io8 Reminiscences of 



was strong, and soon after entering the law office of his 

 father-in-law he made rapid progress, and later on be- 

 came associate counsel for several important railroads, 

 one of which, the Atlantic and Pacific, had a pretty 

 hard time in its earlier days, being constructed through 

 a very barren country from Albuquerque in New 

 Mexico to Mojave in California, and a road with which 

 I had some familiarity, and at the time of making its 

 annual report, I was in some wonderment what kind 

 of a report could be given satisfactory to the stock- 

 holders. When the report was made, I was surprised 

 at its clearness and power, and, well aware of the tact- 

 fulness of Richard, I immediately assumed that, as 

 I did not know of any officer of the company whom I 

 thought capable of writing so clever a report, he had 

 written it, and called upon him at his office and men- 

 tioned my conclusion, which, in a smiling way, he 

 neither affimied or denied. As a corporation law^^er 

 I account him one of the first, possessing a superior 

 knowledge of law, and a clear-headed, drastic method 

 of expounding seldom equalled. As a chief executive 

 of the nation I should have more fear of his combative 

 and antagonizing spirit than I would that of which 

 animated the lamented President McKinley and Gov- 

 ernor William Russell. Knowing him as well as I do, 

 he would be one of the last of whom I should ask a 

 favor, and in saying this, I but echo the expression 

 of a dear friend of mine, to whom Mr. Olney was in- 

 debted for many substantial advantages. 



In i860 I engaged in a commercial business, which 

 I followed for five years, but which grew more engross- 

 ing year by year, until I found myself so confined that I 

 had a difficulty at times in arranging my visits to the 



