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RBsMJIRKJIBLE LIFE WORK, of a BLIND SJLN FRMCISCO .ICJIPITOM
'Lost His Eyesight.
While a Poor Lad
But Set Out to
Make His fortune
ONI* of the most remarkable success-
es In life which can be found in the
State is that presented by the life
story of a blind capitalist living in
Ban ' Francisco. Many thousands
with sight and health and opportu
nities have struggled through life
about him with rarely a $20 piece to put
by. He has had no opportunities that
were not open to others, but triumphed
from the first in the face of appalling dif
ficulties, and is now evenly rounding out a
picturesque life career that points a les-
son.
He is Frederick A. Chandon, who. pen-
He is "Frederick A. Chandon. who. pen-
niless and blind when but a boy. is now an
old man and worth a quarter of a million
of dollars, all of which he has earned him-
self.
' Although he was born in Missouri, he
"..though he was born In Missouri, he
fw.is but a child when his father, thinking
to crease his wealth, with his family
joined a party of emigrants and crossed
the plains to the gold lields of California
But the gold was not put there for the
>""handi>n family. One misfortune followed
another, until three years after their ar-
rival in California the father died. In 1851,
leaving no estate over which his heirs
might quarrel.
Almost at the start of his frontier life
young Chandon was taken with the symp-
toms of failing vision. Medical attention
was neglected for two reasons—
were almost unknown here then and he
was poor. Each remedy by inexperienced
hands served about as oil upon a fire. His
condition went from bad to worse until
In a verj short time he had lost his sight
_.
forever.
Chandon. though a boy. knew that he
Chandon. -hou^h a boy. knew that he
was doomed to .1 life -if darkness, but he
would not allow himself to become dis
couraged. Other blind men had earned a
living before him. and he considered him-
self as gooel as any unfortunate like him
-If.
The making of brooms and baskets be-
lns: the stereotyped occupation of the la-
boring blind at that time. Chandon quite
naturally turned to that occupation.
Brooms and baskets were high in those
days. He acquired great skill in their
manufacture, consequently he made good
wages, out of which he contributed to the
support of his widowed mother.
"The knack of saving money." said Mr.
Chandon. "was a. virtue of which I knew
f nothing and thought little of until I had
lost my sight. With me 'to see was to
want, and to want was to have.' Without
my eyes I could see nothing, and seeing
nothing I wanted little; therefore my
earnings were saved."
Tiring in a few years of working for
others, he saw. or rather felt, an oppor
tunity to "make a deal," as he expressed
It.
On a ranch In the vicinity of the broom
factory in Marysvllle, where he was em-
ployed, a farmer had a crop of broom
corn. After an examination of the field
with what faculties he possessed Chandon
made an offer to buy the crop. His offer
was accepted.
Unassisted^ with his own hands he gath
ered the corn; with his own hands he
made it Into broom.'-, and with his own
hands the brooms were solei and delivered
to the "government." The "government"
SHE WAS A MEMBER OF
QUEEN ISABELLA'S SPLENDID COURT
Pathetic Ending in San Francisco of a Refugee Who Fled
to Escape the Hatred of the Queen.
f I \HE alley in which we found the
I ex-member of Queen Isabella's
THE alley two entrances. Being
ex-member of Queen is .India's
rt has two entrances. Being
■ on Union street, we plunged, as
1 directed, into the opening which
led under the tall builaing, In
whose first floor second-hand coeds are
sold. Emerging from t«e boarded tunnel
Into the open air, we saw on our left a
row of half a dozen rickety two-story cot-
tages, on our right the rear of certain
Chinese tenements with their strips of
gardens.
Before one of the dilapidated cottages
§sat an old man, sewing buttons upon a
ragged but evidently newly washed pair
of trousers.
Beside his backless chair and crouched
upon the broken step leading up to the |
one room called borne was a Shape— rag- j
ged, unkempt, with lashless eyelids, red
and swollen, ' and features distorted |
through that destroyer of beauty and
reason, paralysis. Over the eyes, with
pupils faded to a nondescript color, were
a pair of huge silver-bowed glasses, and
In the hand was a book.
It had been a beautiful book when dis-
played in a Madrid shop half a century
ago, with morocco binding and gold
clasps— such a prayer book as a lady-ln-
waiting should carry when accompanying
her queen to the cathedral, attended with
all the pomp demanded when royalty
worships.
To-day tho book is like its owner— an
ugly thing, the golden clasps gone, torn
from their fastenings and sold to buy
bread, and the ■.pp. part of the volume
V^nrned away through being dropped from
the palsied hands Into the fire. Yet the
Shape was reading the unburned por
tions of the prayers it contained, mum-
bling over them with twisted lips, indif- J
ferent to our approach until my compan-
ion spoke her Dame and inquired— oh,
mockery!— " Are -ou well to-day?'
Then the Shape made use of its half-
dead tongue, and, mocking back, said:
"Si. Si nora."
This Shape, declaring itself, in spite of
the evidence of our senses, to be quite
well, was once a beautiful and courted
woman— Donna Mercedes Pervla. ;■■=. ■'■'■■
We gave her the clothing we had
brought for her comfort and decency and
food to satisfy the hunger she often
knows. She grew suspicious of our kind-
ness.
"I am well and I will not go away!" we
"I am well and T will ne,t go away!" we
gathered from her broken sentences. "I
will not leave my husband— he is so kind;
so kind."
The old man laid down his needle and
stroked the twisted hand with his clumsy
one. "No, no," he said, in his hearty
American voice, "they don't want you to
£•■ away. You sha'n't leave me."
lie looked up at us with his honest,
kind eyes. "They have been talking of
sending her to an institution," he said,
"and ""be doesn't want to go. We've had
to have some help since my horse died,
and I've had to go round for junk with a
sack instead of a wagon. So they thought i
she would be better off away from here.
But I'm doing better now than for the
v • few months, and we'll g.et on some-
w." V^--'->
- patted his wife's hand again—
wife whose real history he has never
known. She has carefully concealed that
from every one except the friend who
gave her shelter when she earn** to the!
coa_,t ii homeless wanderer in IS6D. Her J
was- a man who kept the pern store
and who was looked upon bj the mining
and farming community as a sort of deity.
Fortune favored Chandon, and it was a
question of but .1 short time when he
owned the ranch and raiseel the corn him
self. Buying out hi.- employer without
competition he operated the "broom fac
tor." of Marysville."'
Little by little his profits were Invested
in land adjoining his farm. New machin
ery to meet the increasing trade was put
Into his factory. His business grew until
other than his own personal supervision
was necessary to conduct his affairs.
Then he employed the services of a young
man named Roberts, whose sole duty It
was to "see" fcr ndon, and It is to the
eyes of this youth that Chandon owes a
brain, like, her tongue, is now warped,
and she could not tell the story coherent-
ly if she would. But up in a narrow
house overlooking the bay lives another
woman who relates the story Intrusted
to her thirty years ago when she opened
her door to a richly dressed but penni
less fugitive, who declared herself to
have been a child friend of the hostess in
their native city of Cordova.
"I never called her a friend; I knew
her only as a playmate," said this lady
of old Spain. "Our garden? adjoined, and
the governesses permitted us to visit
each other while they chatted with their
admirers. Her father removed to Madrid
before we were grown, and I seldom saw
her afterward, though rumors came to us
! of her having rejected the suit of a great
| French general and subsequently marry
! ing a petty tradesman at Madrid. We
also beard that she was at court and had
become a great favorite with Christina.
the Queen's mother. This came with the
news of the revolution In 1868, in which
Generals Prim and Dulcc figured so
prominently, and it reached us after, we
had, for political reasons, taken up our
residence here.
"In those days when a boat came in
j people talked about it. One daya steamer
i arrived from Nov.- York and one of my
: friends called to say that among the
passengers was a Spanish lady suspected
] by her fellow travelers of being a politi
| cal refugee. She had scarcely finished
: her story and left the house when,
answering a summons at the door, I was
j confronted by a fashionably dressed lady
! whom I could not remember having seen
; before.
" 'You do not remember me," she said.
; 'I am Mercedes whom you knew long ago
In Cordova and to whom you once gave
this,' and she showed me a little ring I
had presented to her upon a birthday
when we were children.
"I was glad, so glad, to see some one
from my old home. I embraced her and
welcomed her, but before she ate or drank
In my house she Insisted on telling me
why she had crossed the sea to the new
land.
" 'My home is gone— my jewels, my hus-
band, all. The Queen hated me— Isabella,
who is now In exile at Pau— but I swear to
you that I have been wronged. 1 ! have
not brought misfortune upon myself; It
has been brought upon me by the malice
of others. It has followed me since first
I entered the Queen's court. Would I had
never left my childhood's home!' _."/.v
'• 'In misfortune one should seek one's
parents. You are far from home,' I re
minded her.
" 'Home!' she said. '1 have none!— nor
parents, for they are dead."
" 'And your husband? Is he. too—*
"She interrupted me: 'He is not dead.
No, no; but he grew tired of me. At that
corrupt court I was robbed of his love. I
reproached him with his infidelity, and to
be rid of me he fostered the suspicions of
the Queen that I was in love with her
favorite, Marfari.
" 'I felt the shadow of her dlspolasuro
even before the end came at San Sebas
tian, where we were when the revolution
broke out. Ugh! 1 hated him, with his
airs over the order of Charles 111 be wore ,
so conspicuously, which she had made
them bestow on him as well as raise him :
to the peerage— vile opera singer!
"'1 was one of those who braved the j
* : ':■'-. ':* • --■.•-:■• 'i ,"■
THE SAN IfKA-N CISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 1899.
great pari of his success. Roberts mm
si If is to-day a wealthy man, but he owes
his fortune to the early training he re
ceived from his blind employer.
On a hot June day In 1863 a teamster
threw on the brake of his heavy wagon
and at the sound of his echoing "Whoa!"
the eight mules, which had great respect
for the word, came to a halt in front of
the general store, In Marysvllle. Clumsily
climbing down from his lofty scat, the
driver nailed a sign on his wagon:
"THIS OUTFIT FOR SALE."
And without more ado proceeded to
paint the town red.
The "government" sent word to Chan
lon of this chance to capture a bargain.
He knew Ch'andon was ever on the alert
for an opportunity to buy, sell or trade.
danger of going with Isabella to Biarritz
in disguise that night, when she went to
implore the Emperor Napoleon to aid her
against the revolutionists, for she was
sure he would not refuse because of his
love for his wife. Eugenic de Monti jo, who
had been her subject.
"'The Emperor, however, would not
risk interference, and she was prostrated
with the disappointment. We returned
from Biarritz, still disguised, in the gray
of morning. Marfari met us as we were
gliding in by the side entrance to the royal
apartments.
, " 'In the dim light and changed by dis-
guises he "very naturally mistook me for
the Queen, and think;:-'.,- to console for
her disappointment; news of which had
been whispered to him, ho raised my hand
to his lips.
'• 'Her badly concealed anger showed
, him his mistake. He soon made his peace
1 with her, but she still doubted mo and
dismissed me from her suite, though that
was unnecessary, as she was compelled
to leave San Sebastian at once and could
no longer maintain a court.
"'My husband professed to believe her
statement. I was humiliated In the eyes
lof our world. My parents, who were
aged, had both recently died" 1 had no
separate fortune, and the law of our
country did not compel my husband to
maintain me. No woman's condition was
ever more pitiable.
" T sold my jewels and wardrobe and
i went to Paris. What was there in that
gay city for me now. forsaken, friendless,
poor? I remembered the little girl with
whom I used to play when our govern
esses talked with their sweethearts. 1
had heard that she was happily married
and far away from the scene of all my
SUPRISING ROMANCES
OF STRANGE COINCIDENCES
FEW things In life are more surpris
ing than its coincidences, some of
which are so startling and. improb
able as to assume the appearance
of fate.
Charles Dickens was dogged
throughout his life by the most perplex-
■nd his death completed
Ing '>_______________________■_____________!
one of the most remarkable of them all.
On the Sth day of June, 1865, he escaped
death by a railroad accident as by < a
miracle, and in commenting on his escape
he wrote: "I can never be much nearer
parting company with my readers forever
than I was then until there shall be writ
ten against my life the two words— 'the
end.* " These two words were written
by death five years later on the same day
of the same month.
A more remarkable coincidence still was
noted in the death of Mr. Potter, the free
trade champion and friend of Cobden and
Bright,' who died at the same day and
month as his wife, who had preceded
him by twelve years.
It was a strange coincidence that led to
the identification of one of the most skill
ful burglars of recent years. The criminal
had been arrested on suspicion of having
committed several daring burglaries In
the Midlands, and was lodged in Hollo
The blind man hurried to town. The
owner of the outfit was found, a bargain
whs quickly made, and for $1000 the team
and wagon became the property of the
blind man.
Leaving his ranch and factory to the
can of a trusted employe, Chandon
launched out upon another enterprise.
Second thought was not necessary to him.
Before sunset of the same day the wagon
was loaded to Its utmost capacity with
hams, bacon and provisions, and with
Chandon and his "eyes" upon the high
scat went rumbling over the rough moun
tain road, headed for "the mines."
There was no difficulty in disposing of
the goods or getting a load of lumber for
the return trip to Marysvllle. Trading
was both pleasant and profitable to Mr.
sorrows. I felt In my heart that she
would not refuse me a refuge for at least (
a time So I sailed for America, to the
city with the dear Spanish name, to beg
shelter with you. Do not turn me from
your door."
■■I did not doubt her story.* the gentle
old lady declared. "The favors of royalty
are fleeting and husbands are sometimes
cruel when they cease to love. I was not
poor In those good days of California.
and my husband as well as myself made
her welcome.
"Why did she marry the man who is
so poor, si. far beneath her former so
cial position? She desired a heme of her
own. and when the news of her husband s
death came we a .vised her to marry
again. There wen no Spanish dons seek
ing wives in San Francisco, but the
American senors brought gold from the
mines and won wives by displaying their
wealth. The American with his bags of
gold dust met and loved her. Then my
husband died, and l learned that I should
be very poor and could not give her a
home any more. s^
"Ah, how his gold disappeared after :
they wore married! He denied her noth- I
ing, while he speculated in stocks; and at
last It was all gone. lie was not a good ;
business nan and he had no profession.
Then from constant grief came illness—
that awful stroke which '->ok away her
beauty and strength, which made one
half of her dead while the other half was
living.
"They had doctors at first; but doctors i
must be paid, and they soon had nothing
with which to pay. No, she never told
him who she was, how far above him she
had been reared, and he believed her to
be but a poor Spanish widow, eared for
by friends, and was glad to think he could
give- her a home. He was very sorry for
her sake when the money was all gone,
though, but for himself he never appeared
to mind. Whatever he may have lost, he
still had his heart left. . Yes, Jesu Maria,
his heart is still left,"
We thought of the room which had
formed the background to the woman on
the step— room with its bare floor, its j
rusty stove, its table with broken dishes
and the bed in the corner with its ragged
coverings— as contrasted with the splen
dor of a Spanish court and with the gen
tle old lady thanked Providence for that
compensation of a faithful heart.
way prison. Although it was clear that
the man was a practiced burglar, it was
found impossible to identify him and
thus trace his career In crime.
Fate or coincidence, however, did what
Scotland Yard was powerless to do. One
of the warders of Wormwood Scrubbs,
who had served in the Scottish Borderers
In India, saw the prisoner and recognized
in him an old soldier comrade named
Hely, who had been imprisoned fojr felony
at Calcutta. This clew was followed up,
and led to the disclosure of a long list of
crimes and convictions.
An almost incredible triple coincidence
was noted in France a few years ago.
In 1894 the deputy for the Ardennes was
a M. Ferry; for Loir et Cher, M. Brlsson,
and for the Vosges, M. Hugo. In 1793, 101
years earlier, each district had been rep
resented In the chamber by a man of ex
actly the same name.
By a happy coincidence the three sons
of a Birmingham man named Howes all
returned from different parts of the world
unknown to each other on the same day. -
One son, who was in the Capo Mounted
Rifles, had started home without his
father's knowledge, and to the latter's in
tense surprise met him on his return from
business in the eveuinc. Father and una
Chandon. There was money in hauling
freight. With two teams more money
could be made than with one. A second
team was bought and pressed into serv
ice; then a third, and so on until be had
five teams trading and hauling in the im
mense district of which Marysvllle was
the hub.
For seven years he conducted this ex
tensive and profitable business when in
creasing competition so reduced his rev
enue that he disposed of his teams, one
of which he traded for fourteen tons of
broom corn, which he utilized to a profit
of $250 a ton. i
Then he sold his broom factory and de
voted Ids whole attention to the develop
ment of his farm. ,*
When Chandon planted potatoes the
had barely reached their home when a
knock at the door heralded a second son,
who had unexpectedly come from India;
and later in the evening the family circle
was made, complete by the arrival of a
third son from London.
In no case had either the father or sons
any suspicion of the strange chance that
was bringing them all together from the
corners of the earth.'
A very touching coincidence recently
brought his two long lost daughters to
the deathbed of a man named Nails, in
the Bloomfleld Hospital, New. Jersey.
During the Civil War Nails had fallen
into the hands of the Confederates, and
after a long term of Imprisonment had
been sentenced to be shot.
neighboring farmers took It for a never
failing sign of a high potato market.
When onions were planted on the Chan
don farm the inevitable jump in onions
was looked for' by all. and somehow it
usually followed. When Chandon stored
his barley every one stored his. and when
Chandon' sold his wheat his example was
followed by the other farmers. Somehow
the blind farmer seemed to have a keener
perception than his neighbors of what
At the last moment he escaped, and for
several years wandered about the States
in fruitless search for his wife and daugh
ters. He finally settled down at Bloom- j
Held, a broken-hearted, man, and lived
there for many years, until a serious ice
accident took him to the hospital to die. j
He had not been In the hospital a day I
when he recognized in a lady visitor an |
old Virginia neighbor of his, who knew :
the whereabouts of his lost daughters.
Within a few days the daughters were at
his bedside, ministering to the father they !
had lost for thirty-five years.
It was almost more than a coincidence
which brought together a few months ago
two lovers wno had been parted for near
ly fourteen years. In 1886 .<arles Dela- j
var. the son of a wealthy Philadelphia!.. ■
was engaged to be married to Miss Char
r» p MP*
Began 5y Ming
Brooms to Sett
•■ ■ . ■ • . -
And Now He Is a
Dealer in Farms
crops would bring the best profits. For
the next twenty years that Chandon con
ducted his farm there' was not a pound
of his grain sown by other than himself,
and all other branches of the work wero
under his own personal supervision.
Horse breeding was an industry to
which he devoted a great deal of his time,
raising nothing but the finest stock,
"For," said he, "it costs as much to feed
a 'plug' as It does to feed a high-bred ani
mal." With him hor.-_ trading proved as
profitable as teaming, and the sharp-eyed,
sharp-witted man did not exist who could
beat him on a horse trade. His opinion
of a horse carried more weight than that
of many a veteran in the business. There
was never a defect in an animal so slight
that it would escape the scrutiny of his
finely educated touch and his developed
judgment. :,C
He raised and sold hundreds of fine
horses until "Blind Chandon's" stock wa3
known to everyl horseman.
He invested in stocks which jumped al
most at his touch, and whenever an op
portunity to profitably Invest in real es
tate presented itself he never over
looked it. Having worked as hard as any
of his employes for thirty years. Chan
don concluded to cease laboring and spend
the remainder of his life in ease, and well
could he afford to do It. He leased Ids
ranch, held an auction sale of his stock
and removed to San Francisco, where he
has made his home. --./
Mr. Chandon claims to possess faculties
of which other men know nothing, and he.
is well able to verify ms boast. He is fa
miliar -with the State from one end to the
other and can describe buildings and scen
ery in nearly every town. While riding
on the train he will comment upon the
scenery as would a most careful observer."
In passing a building on the street he can
tell the style of architecture and the ma
terial of which it is constructed, "mere
ly," he claims, "by the manner in which it
echoes the sound."
He knows San Francisco "like a book"
and can go to any part alone and without
making an inquiry. . He can direct a
stranger more clearly than many an older
resident, who has his eyes to assist him.
He is fond of controversy and can argue
or. any subject. Being of a decidedly hu
morous temperament, he can amuse, one
for hours with his funny stories, many of
which are incidents In his own life. He
never forgets the sound of one's voice, by
which he recognizes his friends after an
absence of a year or more. A never-erring
jrdge of human nature, he can distinguish.
a saint from a sinner merely by a hand
shake.
As accurately as the magnetic needle
can he turn In any location and point to
the north. Fond of good cooking, he
boasts of being a good book himself, and
1" so familiar with the anatomy of a fowl
that he can carve a turkey better than
many a man who has his eyes.
He loves good music and is an excellent
performer, both on the flute and the vio
lin.
"Although," he. said, "I would give all
I have for the restoration of my sight.
since my affliction the Almighty has given
me senses to take its place with which,
had I not been endowed. I would have
been swindled out of all I have long be
fore now."
lotte Dv Blois. and Christmas day was
appointed for the wedding.
A lovers' quarrel, however, estranged
the young couple, and a week before the
wedding the bride-to-be disappeared, and
young Delavar in disgust emigrated to
Australia. Here he prospered, and hav
ing amassed a small fortune he decided
to take a holiday trip to Europe, return
ing to Australia by Philadelphia, his old
home.
On his way to New York he was pacing
the steamer deck one day. when he stum
bled over the feet of a lady who was sit
ting alone. Apologies and recognition fol
lowed: for the lady was his old fiancee.
Miss Dv Blois, whom chance had thus
strangely thrown in his way. The sequel
Is obvious; and the happy couple, thus
strangely reunited, are at the moment of
writing on their way to Australia.
21
