Bag of Bones Read online

  —Cornelius Vanderbilt, (1794–1877)

  NEW-YORK MILLIONAIRES

  The founders of the great New-York fortunes of the present century JOHN JACOB ASTOR, ROBERT LENOX, ALEXANDER T. STEWART and CORNELIUS VANDERBILT—have all passed away. … At the time of JOHN JACOB ASTOR’S death in 1848 his fortune was estimated at from $30,000,000 to $40,000,000 and he was counted fifth on the list of rich men, Baron De Rothschild, Louis Philippe, the Duke of Devonshire, and Sir Robert Pell only exceeding him. The late Mr. ROBERT LENOX like Mr. ASTOR was a self-made man. … The Lenox Farm to-day without a brick in it would be worth $8,000,000. … The fortune of A.T. Stewart—of quicker growth than that of ASTOR—was accumulated in one lifetime. At Mr. STEWART’S death in 1876, it was estimated at $80,000,000, or twice the amount of the highest estimate of JOHN JACOB ASTOR’S fortune when he died in 1848. … Mr. WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT is to-day the richest man in New York. He inherited the bulk of Commodore VANDERBILT’S fortune, who at the time of his death was accounted a richer man than either of the present ASTORS.”

  —New York Times, December 26, 1878

  Q: “Mr. Stewart you are a very rich man, why do you bother yourself building this immense place?”

  A: “That is the very question I asked myself this morning, when I took a look at that big hole in the ground. The worst of it is my neighbors don’t like it.”

  “Mr. S. is a man of progress—of the modern time—he is a man for improvement and enjoyment. … When he builds a house for another—as his marble palace on Fifth Avenue—to use his own words, ‘a little attention to Mrs. Stewart’—it is a different matter. That is to please her.”

  —The Rich Men of the World and How They Gained Their Wealth, Jesse Haney & Co., 1867

  Mr. Stewart’s marble palace, built on the site of the large structure formerly the residence of Dr. Townsend is perhaps the handsomest and most costly private residence in the country. The building, elegantly furnished, constructed with lofty and spacious rooms, has been an object of curiosity to sight-seers ever since it was completed. … Certainly the most interesting feature of the building, however, is the art gallery in the rear, where are located a large number of important and valuable works. … Mr. Stewart’s collection surpassed in importance and value any other in the country and is estimated to be worth at least $600,000.

  —Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, June 1876

  THE ART GALLERY

  A List Of The Pictures In Mr. Stewart’s

  Collection—Works Valued At Over

  Six Hundred Thousand Dollars

  The collection of works of art possessed by the late Mr. Stewart far surpassed in importance and value any other in this country, for not only did it comprise many pictures of great artistic merit, but many of the master-pieces of the respective artists represented, as, for instance, those of Gerome, Meissonnier, Fortuny, Knaus, Dubuffe, Erskine Nicol, Hiram Powers, Church and Huntington.

  —New York Times April 12, 1876

  Among the artworks in the vast Stewart collection were: A View in the Park at Versailles by Giovanni Boldini (1842–1931); L’Aumone and La Sentinelle by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815–1891); The Chariot Race, Pollice Verso and La Collaboration by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904); The Snake Charmers (a replica) by Mariano Fortuny (1838–1874); Court of Fools, by Eduardo Zamacois (1841–1871); The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899); The Children’s Feast by Ludwig Knaus (1829–1910); a painting by Adolphe Yvon (1817–1893) allegorically representing the Union of the States painted for Stewart at a cost of twenty thousand dollars; Niagara by Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900); and Lady Washington’s Reception by Daniel Huntington (1816–1906).

  “It is hard to conceive that any one surrounded by works of art, as was Mr. Stewart, could have had so little understanding of what constituted a work of architecture.”

  —Peter B. Wright, architect, 1876

  The Stewart mansion was fully detailed on all sides. It rose three stories from the basement and was crowned with a mansard roof with projecting dormer windows. The ceilings were more than eighteen feet high. The mansion included massive-size drawing rooms, a music room, a reception hall, a dining room, a library, and the art gallery. A picture gallery extended the full length of the house while paintings hung throughout the mansion ornamenting the walls and ceilings. The ceiling and wall paintings included garlands, flowers, and classical figures. The Stewarts enjoyed the most expensive European furnishings, including gilt and onyx furniture and chandeliers, and two $10,000 vases.

  The entrance on Thirty-fourth Street led into an immense hall, and off the hall were four huge rooms: the music room, a dining room, a breakfast room, and a reception room, all elaborately and ornately furnished. The painted walls were covered with framed paintings, the floors were richly carpeted, and an abundance of sculptures were scattered throughout.

  The entrance on Fifth Avenue opened onto a main drawing room that ran parallel to the main hall. The library on the second floor mimicked the size of this grand room. The second floor contained eight rooms, including the main bedrooms, lavish affairs with dressing rooms, a sitting room, and a billiard room.

  The third floor was equally divided into eight rooms, including a central hallway and a main sitting room. The vast structure was lit with twelve bronze gas chandeliers surrounded with porcelain and etched glass shades.

  Huge fluted Corinthian columns were built in the entrance to the main hall, coming in from the Thirty-fourth Street side, and giant mirrors hung on many of the walls reflecting the gas light from the chandeliers.

  “All the interior was sculptural in detail and commanding in effect. Window and door surrounds were cased with marble framing carved in Italy, and the walls of the entrance hall were paneled with marble,” according to Jay Cantor’s 1975 article, “A Monument of Trade: A. T. Stewart and the Rise of the Millionaire’s Mansion in New York.”

  “It is a huge white marble pile; has been four or five years in the process of erection, and has already cost $2,000,000. It is very elaborate and pretentious, but exceedingly dismal, reminding one of a vast tomb. Stewart’s financial ability is extraordinary, but his architectural taste cannot be commended.”

  —Junius Henri Browne, The Great Metropolis, 1869

  “At the corner of Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue stands a large white marble mansion, utterly devoid of architectural merit, built by a leading local celebrity, who died some ten years ago, A. T. Stewart. Mr. Stewart was an Ulster man, hard as nails, who put his patrimony of about $1,000 into dry goods, and started a shop in New York. He was honest and able, but grasping, unsympathetic, and oppressive to those in his employ, out of whom, with the aid of a lieutenant even harder and harsher than himself, he squeezed a maximum of labour with a minimum of remuneration. He died unregretted and childless, leaving vast wealth, and his remains were stolen by body-snatchers in hopes of a ransom.”

  —Good Words, 1887

  It was in this often much maligned and equally heralded, palatial estate on Fifth Avenue that A. T. Stewart, the multimillionaire “Merchant Prince” died. Stewart had always superstitiously avoided the number thirteen and would shy away from a business transaction if that number appeared in any form. He reportedly preferred to be ridiculed for his superstitions rather then tempt fate. He would also never sit and eat at a table that had thirteen people at it. He fought to overcome this superstition, ultimately giving in during one dinner party when he was coaxed to sit down at a table of thirteen guests. Approximately thirteen weeks afterward, he was dead.

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  CAVEAT EMPTOR

  In which vast tributes are paid to the life of the “Merchant Prince” upon Stewart’s death, lavish funeral, and interment in St. Mark’s Cemetery. Although Stewart bequeaths all his assets to his wife, Cornelia, and names his friend and confidant, Judge Henry Hilton, only a
s executor of his estate, Hilton seizes upon the opportunity, incorporating a new firm to run Stewart’s wholesale, retail, and manufacturing concerns. The new head of all operations: Henry Hilton.

  A. T. Stewart died on April 10, 1876, at seventy-two years of age from a bladder infection and peritonitis—an infection caused by an inflammation of the lining of the abdominal cavity.

  His funeral was an elaborate event, befitting a man of his wealth and stature. The pomp and circumstance surrounding it was equal to that of the death of an American statesman, and Stewart had become a statesman of sorts—a leading light in the development of an American economic institution: the department store.

  STEWART has been a moral power in the commercial history of the United States, whose value it would be difficult to overestimate. The success of his system of plain dealing produced so many imitators that it is to-day the rule instead of the exception among the leading dry-goods merchants of our great cities.

  —New York Timeseditorial, April 11, 1876

  If Stewart’s funeral was a lavish event, he had no hand in planning it. That honor fell to others, including his widow, Cornelia, and his closest business and personal friend, Judge Henry Hilton. His final resting place—the family vault in St. Mark’s Churchyard—was an obscure and humble spot, devoid of any extravagant trappings, an undistinguished grave in the Bowery section of New York City. He was buried in the family vault alongside his two children and his mother. The vault was inconspicuous and close to a dozen feet underground.

  THE DEAD MILLIONAIRE

  MR. STEWART’S LIFE AND DEATH.

  The Funeral To-Morrow—The Remains

  To Lie In State—Mr. Stewart’s City

  Property—His Art Gallery—Scenes

  About The Family Residence.

  All yesterday the remains of the late Alexander T. Stewart lay in the Lace Room, in which he died, at the family residence in Fifth avenue. The preparations for the funeral have not yet been completed, but the services will be held to-morrow at 11 A.M. in St. Mark’s Protestant Episcopal Church, and will be conducted by the Pastor, Rev. J. H. Rylance, assisted by Bishop Potter. The remains will then be deposited in the family vault, in St. Mark’s Churchyard.

  —New York TimesApril 12, 1876

  Stewart’s body was placed on ice and lay in state in the Lace Room at the Marble Mansion. Several photographs were taken, and a plaster cast of his face was made. Cornelia Stewart remained in seclusion for much of the day under a doctor’s care. Judge Hilton and George Hamill, the undertaker, made the funeral arrangements. It was decided that Stewart would be buried in a plain oak casket with gold handles and moldings. The interior of the casket was lined with white satin, and on the lid was a large silver plate inscribed with the words:

  ALEXANDER T. STEWART

  Born Oct 12th, 1803

  Died April 10th, 1876

  The casket was enclosed in a cedar box and lined with a thick sheet of lead. It would be buried in the Stewart family vault at St. Mark’s Church located on the corner of Second Avenue and Stuyvesant Street. The churchyard contained the family vaults of many of New York City’s most well-known families, including that of the city’s most illustrious citizen, Peter Stuyvesant, who died in 1675 and was known as the “late Captain General and Governor in Chief of New Amsterdam.”

  The Stewart family vault was on the same eastern side of the churchyard, a dozen or so yards from Stuyvesant’s vault, and was marked by a small, flat stone with the names of the deceased and the number 112, hardly a notable or recognizable resting place for the “Merchant Prince of Manhattan.”

  Despite his great wealth, Stewart remained an unassuming figure to the end. His million-dollar mansion on Fifth Avenue and his two enormous and lavish stores were, it seemed, for him a lasting testament to his wealth, fame, and good fortune. In death he sought humble, eternal obscurity.

  1. Full name of the deceased, Alexander Turney Stewart; 2. Age, seventy-two years, five months, twenty-nine days; color, white; 3. Married; 4. Occupation, merchant; 5. Birthplace, Lisburn, Ireland; forty-six years in the United States; How long resident in this City, forty-six years; 7. Father’s birthplace, Ireland; 8. Mother’s birthplace, Ireland; 9. Place of death, Thirty-fourth street, corner of Fifth avenue, Twenty-first Ward; 10. If a dwelling, by how many families living separately occupied, One, (second floor) 11. I hereby certify that I attended deceased from March 19, 1876 to April 10, 1876; that I last saw him alive on the 10th day of April, 1876; that he died on the 10th day of April, 1876, about 1:30 o’clock P.M., and that the cause of his death was: First, (primary) Cystitis; second, (immediate) Peritonitis; place of burial, St. Mark’s Church; date of burial, April 13, 1876; undertaker, G.W. Hamill, No 26 Third avenue.

  —A. T. Stewart’s death certificate, signed by Dr. E. E. Marcy and received by the deputy register of vital statistics, April 12, 1876

  A.T. STEWART’S FUNERAL

  SERVICES AT CHURCH AND HOUSE

  The Body Lies In State At The Fifth

  Avenue Residence—A Magnificent

  Floral Display—The Short Service

  At The House—An Imposing Funeral

  Procession.

  —New York TimesApril 14, 1876

  Since St. Mark’s could not accommodate what Hilton and Hamill projected would be an enormous crowd, it was decided that mourners would need tickets to attend the service. The tickets would be distributed to dignitaries, associates, and employees first, while others wishing to attend would be required to file an application for whatever was left over after the initial distribution. The front pews of the church were reserved for family, relatives, business associates, and prominent guests, including Governor Samuel Tilden of New York, who would also serve as a pallbearer.

  Stewart’s funeral was conducted in accordance with the rituals dictated by the Episcopal Church. There was a service at the house followed by a church service. There was a display of flowers at the house, where the body lay in state, and at the church. Some of the most distinguished men and women in New York and from across the country attended the service at Stewart’s palatial home.

  Around 8 a.m. on the day of the funeral, a long line of current and former employees came to the house to pay their respects. Some were assigned various duties in the house and were identified by an armband of black and white rosette on their left arms. Two employees were stationed at the foot of the stairs leading into the house. Two more were stationed halfway up the staircase and others at the entrance itself.

  A crowd of thousands congregated outside the Stewart mansion, along both sides of Thirty-fourth Street. A police squad of forty uniformed officers lined the street leading to the main entrances. No one was allowed to pass through the police line without a ticket issued by the Stewart family.

  At 9 a.m. the doors to the mansion were opened, allowing those who came to pay their respects to enter in single file, orderly and quiet, with the police and ushers checking tickets. For more than an hour, the crowd streamed through the doors of the mansion, filling it to capacity. The floral display adorning the coffin measured seven feet long and four feet wide. The mass of flowers included fresh white roses, lilies, orchids, and ivy. At the base of the arrangement were the initials, A.T.S., spelled out in violets on top of a bed of pure white lilies. At the head of the coffin was a four-foot-high harp made of flowers with a floral cross next to it.

  The coffin was covered with purple velvet and lined with white satin. The edges of the velvet drape were hemmed with a four-inch band of gold. Gold-plated rods were affixed to both sides of the coffin along with gold handles on the sides and end. A bouquet of white flowers rested on top of the coffin at the base of a plain gold cross.

  Bishop Horatio Potter held a brief solemn service, after which mourners filed past the coffin, paying their respects. The coffin was then removed from the house and transport
ed by hearse to St. Mark’s Church.

  The hearse was a long black carriage with gilded edges, drawn by a team of black horses in gold harnesses. The plain, dark carriages of the mourners followed the hearse. Altogether, there were about sixty-five carriages in the procession from the Stewart mansion to St. Mark’s.

  The ticketed mourners were allowed inside the church, quickly filling eight hundred seats among the pews and standing in rapt attention along the back of church once the seats were all occupied. Four hundred tickets had been issued to employees. President Grant, who had been scheduled to attend, sent his regrets and offered his condolences to Mrs. Stewart. Pressing matters of state took precedence for the chief executive.

  Bishop Potter and his assistants met the cortege at the front door of the church around 12:15 p.m. Stewart’s coffin was taken to the front of the church, where it was once again placed in a great sea of flowers and wreathes. Among the pallbearers, besides Governor Tilden, were Governor Alexander Rice of Massachusetts, former Governors John Adams Dix and Edwin Morgan of New York, U.S. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, and several prominent New York judges. The pallbearers were seated in the first pew. Once they were seated, Judge Hilton escorted Mrs. Stewart down the center aisle. She wore a black dress and cloak, and her face was covered in a dark veil. Hilton and the widow Stewart were followed down the aisle by other family members, including her brother, Charles Clinch, and his wife.