He found it would be impossible to accomplish this on account of the extent of the latter's connections. He then turned his attention to getting control of Western Union by buying stock when it was low. Finding it a paying investment, he had been constantly increasing his interest. His subsequent history as a .successful business man, and finally as one of the greatest magnates of Wall Street, is well known, but has little to do with the literary annals of Westchester County.

Another Westchester County litterateur, Mr. Frederick Whittaker, is a prolific writer of stories, and widely known for his " Life of Custer." Mr. Whittaker is the second son and fourth child of Henry Whittaker and Catharine Maitland, and was born in Sloane Street, London, on December 12, 1838. His father was a solicitor with a large practice, but was ruined by indorsing for a noble client. Lord Kensington, the original of Thackeray's "Lord Crabs" in the " Ye]low])lush Papers." Mr. Whittaker was compelled to flee from England to escape imprisonment for debt. For some years he wandered from place to place with his family on the Continent, and finally, in 1850, came to this country, settling in New York, where he obtained a good practice as a lawyer, and wrote the first book on practice, under the code. "Whittaker's Practice " was a standard book until superseded by later decisions and later books. Frederick Whittaker's education in the mean time was of a desultory character, and his attendance at school was limited to six months at a Mr. Walker's private school in Brooklyn. His father tried to make a lawyer of him, but the boy's tastes inclined to literature. At sixteen he entered the office of N. Dane Ellingwood, a lawyer, as office-boy, and two or three years later obtained a position in the office of Henry G.