The Man Who Said He Spoke for the Czar

TACOMA, March 2 — [Special.] — W. D. Richardson, who is charged with inspiring attacks on Prof. Wark and stirring up trouble in the capitol commission in the interest of an architect named E. E. Myers, came to Tacoma last December. He habitually spoke his name as if it were spelled Richards, and it was once stated by him that he did not care if the newspapers did print his name Richards instead of Richardson. He visited the city several times before his commission was announced. He did not seem anxious to have it known what he was doing.

Finally, after he had been here two or three days, on the occasion of his third visit, he was asked by a reporter of the Tacoma bureau of the POST-INTELLIGENCER if it were true that he represented a steamship company which was to operate steamers in connection with the eastern terminus of the great Siberian railway.

Mr. Richardson's response indicated that his mission was a dual one, and that he represented the steamship company and more particularly the interests of the Russian government, or the czar, in that company. He made but one statement voluntarily, viz., that the Amoor Steamship Company, which he said he represented, was about to bring five steamers to the Pacific ocean from New York city.

Further interrogatories brought out the statement from him that the Amoor Steamship Company was to have a fleet of perhaps twenty vessels; that all except the five already purchased from C. P. Huntington's Rio line would be built on the Pacific coast; that the company had an office in New York city; that the president and general manager of the company would reside on this Coast, and that while the steamers which were to be operated in connection with the Siberian railway construction would stop at all the principal Pacific coast cities, there would be one chief port, which had not been selected, and that it was part of his business to inquire into the merits of the coast ports with a view of deciding where the chief port should be located. Much good timber would be required, he said, in connection with the railway construction, and to the end that he might know where the best timber was available he made a trip about the Sound and also to South Bend.

On nearly all these trips he was accompanied by his sister.

While at Tacoma he made several trips about the adjacent country, taking particular notice of the harbor facilities. In this way he collected data which caused him quite an amount of mental and physical exertion, and impressed those who assisted him with the belief that he was sincere in his work, and actually represented capitalists, the Amoor Steamship Company and the interests of the czar.

However, while Mr. Richardson talked quite freely "on the side," he reluctantly spoke for the press. He acted very much like a railroad man who does not wish his superiors to think he is "giving their business away."

Mr. Richardson was very well posted. He believed that a great trade could be built up between the Pacific coast and Asia. He called attention to the commercial relations of South America with the Old World, and pointed out that this same trade could be captured by the Pacific coast. In other ways he evinced great knowledge of and a sincere interest in the commercial problems of the world.

He was understood to be the Mr. Richardson who had a $10,000,000 contract in connection with the Argentine capitol. This he did not deny, but at the same time was anxious not to be paraded in the newspapers as a man of any great distinction. He was announced as the late supervising architect of the World's fair buildings at Chicago. Again he did not deny anything and again was anxious not to be paraded. Mr. Richardson told many interesting incidents about the work of construction of the great World's fair buildings, and how he used to work nearly twenty-four hours a day during the rush of construction; how he slept in a tent and had a horse always stationed outside while he slept, that he might mount hurriedly and ride off on a gallop to superintend some important work; how this hurry-scurry wore out several horses during the twenty-four hours that he was in or out of the saddle, etc.

None of this was told in a braggadocio spirit, but rather in conversations with conservative men who met him in the hotel lobby. Of course, when it was noised that he was the authorized representative of the czar of all Russia, that he was charged with the important mission of securing, or rather selecting, a site for the chief port of the steamship company that was to have a fleet of twenty or more vessels, he had many callers from all parts of the Sound, who took pains to point out to Mr. Richardson the merits of their respective towns.

This sort of notoriety brought Mr. Richardson into great demand. He never once lost his head, but always used to discuss his plans, saying his report would be forwarded to the New York office of the steamship company, together with a letter of advice which would be sent to the St. Petersburg parties interested in the gigantic scheme.

Mr. Richardson was of medium height, rather slimly built, and had all the calm and other marks of a newspaper writer or worker in any direction in which he might be interested. His face is not handsome, is in shape a cross between an egg and a round; he had a square, full, intellectual forehead, heavy eyebrows, with large blue eyes, which are nearly hid by hairy lids, except when the latter are raised in astonishment, when a good glimpse of the big bright blue eye can be had. His moustache is inclined to be stubby and brushy. It is short, with a sprinkling of gray. Mr. Richardson is apparently aged 40 or 45. He has not been here for about seven weeks.

A Seattle man who knows Richardson says: "He is a native of Connecticut and a nephew of Richardson, partner of the late Seven-Mule Barnum, the Democratic leader. Richardson is a good mechanical engineer, and got his training in the shop instead of the college. He was at one time president of the Springfield, Ill., Rolling Mill Company. He gained notoriety in connection with contracts on the Illinois capitol at Springfield. I met him at the Palmer House, Chicago, in 1889, when he had just returned from the Argentine Republic. He was well acquainted with a number of prominent politicians, including Farwell, Gresham and Carter Harrison, and seemed to have good financial standing. His departure from Buenos Ayres was sudden, for he did not stop to gather up his effects. He had arranged with the president of Argentine to construct a government building, and in pay he was to receive 6,000,000 acres of land valued at $3,000,000 or $9,000,000. An English bank agreed to take the land and pay Richardson $6,000,000, less a small commission of $1,000,000. Richardson was to spend $1,600,000 in construction of the building, and $400,000 was to be spent in bribing the members of the cabinet. The remainder of the $3,000,000 was to be divided between Richardson and the president, half the sum to be deposited in the Bank of England in the president's name. Before the job could be put through the president and his 'kid committee' cabinet were overthrown by an insurrection and Richardson left for London by the first steamer."