i8 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



I hadn't the nerve to stop him and ex- 

 plain that it was an advertisement I had 

 reference to, so we went down and had one. 



* * * 



You might giiess a dozen times at Mr. 

 J. T. O'Reilly's nationality and not get it 

 right. But I put this and that together 

 and guessed it the first time. I am pretty 

 shrewd. 



In the first place, in looking up his namo 

 I found it to be neither a Germanic or 

 Slavonic nor j'et a Latin name, but it is of 

 Celtic origin — that is, Irish. Translated 

 freely, it means "the son of Beilly," so 

 his name is literallj' "J. T. the-son- 

 o'Reilly." 



Then, too, he was the toastmaster at the 

 Irish-American banquet on St.- Patrick's 

 day, which looks suspicious, and he has the 

 warm-hearted, true-blue way of "stacking 

 up" for a friend in the time of need, a 

 distinctively Celtic trait. So I put this and 

 that together and deduce that he is an Irish- 

 man. I've got Sherlock Holmes skinned to 

 a frazzle. I am usually accused of being 

 part Irish myself. People say that among 

 other things I have kissed the Blarney 

 stone. I don't know how it is myself, but 

 I am proud of the Irish blood which people 

 say I have in my veins. Under one pretext 

 or another I like to claim kinship with all 

 the world. 



But this item is about O'Eeilly and uot 

 about myself. I do not want it to partake 

 of the epitaph on the tomb-stone erected to 

 "Mary Ann, beloved wife of James P. 

 Bowler, who was twice elected town-clerk 

 and served three times on the School Board 

 and is one of our most prominent citizens. 

 He was a kind husband and a good father. 



"Peace to her ashes!" 



No, Mr. O'Eeilly is worthy of better 

 treatment than that. He has been engaged 

 for fifteen years in the lumber business, but 

 for ten years he was in the employ of some- 

 body else. Mr. Mossberger, who is the other 

 member of the firm, was also in the employ 

 of P. B. Littleand when they concluded 

 they had as well start in business for them- 

 selves. They have been at it for five years 

 and have pro.spcred exceedingly. 

 ^t * * 



I was out at the ofiiee of the W. A. Bon- 

 sack Lumber Company. The office is deco- 

 rated with prints, woodcuts and steel en- 

 gravings of the old masters, and we had 

 been discussing them. 



We started down town to lunch together. 

 "Have you seen Parsifal?" he said, skip- 

 ping gracefully across a mud hole. 



"Percival?" I asked. "Where is he? 

 Does he handle any hardwoods?" 



Then Bonsack laughed and I saw the 

 point and I laughed. You see he meant 

 Parsifal, the opera, which was running in 

 St. Louis at the time, and I thought he 

 meant something else. 



Then Bonsack told a story apropos of 

 what had happened, and it was nearly the 

 funniest story I ever heard. I laughed un- 



til a freight train nearly ran over me. It 

 was a perfectly proper story, too, I remem- 

 ber. Kot one in which the point depends 

 on vulgarity rather than wit, but a nice, 

 clean story that you needn't be afraid to 

 repeat anywhere. It was something about 

 a girl and — well, I can't remember what it 

 was now, but it was verj- funny. 



T know that when we got down to the 

 club W. E. Barns and- J. E. Defebaugh were 

 there and George K. Smith and a young 

 fellow — I have forgotten his name — who is 

 tlie head squeezer for the W. T. Ferguson 

 Lumber Company, and we were all seated 

 :it the same table. Bonsack told that 

 htory again and they all laughed till they 

 like to have split. I am sorry I forgot 

 1lie story. It was all about something, but 

 I am blest if I can remember what it was. 

 But it was awful funny. 



\V. K. HAKNS. 



Fli-st Secretary Luinbei-inen's ICxchaiige of SI. 

 I..ouis. 



Mr. ]•'. II. Smith and 1 were in the lobby 

 of the Commercial Hiiilding buying some 

 cigars. 



"Let me pay for them,'' 1 saiil, not very 

 strong. 



"All right," said .■*mith, "if you would 

 be so kind. I am a poor man now." 



And I paid for the cigars, the only cigars 

 1 have paid for in Smith 's company in all 

 the six or seven years of my acquaintance 

 with him. ♦ « » 



Talk about the tln'ory of Dr. Osier that 

 a man should be ihloroformed and shot 

 after he is sixty! There are men in St. 

 Louis who are living refutations of Osier's 

 theory. Captain Liebke, at the age of sixty- 

 eight, is in the prime of life, exercising a 

 vigilant over-sight of his business. The 

 same is true of J. P. Richardson, William 

 Druhe and others. These men go about 

 their business daily and are as good business 

 men as there ever were in the world. If 

 you don't believe it, try to out-trade them 

 or get any advantage of them in a business 

 way. » » • 



The pioneer of the St. Louis hardwood 



fraternity is William Druhe, president of 

 the Druhe Hardwood Lumber Company. Mr. 

 Druhe started business in St. Louis in 1875, 

 handling white pine. On Jan. 1, 1881, he 

 reformed, closed out his white pine business 

 and established the first hardwood yard in 

 St. Louis. Since that time he has done a 

 large wholesale and retail business, besides 

 having a good export trade, in the con- 

 tinuance of which he has shipped hardwoods 

 to all parts of Europe, South America, 

 Mexico and Australia. He served as the 

 first vice-president of the first established 

 lumber exchange of St. Louis, and the presi- 

 dency was repeatedly tendered him, which 

 he was obliged to decline on account of the 

 exigencies of his business. He has served 

 as a director of the exchange ever since it 

 was established. Mr. Druhe has also been 

 president of the German Literary Society 

 since 1876. This society publishes a German 

 newspaper called "Amerika." While Mr. 

 Druhe 's concern has handled a general Une 

 oi hardwoods for a good many years, its 

 specialty has been walnut, in which line 

 Mr. Druhe is an expert. 



Great Hajdwood Combination. 



A great industrial deal was consummated at 

 Now Orleans on March 31, whereby the hard- 

 wood lumber interests of Frank E. Creelman ot 

 (Hiicago. located in the South, were consoli- 

 dated with other hardwood interests, and em- 

 brace not less than thirty sawmills and about 

 '.230,000 acres o£ timber land, most of which is 

 liai*dwoods. 



!■". E. Creelman is one o£ the best known 

 liardwoiid lumbermen in the United States, with 

 operations ranging from Chicago to the Gulf ot 

 Mexico, but in the past he has been best known 

 by the breadth o£ his work at Cairo. Mr. Creel- 

 man has been in New Orleans for some time, 

 perfecting plans for a new organization, and he 

 liroposps to make that city the general head- 

 ijuarters of his new company. The constituent 

 companies in the new enterprise are the 



Evergreen Veneer Works of Evergreen, Ala., 

 located on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, 

 sixty miles south of Montgomery, Ala. 



The l-'lorida Lumher Company of Montgomery, 

 Ala. 



F. E. Creelman Lumber Company of Cairo, III. 



W. 15. Tucker Lumber Company of Chicago. 



F. II. Smith Lumber Company of St. Louis. 



Ceorge E. O'Hara Cypress Company, Cairo, 111., 



The consolidated company, which will be 

 known as the Creelman Lumber Company, plana 

 to operate a wholesale yard, planing mill and 

 veneer works at New Orleans, and the veneer 

 house at Evergreen, Ala., heretofore belonging 

 to the Florida Lumber Company, will also be 

 moved to New Orleans. 



Auotbcf allied industry Is the C. W. Krotx 

 Manufacturing Company of Melville, La., whldi 

 Is under contract with the F, E. Creelman Lum- 

 ber Company fur its entire output, which will 

 ammmt to about 20,000,000 feet a year. 



The otlicers of the new Creelman Lumber 

 Company are : 



F. E. Creelman, Chicago, president. 



F. H. Smith. St. IaiuIs, secretary. 



C. S. Creelman, vice-president and New Or- 

 leans manager. 



C. S. Creelman is a son of the president and 

 is nnn- manager of the Florida Lumber Company. 



F. E. Creelman's enterprises have always been 

 crowned with success and tills great one will 

 doubtless add new laurels to his commercial 

 career. New Orleans was selected for a gen- 

 eral headquarters of the new nlllauce on ac- 

 count <i£ Its proximity to the various sawmill 

 enterprises, its availability as a general dis- 

 tributing point for domestic trade and Its pre- 

 eminence as a port of export. 



