"Many persons attribute to me simply an impulsiveness, and an impressibility, as if I were some erratic comet, rushing madly through space, emitting coruscations of fancifully colored sparks, without system, rule, or definite object. This is a popular error. I claim to be a close analytical observer of passing events, applying the crucible of Truth to every new matter or subject presented to my mind or my senses."
I think that estimate may be used to-day in this place. It does not so much matter, however, what I may have thought of myself or what I now think of myself. What does matter is what I may have done. I stand on my achievement.
And with this, I commit my life-story to the kind consideration of readers.
Citizen George Francis Train.
The Mills Palace,
September 22, '02.
CONTENTS
- CHAPTER I page
- When I Was Four Years Old. 1833 [2]
- New Orleans then my home—All the family except myself perish from yellow fever.
- CHAPTER II
- My Voyage from New Orleans to Boston. 1833[16]
- Four years old and the sole passenger—Sailors teach me to swear—My aunt shocked at my depravity.
- CHAPTER III
- My Boyhood on a Farm. 1833-1843 [21]
- My grandfather a noted Methodist preacher—My first money earned.
- CHAPTER IV
- Schooldays and a Start in Life. 1840-1844[ 35]
- Leader of the school—George Ripley my school-teacher—Emerson
comes to our village
to lecture—Boston visited. - CHAPTER V
- Early New England Methodism. [45]
- How I was reared religiously—Ideas of right and wrong—Things outgrown.
- CHAPTER VI
- In a Shipping House in Boston. 1844-1850[ 52]
- A place with my uncle—Progress rapidly made—I sell Emerson a ticket for Liverpool—I engage Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster as our lawyers—My first speculation—Building fast ships.
- CHAPTER VII
- A Vacation Tour. 1850[79]
- In Washington I meet Webster, Clay, and President Taylor—A letter with their autographs that served me well.
- CHAPTER VIII
- A Partner in the Liverpool House. 1850-1852 [90]
- In Scotland Lord John Russell receives me, and I meet Lady Russell—Reform in the shipping business—Money we made—The Duke of Wellington—I visit Chatsworth.
- CHAPTER IX
- My Courtship and Marriage—Return to Liverpool. 1850-1852[ 109]
- How I first met my wife—Engaged to marry her within forty-eight hours—Governors in my charge—Our wedding and the commotion that preceded it—Phrenology.
- CHAPTER X
- Business Success in Australia. 1853-1855[126]
- A fine income at twenty-one—Melbourne in those days—American ideas introduced—Accused of stealing $2,000,000.
- CHAPTER XI
- The Gold-Fever in New South Wales and Tasmania. 1853-1855 [ 141]
- Lucky and unlucky miners—David D. Porter—Sydney in those days—Free immigrants—Sir John Franklin.
- CHAPTER XII
- Other Australian Incidents—A Revolution[156]
- Proposed as a candidate for President—Riotous times—Curious incidents in business.
- CHAPTER XIII
- A Voyage to China. 1855 [171]
- Failure of ambitious plans—My first love of flowers—A remarkable Dutch colony.
- CHAPTER XIV
- In Chinese Cities. 1855-1856 [182]
- Hetty Green's husband in Hongkong with me—Pirates and the slave trade—Honesty of the Chinaman—Eating rats—Pidgin-English—Li Hung Chang on board.
- CHAPTER XV
- To India and the Holy Land. 1856[204]
- New ideas in religion—My early Methodism recalled—Where Christ was born.
- CHAPTER XVI
- In the Crimea. 1856 [215]
- Plans in speculation that came to naught—The war, and what I learned of it.
- CHAPTER XVII
- Home Once More, and then a Return to Europe. 1856-1857[221]
- Boston and New York after a long absence—With my wife I go to Paris.
- CHAPTER XVIII
- Men I Met in Paris. 1857 [226]
- A ball at the Tuileries—Eugénie very gracious to me—An unexpected woman comes in—William H. Seward.
- CHAPTER XIX
- Building the Atlantic and Great Western Railway. 1857-1858 [ 237]
- Queen Maria Christina's fortune employed—Salamanca, the banker—How I secured a great loan.
- CHAPTER XX
- A Visit to Russia. 1857 [ 249]
- I carry a message to the Grand Duke Constantine—A dinner with Colonel Greig—Moscow and the Nijnii Novgorod fair.
- CHAPTER XXI
- Building the First Street-Railways in England.[ 259]
- A line in Liverpool that still exists—Making a start in London—Better success in Staffordshire.
- CHAPTER XXII
- England and our Civil War—Blockade Running. [ 271]
- Speeches for the Union in London halls—A plan to end the war—Lincoln and Seward—Arrested for interrupting Sumner in Boston—Dining with Seward when Antietam was fought.
- CHAPTER XXIII
- Building the Union Pacific Railway. 1862-1870[ 283]
- Early belief in such a project—The Crédit Mobilier and its
origin—Men with whom I was
associated. - CHAPTER XXIV
- The Development of the Far West. 1863-1870[293]
- Plan for a chain of great cities across the continent—The creation of Omaha—Cozzen's Hotel—Tour of the Pacific Coast.
- CHAPTER XXV
- The Share I Had in the French Commune. 1870[301]
- In Marseilles I help to organize the "Ligue du Midi" of the Commune or "Red Republic"—Attacked by soldiers and almost shot—Imprisoned and poisoned—Deported by Gambetta.
- CHAPTER XXVI
- A Candidate for President. 1872[314]
- "Train Villa" at Newport—Independent candidate for the presidency against Grant and Greeley—A tour of the country, in which I address hundreds of thousands.
- CHAPTER XXVII
- Declared a Lunatic. 1872-1873[ 323]
- I defend Mrs. Woodhull—Arrested and imprisoned for quoting Scripture—Fifteenth imprisonment without a crime.
- CHAPTER XXVIII
- Around the World in Eighty, Sixty-seven, and Sixty Days. 1870, 1890, 1892[ 331]
- The tour that Jules Verne used as the basis of his famous story—In '90 I circle the globe in 67 days; and in '92 in 60 days.