International studio (25.1905)

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ese, Corean, Babylonian and Central Asian master-
pieces of painting and pottery, and is valued' at
$600,000. Mr. Freer proposes to add to it to the
extent of $400,000, and to give a further bequest
of $500,000 to the Smithsonian Institution to erect
a building for the exclusive purpose of sheltering it.
The owner of this wonderful collection of art
treasures is, without doubt, one of the most inter-
esting and remarkable men in America. From the
study of time sheets'as a railway clerk on ten dollars
a week to the work
of a bibliophile is a
far cry, yet this is the
transition that Mr.
Freer has made.
Thirty-five years ago,
when Mr. Freer was
a y oung man of
twenty, he had few
dreams of ever be-
coming a multi-
millionaire or an art
collector. Both ro-
mance and fate be-
gan playing their
parts in his life al-
most before he had
outgrown his boy-
hood.
When about
twenty-five, Freer
was working in Lo-
gansport, Ind., as a
clerk on a railroad of
which he afterward
became auditor. At
this time his chum
and room-mate was
Colonel Frank J.
Hecker, who after-
ward became a Pan-
ama Canal Commis-
sioner. Fortune did
not smile upon these
two for a long time. They worked on the Eel River
Railroad, an enterprise that cohsisted of thirty
miles of track, sixteen freight cars, six passenger
coaches, and two locomotives, one of them in the
repair shop for such long periods of time that it was
not really considered a part of the rolling stock. In
those days Freer and Hecker "kept bach," and
cooked their meals over an alcohol stove in their
rooms to curtail expenses. Both were exceedingly
attached to the little road, and by the time

Freer became auditor, Hecker was its superin-
tendent. Their one train wobbled daily from
Logansport through Mexico and Chili, two Miami
county towns tropical only in name. There was
only one conductor, and often one of these two men
would help him out. The train stopped at cross-
roads, cornfields, anywhere that a passenger might
choose to stand and wave his hands. So Freer
learned the names of hundreds of men, women and
children; their habits and the location of their
homes. This life was
very pleasant to Freer
for several years.
Then there came the
romance in his life
which, it is said, has
always made him a
bachelor. He loved
a girl, but was too
poor to marry. Just
when Freer's pros-
pects were beginning
to brighten, the young
woman died. Now
another blow follow-
ed this. In 1878 the
little road was leased
to the Wabash, and
such costly appurten-
ances as auditors and
superintendents were
discontinued. It was
a great blow to Freer
and his chum. When
they were thrown out
of employment it
looked as though fate
were against them,
but as a matter of
fact, the loss of their
positions made them
both millionaires.
Between them they
had saved several
thousand dollars, and together they came to
Detroit. In those days there were no car shops in
the middle west, so Hecker and Freer rented a
building and began building cars on a small scale.
To this company they gave the name of the Penin-
sular Car Works, which afterward became famous
all over the world. Their business developed be-
yond their wildest dreams. Their "shops" grew
larger and larger, they paid for their buildings,
erected others, and soon were counted rich men.


CHARLES L. FREER, OF DETROIT, MICH., WHO IS GIVING
HIS ART TREASURES TO THE GOVERNMENT

LXXVII