Judge Hiram Bond
Encyclopedia
Judge Hiram Bond was born in 1838 in Farmersville
Farmersville, New York
Farmersville is a town located in the eastern border of Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,028 at the 2000 census.- History :The area was first settled around 1805, but no permanent settlement was made until around 1817...

, Cattaraugus County, New York and died in Seattle in 1906. He was a corporate lawyer, investment banker and an investor in various businesses including gold mining. He was the son of Hiram Bond M.D. and Almeda Slusser and was married to Laura Ann Higgins. His offspring were Louis Whitford Bond
Louis Whitford Bond
Louis Whitford Bond is remembered for having been one of two brothers who were the landlords and among the employers of Jack London during the Klondike Gold Rush. Their dog was the inspiration for his novel The Call of the Wild. Bond was born November 1, 1865, at Rushford, Allegany County, New...

 born in New York City, New York in 1865 and Marshall Latham Bond
Marshall Latham Bond
Marshall Latham Bond was one of two brothers who were Jack London's landlords and among his employers during the autumn of 1897 and the spring of 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. They were the owners of the dog that Jack London fictionalized as Buck....

 born in Orange, Virginia
Orange, Virginia
Orange is a town in Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Orange County...

 in 1867. His Academic history was Rushford Academy, Rushford, New York
Rushford, New York
Rushford is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 1,259 at the 2000 census.The Town of Rushford is in the northwest part of Allegany County and is northeast of Olean, New York....

 a bachelors from Hamilton College. He earned much of the money for his own education as a distributor of maps and atlases. Among his successes was becoming publisher, taking over the rights to a map of the United States which had been prepared by Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury
Matthew Fontaine Maury , United States Navy was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator....

 a Southerner who was a United States cartography officer . Maury who decided to join the Confederacy had left the work unpaid for in New York. He matriculated at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 but before graduation he was hired as a law clerk by Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Mitchell Depew was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911.- Biography:...

 a friend and neighbor of his father in law Michael Dunning Higgins of Peekskill.

Early investment career

Through Depew he was introduced to and became a broker for John Tobin & Co. part of the powerful Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt family
The Vanderbilt family is an American family of Dutch origin prominent during the Gilded Age. It started off with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthropy...

 Organization. At Tobin & Co. he was the floor broker for Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and for his son William Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt I was an American businessman and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family.-Childhood:William Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1821...

 on the New York Gold Exchange
New York Gold Exchange
The New York Gold Exchange was an exchange formed near the beginning of the Civil War for the purpose of creating an open market for transactions involving gold and the government-created paper currency, the greenback...

 executing their trading in "greenbacks" and gold during the Civil War. The value of greenbacks against gold varied widely as investors altered their perception on the progress of the war. Greenbacks United States Notes sold at a discounted price in comparison to gold. however if chances of victory rose they became perceived as a business opportunity. For the most part however, if the war were dragging on, people wanted the security of gold. Vanderbilt employed a private intelligence network on the front line reporting early news. Hiram Bond's position led to his prominent contacts on Wall Street, in the military and in politics. He is described by Professor Richard Lowe as having financial dealings during the Civil War with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

.
Among the other investment houses acting in collaboration with Commodore Vanderbilt and Tobin and that Hiram Bond was acquainted with was that of the two Jeromes Addison Jerome and Leonard Jerome
Leonard Jerome
Leonard Walter Jerome was a Brooklyn, New York, financier and grandfather of Winston Churchill.- Early life :...

 who was the grandfather of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

.

Judgeship

Hiram Bond was appointed to a federal judgeship in Orange County, Virginia
Orange County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,881 people, 10,150 households, and 7,470 families residing in the county. The population density was 76 people per square mile . There were 11,354 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...

 in 1866 under Reconstruction. He was of importance in assisting a shift from an Accommodationist Francis Harrison Pierpont to a Radical Republican Governor Henry H. Wells
Henry H. Wells
Henry Horatio Wells , was a Union Army general in the American Civil War and a carpetbagger who served as the appointed provisional Governor of Virginia from 1868 to 1869 during Reconstruction. He was defeated for election in 1869.-Early life:Henry Wells was born in Rochester, New York and grew up...

. In 1868 he was appointed to the position of Master of Bankruptcy for the state of Virginia by President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...

. This position was based at the state capital, Richmond, Va. While living there he hosted a visit by Supreme Court Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...

 Salmon P. Chase
Salmon P. Chase
Salmon Portland Chase was an American politician and jurist who served as U.S. Senator from Ohio and the 23rd Governor of Ohio; as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.Chase was one of the most prominent members...

. His family remained living at Mayhurst Plantation House in Orange. Judge Hiram Bond's subsequent honorific use of the title Judge was based on this post.

Denver

In 1870 Judge Bond started visiting Denver and the other parts of Colorado on business. On the evening of January 14, 1872 he was among local notables invited by the Governor to be attendants at a ball held for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia was the sixth child and the fourth son of Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Maria Alexandrovna . Destined to a naval career, Alexei Alexandrovich started his military training at the age of 7...

. On the 15th the group hunted Buffalo with Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

. Later in the year Hiram Bond purchased a small ranch on the outskirts of the town named Villa Park, Denver
Villa Park, Denver
Villa Park is a neighborhood of Denver, Colorado.-Geography:The neighborhood is located in West Denver about two to three miles west of Downtown Denver...

, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 where he acted as a cattle broker. The same year he organized the Denver Smelting and Refining Works with Joseph Miner and Denver Mayor Joseph E. Bates
Joseph E. Bates
Joseph E. Bates was brought up in Muskegon County, Michigan and moved to Denver, Colorado in 1860 where he became involved in working for various businesses. He became active in city politics being elected a city councillor in 1868...

 producing gold ore into ingots for the Denver Mint
Denver Mint
The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets and commemorative coins. Coins produced at the Denver Mint bear a D mint mark...

. The Villa Park property was sold to Helen Barnum Hurd Buchtel daughter of P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....

 founder of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...

 in 1889. The Barnums then operated the Bond's Villa Park House as a hotel. Hiram Bond's Denver homesite and yard are now called Paco Sanchez Park. Judge Hiram Bond practiced law specializing in mining and ranching, he also dealt in real estate.

The Grape Sugar Trust

In 1881 Judge Hiram Bond became involved with the Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...

 corn starch and glucose producer the New York Grape Sugar Corporation. The other founding officers included Theodore Havemeyer of the Havemeyer Brothers led by Henry O. Havemeyer
Henry O. Havemeyer
Henry Osborne Havemeyer was an American entrepreneur who founded the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891. He was chosen vice president and afterward its president.- Background :...

 the largest sugar refiners in the United States. Among the other principals were the New York State Republican Boss Thomas C. Platt
Thomas C. Platt
Thomas Collier Platt was a two-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term U.S. Senator from New York in the years 1881 and 1897-1909 — is best known as the "political boss" of the Republican Party in New York State in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century...

, patent lawyer Edward N. Dickerson, a Philadelphia group composed of businessmen William West Frazier of Rittenhouse Square, Frazier's brother in law William Crawford Sheldon and his son in law Alfred Craven Harrison. Frazier, Sheldon and Harrison had a banking business in New York and an established business which imported and refined sugar in Pennsylvania. William Crawford Sheldon's daughter Gertrude was later the wife of Richard Whitney
Richard Whitney (financier)
Richard Whitney was an American financier, president of the New York Stock Exchange from 1930 to 1935, and a convicted embezzler.-Biography:He was born on August 1, 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts to George Whitney, Sr....

 President of the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

. Judge Bond helped distribute the stock exchanging some with Charles D. Arms of Youngstown, Ohio for shares in Grand Central Mining. There was a resulting court case as to whether Judge Hiram Bond had exchanged those shares with Charles Arms as an individual or as a member of the partnership of Kimberly & Arms. This case eventually went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Alabama; Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co.

As a result of the ethical performance of his position being Master of Bankruptcy for Virginia he was respected there and in the South even by many former Confederates despite being a Radical Republican. This led to Judge Hiram Bonds involvement with the northern Alabama coal mining industry. He began by purchasing a house at Decatur and helping form a new company Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company
Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company
Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Comany, Inc. was a company which engaged in a planned urban development in the state of Alabama in the late nineteenth century. On January 11, 1887, as Decatur, Alabama was still rebuilding from the destructive results of the war and the outbreak, the Decatur...

 there in 1887 as Vice President and General Manager. This company was formed with Major Eugene C. Gordon
Eugene C. Gordon
Major Eugene C. Gordon was a railroad construction engineer, Confederate Officer in the Civil War and subsequently founded and led Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company, Inc...

 the brother of Governor John Brown Gordon
John Brown Gordon
John Brown Gordon was one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted Confederate generals during the American Civil War. After the war, he was a strong opponent of Reconstruction and is thought by some to have been the titular leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia during the late 1860s. A member of the...

 of Georgia. He then became involved with Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company , also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the...

.

Judge Hiram Bond was the Chief Operating Officer of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company from 1889 to 1891. The TCI resulted from a combine of interests between a number of coal, coke and iron operations in Tennessee and Northern Alabama. Judge Bond was made an officer at the same time as John C. Brown
John C. Brown
John Calvin Brown was a Confederate general during the American Civil War and the Governor of Tennessee from 1871 to 1875, the first Democrat to be elected to that position following the war.-Early life:...

 a former General and Governor of Tennessee. The largest holders of the company stock were in two groups, one being led by a Southerner John H. Inman
John H. Inman
John Hamilton Inman was a capitalist who invested in cotton, coal, iron and steel, and railroads, especially in the impoverished post-Civil War South...

, the other group by New York State Republican Boss Thomas C. Platt
Thomas C. Platt
Thomas Collier Platt was a two-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term U.S. Senator from New York in the years 1881 and 1897-1909 — is best known as the "political boss" of the Republican Party in New York State in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century...

. On Gov. Brown's death he was replaced as President by Platt. The Southerners won out in time though due to discomfort the Northerners felt over convict leasing and the poor initial performance of the stock. The Inman's removed Bond from his office, but by then he was already doing projects in other places.

Kings County Elevated Railway

Between 1887 and 1891 Judge Hiram Bond was also chief officer of a firm financed by investors from Boston led by Willard T. Sears
Willard T. Sears
Willard Thomas Sears was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles....

 and Moses Kimball
Moses Kimball
Moses Kimball was a U.S. politician and showman. Kimball was a close associate of P. T. Barnum, and public-spirited citizen of Boston, Massachusetts.-Biography:...

 which had acquired rights to construct an urban transit system under the name Kings County Elevated Railway
Kings County Elevated Railway
The Kings County Elevated Railway Company was a builder and operator of elevated railway lines in Kings County, New York, now coextensive with the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Its original services were operated with steam locomotives....

. Williard T. Sears was an architect who was able to add value designing the overpasses and bridges. Their package of rights and initial construction was eventually sold off to New York City investors led by Gen. James Jourdan due to the lack of support for the Bostonians by the local political leaders. Due to the persistence of Jourdan the project eventually got off the ground. The company directors besides Jourdan were Edward A. Abbott, Henry J. Davison, Harvey Farrington, Wendell Goodwin, Henry J. Robinson, James O. Sheldon and William A. Read. William A. Read was the financier whose company Read & Company later became Dillon, Read. His association with the KCER was so well known that it was commonly referred to as "Judge Bond's Road" according to the New York Times. During this period of time he was inducted into the Players Club at Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...

 founded by actor Edwin Booth
Edwin Booth
Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous 19th century American actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, a spectacular theatre that was quite modern for its time...

 for actors and lovers of the theater. He was also a member of the Union League Club of New York
Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of New York is a private social club in New York City. Its fourth and current clubhouse, which opened on February 2, 1931, is a building designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, III, located at 38 East 37th Street between Madison and Park Avenue in the Murray Hill section of...

 and Lawyers Club of New York. During this time he maintained an office at 115 Broadway in Manhattan and a townhouse in Brooklyn..

Seattle, Monte Cristo Mine

Among his promotions were two companies based on mining near Monte Cristo Peak
Monte Cristo Peak
Monte Cristo Peak is a mountain peak in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness in Washington state. Together with Columbia Peak and Kyes Peak it forms a basin that contains Columbia Glacier and Blanca Lake...

 in the Cascades, Monte Cristo Mining & Milling Co. and the Everett & Monte Cristo Railroad. This package of corporations, real estate and mining patents was sold off to John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...

. Rockefeller had his representatives develop the mine, a railroad extension to the mine and a town. Among those who participated in the period of opportunity at Monte Cristo was Friederich Trump father of Frederick Fred Trump and grandfather of Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

 who opened the first Trump Real Estate Office and Trump Hotel there. The lumber for the construction of that first Trump Hotel was purchased from Monte Cristo Mining & Milling while it was owned by Rockefeller. The mine there turned out to be marginal and Bond's sale showed good foresight.

Santa Clara Prune Industry

Beginning in 1891 Judge Hiram Bond and a younger brother Elmer Monroe Bond a New York City wholesale produce dealer were involved in a fruit packing business in Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

. There had been wide price swings in the price of prunes depending on the time since last harvest. Judge Bond constructed warehouses, set up a bank Citizens Bank of Santa Clara and he bought New Park Estate formerly the property of James Pieronnet Pierce
James Pieronnet Pierce
James Pieronnet Pierce was a California pioneer entrepreneur.-Intro and ancestors:Prominent among the noted captains of industry who have contributed greatly toward the development of the resources of the Golden State, the late James Pieronnet Pierce will ever be given an enviable place in...

. A fruit industry association he helped found and headed California Cured Fruit Association
California Cured Fruit Association
The California Cured Fruit Association was formed by plum growers in the Santa Clara Valley the country's largest center of production in 1900 to handle distribution of the dried fruit...

 negotiated prices which increased due to storage and slow sale. The business succeeded until a bumper crop in 1903 proved too much to store. While in Santa Clara Hiram Bond was a cofounder of the Garden City Athletic Club (a gym). He was also a member of the Saint Claire Club of San Jose, the Burlingame Country Club of Burlingame and the Pacific-Union Club
Pacific-Union Club
The Pacific-Union Club is a private social club located at 1000 California Street in San Francisco, California, at the top of Nob Hill. It was founded in 1889 as a merger of two earlier clubs: the Pacific Club and the Union Club ....

 in nearby San Francisco. At this time the Bonds also maintained a string of polo ponies among the Judge and his two sons playing at Coyote Point Park
Coyote Point Park
Coyote Point Park is a park in San Mateo County, California, United States. Located on San Francisco Bay, it is south of San Francisco International Airport on the border of Burlingame and San Mateo....

 in San Mateo. He maintained an Irish coachman Nace, a carriage and a limousine which was used by his wife after his death whose California chauffeurs license number was 226.

New York Again, American Mechanical Cashier

Among his last positions was President of the American Mechanical Cashier Corporation which had a plant in Jersey City, New Jersey an office at 40 Wall Street and a flagship store on Broadway. AMCC provided a suite for him at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Among the others involved in the company were former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Charles S. Fairchild
Charles S. Fairchild
Charles Stebbins Fairchild was a New York businessman and politician.-Biography:Born in Cazenovia, New York, to Sidney and Helen Fairchild, he graduated from Harvard College in 1863 and Harvard Law School in 1865. He was married to Helen Lincklaen in 1871...

 and investment banker Henry L. Horton father in law of Edward F. Hutton. The company was developing a proprietary cash register and had acquired the Isaac S. Dement machine stenography patents. Among those friends of the family who considered investing in AMCC was John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War and a member of the prominent Astor family...

. The main near term business however was refurbishing some used registers made by the NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...

 that users obtained title to at the end of their leases. NCR wanted clients to upgrade with new machines under a new lease from NCR. Col. John H. Patterson financed Thomas Watson
Thomas J. Watson
Thomas John Watson, Sr. was president of International Business Machines , who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956...

 to set up a front company Watsons which would compete in that market with predatory practices. So AMCC was driven into bankruptcy and acquired by Watson's. The matter generated an anti-trust action after which Watson left to set up IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

. Among the injured investors in AMCC was Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

.

Subject: Hiram Bond, President of the Monte Cristo and Everett Railroad

H. G. BOND DIES AS RESULT OF INJURIES

Well Known Resident of Seattle and former candidate for U.S. Senator Succombs From Fall From Horse. From the results of a fall from his horse last Sunday morning Judge Hiram G. Bond one of the best know citizens of Seattle, died last evening at 7 o'clock at his home on Boylston Avenue. The immediate cause of his death was apoplexy, superinduced his physicians believe, by his exertions in aiding Miss Ada Hanford his riding companion, who fell from her horse during the ride.

The pair were near the end of Lake Washington Boulevard when Miss Hanford's mount stumbled and threw her to the ground. Judge Bond quickly dismounted and ran to the assistance of Miss Hanford, who is a daughter of Federal Judge Cornelius H. Hanford
Cornelius H. Hanford
Cornelius Holgate Hanford was an American judge and the first United States Judge for the District of Washington. He was the younger brother of the newspaper editor Thaddeus Hanford. The former agricultural community of Hanford, Washington was named for him.-Early life:Hanford was born in...

. Miss Hanford was not hurt in the least and was quickly on her feet. As he started to remount his steed Judge Bond became a trifle dizzy and fell to the ground, bruising his head, but not sustaining any serious injuries. Miss Hanford went immediately to his assistance and summoned a carriage, Judge Bond then was in a semi-conscious condition but when he reached home he was entirely unconscious.

Because of his advanced years Judge Bond failed rapidly and Monday and Tuesday physicians worked over him in an effort to save his life. On Tuesday his condition grew worse and on Thursday all hope was given up.

Miss Hanford Grieved - Miss Hanford is almost prostrated with grief at the unhappy termination of the outing. Judge Bond and Judge Hanford were close personal friends and the deceased was held in he deepest regard by all the members of Judge Hanford's family. Judge Bond was 70 years old. Judge Bond was a rich man his fortune being estimated at US$ 750,000.

He made a large part of this as a part owner and manager of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company , also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the...

 and in investments in mining properties in various parts of the country and in California real property. One of Judge Bond's most intimate friends was former Gov. John H. McGraw, who knew the dead capitalist for many years.

said Mr. McGraw: While Judge Bond was not active of late he was informed on Seattle's public affairs. He was very much interested in this city and although he maintained another home in California he always considered Seattle his home town. He was a man of very strong character, a sound reasoner, well posted on national affairs and on all public questions and deeply concerned with all of these.

When he came here sixteen years ago, Judge Bond became interested in the mines in the Monte Cristo district with Colgate Hoyt
Colgate Hoyt
Colgate Hoyt was an American businessman active in the late nineteenth century. He was a director of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, and one of the founders of Everett, Washington, where a main street is named after him. He was a New York investment banker who was the partner of Joseph...

, J. Sloat Fassett and other New York men. Leigh S. J. Hunt
Leigh S. J. Hunt
Leigh S. J. Hunt was an American businessman. He is best known as the third president of Iowa State University , and as publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1886 to 1893...

 then owner of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was also interested in these properties. Judge Bond realized a handsome profit from his investment. He did not own much Seattle real estate at any time, if I remember correctly his largest holding being the lot on First Avenue South where the Olympus Cafe is situated.

Urged for Senator - Judge Bond for some years contemplated running for the office of United States Senator and his name was very strongly pressed during the Allen-Turner deadlock in the legislature of 1893. He made no effort himself to secure the office. Again in 1895 he was a receptive candidate but did not press his claims. About that time some of his friends myself and the late Frederic Grant among the number told Judge Bond that if he would establish a residence in Eastern Washington the chances were that he could easily be elected senator. I firmly believe and have always believed that Judge Bond was eminently fitted for the office and had he sought it and had been elected he would have taken rank with the great men of the Senate. He was a man beloved and esteemed by all who knew him, whose grasp of affairs was of the broadest and who had a natural capacity for dealing with public questions".

Deal for the PI - In 1897 Judge Bond offered to buy The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...

, at that time owned by John D. Hoge and James D. Hoge Jr. of this city but before the negotiations were concluded his son, Marshall Bond becoming infected with the gold fever determined to go to the Klondike mining country. Judge Bond's idea was to put his son in charge of the morning paper, but the young man's desire to go north changed all these plans and the deal for the paper fell through. Later Judge Bond renewed his offer to buy the property but it went into other hands. Marshall Bond and Louis Bond, sons of the deceased will arrive here tonight from California. The funeral arrangements have not yet been completed but the obsequies will probably be held Sunday at 2:00 o'clock with the internment at Lake View.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer April 2nd 1906

JUDGE BOND LEFT US$750,000 IN PROPERTY

Estate of Dead Pioneer Resident of Seattle Will be Probated Without a Will Under the Law of the State. Left No Written Instruction as to Distribution of Fortune Which Will Go to Widow and Two Sons. Mrs Bond Will Get Half of the Property and Marshall and Louis Will Divide Remainder. Holdings Are Scattered Judge Hiram G. Bond who died in his home in this city March 29 as a result of a stroke of apoplexy and a fall from his horse, left no will.

His estate it is estimated by well informed men, is worth not less than US$ 750,000. Under the law it will go to his widow and his two sons Marshall and Louis. Mrs Bond will get half the estate and the other half will be evenly divided between his two sons. This afternoon the legal firm of Bauman & Kelleher acting for the widow and his two sons filed a petition in he superior court asking that Marshall and Louis Bond, the two sons be named as administrators for the estate.

No inventory has yet been prepared of the property left by Judge Bond, who was one of the old time residents of Seattle and a man who worked for years for the upbuilding of the Queen City.

- Died From Accident - Judge Bond as the Times has told, died as a result of a stroke of apoplexy. This was caused by an accident while out riding one Sunday on the Lake Washington Boulevard with Miss Ada Hanford, daughter of United States District Court Judge Cornelius H. Hanford
Cornelius H. Hanford
Cornelius Holgate Hanford was an American judge and the first United States Judge for the District of Washington. He was the younger brother of the newspaper editor Thaddeus Hanford. The former agricultural community of Hanford, Washington was named for him.-Early life:Hanford was born in...

. Miss Hanford's horse stumbled and threw her to the ground. This his physicians believed was due to the exertion of jumping from his horse and of aiding his partner. The trouble was aggravated by the advanced age of Judge Bond. He grew rapidly worse and died after several days.

Daniel J. Kelleher
Daniel J. Kelleher
Daniel J. Kelleher was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Seattle National Bank and took an active part in consolidating two of the largest banks in Seattle, Washington, the Puget Sound National and the Seattle National, now known as the Seattle National Bank, the largest bank in the State...

 who for years acted as Judge Bond's legal advisor, said today: I can not estimate the size of Judge Bond's estate, and therefore can give you no information. Judge Bond left no will.

- Left Much Property - From local friends of Judge Bond who knew him well it was learned he died possessed of property in New York, Nevada, Utah, California and in Seattle and the State of Washington.

His holdings in this city consisted entirely of the Olympus Cafe property on First Avenue which is valued at US$ 750,000. He owned timber land in Skagit County as well as a great deal of real estate in California, Utah and Nevada. The character of his holdings in New York are not known here. It is probable he held considerable interest in the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company , also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the...

, one of the great industrial corporations of the country. The bulk of Judge Bond's estate lies outside of the State of Washington.

Jack London and the Bonds

Judge Bond is chiefly remembered as the basis for the character Judge Miller in Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...

's novel "The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events leads to his serving as a sled dog in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled dogs...

". Judge Bond's sons were Louis Bond and Marshall Bond who were mining engineers educated at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

 and Stanford. The Bonds owned the cabin and tent pitch overlooking Dawson City, in the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...

 where Jack London had lived on a work exchange during the Fall of 1897 and part of the Spring of 1898. The Bond brothers had also owned the sled dogs that London used in Dawson for the Bonds and other of his clients. One of their dogs was the basis for the character Buck.

London visited Marshall Bond at New Park Judge Bond's Ranch in 1901 at Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

which included a plum orchard, vineyard and winery as well pasture for a string of polo ponies. The Call of the Wild begins with a description of the place.

Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. Judge Miller's place, it was called. It stood back from the road, half-hidden among the trees, through which glimpses could be caught of the wide cool veranda that ran around its four sides. The house was approached by graveled driveways which wound about through wide-spreading lawns and under the interlacing boughs of tall poplars. At the rear things were on even a more spacious scale than at the front. There were great stables, where a dozen grooms and boys held forth, rows of vine-clad servants' cottages, an endless and orderly array of outhouses, long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches. Then there was the pumping plant for the artesian well, and the big cement tank where Judge Miller's boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon

Sources

  1. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 59, No. 1 (Feb., 1993), pp. 139–140
  2. Published by: Southern Historical Association
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