George Francis Train Signed Letter, 1863, With Ephemera -

, . 5" x 8" handwritten signed letter of George Francis Train (1829-1904), visionary businessman, powerful financier, charismatic orator, passionate political activist, and legendary world traveler. A short list of his achievements would include the establishment (at age of sixteen) of a line of clipper ships to sail from Boston around the tip of South America to San Francisco to serve those joining in the Gold Rush; creation of a track-guided horse tram in the cities of London and Birkenhead, England; partnering with Thomas C. Durant in the formation of the Union Pacific Railroad; organizing Credit Mobilier America to finance construction of the Transcontinental Railroad (later the object of scandal); founding Credit Foncier to raise capital for the purchase of land along the rail route; thrice circumnavigating the globe—first in 80 days, then 67, and finally 60 (reportedly inspiring the Jules Verne novel); and running as an independent candidate in 1872 to unseat Republican President Ulysses S. Grant. Known as much for eccentricities as for his success, Train was a staunch temperance man who neither drank nor smoked, and his diet did not admit of fish, flesh, fowl, bread, or even vegetables, and he claimed he never exercised. He referred to himself as ‘Citizen Train,’ and for unexplained reasons would not shake hands. The letter, dated at Burlington, February, 1863 on his personal engraved stationery, is addressed to an associate: "Dear B.F.P: Yes for the tenth instead of [the] third. Speak in Cincinnati on the fifth. Make my compliments to your accomplished wife. Yours, George Francis Train." Engraved along the borders of the page are the slogans: "Down with the Politicians, up with the People," "Hurrah for the Navy," "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," and "Hurrah for the Army." Accompanying the letter are three vintage newspaper clippings in which Train discusses his views on diet and the destructiveness of alcohol use. All items Fine.