUIS F. CURDES
M R. CURDES is a real estate man who finds time also to do some business on the side in the way of loans and insurance. The picture shows him holding up a house and lot. Some real estate men hold up the purchaser; Mr. Curdes doesn't. He hasn't learned that trick of the trade yet and thinks he's too busy to take it up.
"Louie" came from Germany. That was when he was sweet sixteen. He had heard all about money growing on the trees in America and greenbacks scat- tered over our landscape and that's probably the thing which finally turned his mind to the real estate busi- ness. He has found the vision true, as he has picked up many a cool hundred from the ground and growing things while letting them pass through his hands as middleman in the pursuance of his business.
On coming to this country, Mr. Curdes went to Defiance. Ohio, where his brother lived. He showed up in Fort Wayne in 1870. A: hrst he learned to sell books and wall paper and ink and mucilage and foolscap for Siemon & Brother. Then he learned to tune pianos and organs and for eleven years turned discord into har- mony for the Packard Company.
Twelve years ago he branched out into the business which now engages his attention. When he meets a man who doesn't see a proposition just as he does, he applies his knowledge of harmonics and lo! they are agreed and it is Loule's note that the other strikes. As a member of the Linden Quartet, Mr. Curdes has figured prominently in Fort Wayne musical circles.
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JOHN L. VERWEIRE
THE City Packard Band is a "peach," and John L. Verweire is its leader. If music hath charins tu transform a savage into a respectable citizen, what, then, must be its influence over an active, wide- awake, enlightened community like ours? Why, it simply makes us more so. Shakespeare gets off the following :
" The man who bath no music in himself And is not moved by concord in sweet sounds Is hit for ticasons, strategems and spoils ; The motions of his spirit are as dull as might And his affections dark as Erebus ; Let no such man be trusted "
So, you see, to what extent we should be grateful to Mr. Verweire who has done so much to implant within us this rehning and saving element and has saved us from being traitors and strategists and spoilers,
Take a look, if you please, at Mr. Verweire's mus- tache You may think it is composed of Belgian hairs, just because he was born in Ghent, but that isn't so. He got it after he came to America, However, it isn't an important matter. It is sufficient to know that during his early years Mr. Verweire spent his time in the Royal Conservatory at Ghent, and there began his musical education under Sauveur, the eminent cormst. He was an accomplished artist by the time he came from Belgium to America in 1884, and was soon connected with the First Cavalry Band of the Illinois National Guard. He left this organization to jom the Watch Factory Band at Elgin, Ill., and remained there until the City Packard Band of Furt Wayne engaged him as its leader. That was six years ago. Under his direction, this band, which has always been a credit to Fort Wayne has risen to a high standard and is counted one ot the toremost organizations in the middle west.
ROBERT B. DREIBELBISS
M R. DREIBELBISS came from the small town of Huntington, Indiana, to preside over the muni- cipal court of the big city of Fort Wayne.
Bob happened just at the time the civil war broke out. In fact. he also was busy breaking out-with the measles and hives. When Bob's family came to Fort Wayne he tagged along. He has been here ever since. He has studied law and written abstracts till he knows more about the municipal court of Fort Wayne than any municipal judge the city of Fort Wayne ever had. Gov. Durbin appointed Mr. Dreibelbiss the hrst presiding officer of the Fort Wayne municipal court. He is the only person who ever filled the bench. For awhile a usurper rattled around in the chair behind the bench, but Bob got his legal thoughts to working overtime and he went before the Indiana supreme court to find out where he was at. This court located him back in the chair and he has stuck there ever since.
He has seen more men fall from the water wagon than any other jurist in the city and he prescribes the water cure for more ebullient internal troubles than any practicing physician in town. He knows a headache the very minute he sees it. As soon as court is ad- journed he rushes to his abstract office and dives into the law, He is not too busy to be polite and hospitable to his large clientile, however, and to look at him with his jolly forgiving smule and hearty hand shake, one could never imagine that he can say, "Eleven days." and "Fifteen days" in such harsh, grating tones. Be- sides attending to his many professional duties, Judge Dreibelbiss devotes much time each campaign on the stump for the republican party.
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
CHARLES M. MILLS
A N Indiana anthor this, whose writings you have read: he never makes up fiction, but gives the facts instead. His works are all in season, they're never out of date. For timeliness he's noted, so that all he writes is "late."
When spring comes gently seeking to drive the cold away, he writes of all her beauties, and especially in May. He tells in pretty language to the ladies, plain and fair. just how to look their very best -- just what they ought to wear.
When summer's heat distracts us and we seek in vain for rest from the sultry, murky weather, 'tis then he does his best to help us suffering creatures so the heat may be endured; he tells where mce, cool garments may always he secured.
When the beauteous autumn days arrive and nature's looking gay, 'tis then we long to look as well as she in her bright array. Our author then with ready pen tells how with silk and fur, that we may fix ourselves up right to harmonize with her.
When winter's blasts and drifting snows and winds from frigid zones come sweeping down upon us and freeze our very bones, 'tis then our friend the author. comes, protecting us from harm: he tells us where to go to get the things to keep us warm.
And so he goes on aiding all upon their toiling way: suggesting here and helping there, he brightens up each day. He helps the men and boys and girls-his words with them suffice: but the ladies read his writings, too. and heed his sound advice.
In short, his widely published works are helpful to us all: we read them daily all the year, from winter months till fall. Who is this busy author. then? His name is Charles M. Mills. He writes the ads for the Rurode store, and the place of manager fills.
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ERNEST W. COOK
K ING SOLOMON, or Ben Franklin, or some other reliable manufacturer of old saws, once remarked that a superabundance of culinary artists is fatal to the successful preparation of the consomme: in other words that " too many cooks spoil the broth."
But there are cooks and Cooks. Fort Wayne, or any other city fur that matter, would be spoiled by a large supply of the sort of Cooks of which the subject is a representatative. Mr. Cook used to be a Hawkeye: he was also once a newspaper man, but he reformed. and is now making money. For a considerable period he handled the financial end of the business uf the Fort Wayne Sentinel and later of the local office of the Wabash Railroad Company. Then he became secretary of the Allen County Loan and Savings Association where he did things so nicely that he was asked to act in the same capacity for the Citizens Trust Company when that institution sprang into existence. He said he would do it provided he could also hold onto the other place; so the two enterprises moved into the same building with only a glass door between, and Mr. Cook can easily keep his watchful eyes upon the affairs of both con- cerns, no matter in which office he happens to be. This is certainly a handy arrangement.
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