170 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 
to make a name and character for himself, thereby being sure 
to win. 
The first hundred cattle Mr. ALLERTON ever bought were sold 
in New York City where the Fifth Avenue Bank now stands. 
It was the worst market New York had known in ten years, and 
he lost $700. This almost discouraged him, but an elderly uncle 
who had been very successful, said to him, “Don’t lose your 
courage, I never found but one dead sure thing, and that was 
hoeing corn at 50 cents a day. If you make money you must 
sometimes lose it, try again.” Young ALLERTON then went to 
Erie. Rebellious women had burned the railroad bridges 
because the trains would not stop for dinner, making a break 
in the line. He bought 100 cattle, shipped them over the Erie 
to New York, encountered a great flood, and found the market 
consequently short. This netted him a profit of $3,000 and 
gave him new courage. He drifted to the west and for one year 
fed and raised cattle in Illinois. The panic incident on the 
failure of the STuRcIs interests in Cincinnati, wiped out every- 
thing Mr. ALLERTON had. He became ill and concluded that 
there was something wrong with the western climate, so took 
an interest in his brother’s store in Newark. This form of busi- 
ness seemed too petty to him after dealing on so much larger a 
scale, and the confinement made the western climate seem very 
desirable to him. He borrowed $5,000 and started for the west, 
proceeding directly to Fulton Co., where he traded a little, and 
renewed his acquaintance with Miss PamitLa W. THOMPSON, 
daughter of A. C. THompson, a big cattleman located in that 
county. In 1860 he removed to Chicago, and four months later 
they were married. 
Believing that Chicago was the only place “where the world 
turned around every twenty-four hours,” he commenced in a 
conservative way to buy and sell stock. At this period the only 
general market in Chicago was held in the winter, the remainder 
