Phineas F. Bresee - A Prince In Israel - Media Sabda Org

magnificent losers. If things went well, they were glad. If they went ill, they would put in more
money, and plan for success. But Brother Knotts was easily the dominant personality in all our
meetings. He was resourceful, and his associates trusted him, and would do what he said.
"He depended on me to help him somewhat. I was in close touch with him, and familiar with his
enterprises. I could set them forth clearly, and with some degree of force. It was thoroughly
understood that Brother Knotts and I were out and out religious men; and, in fact, most of the men
with whom we were associated were also religious. They were not all, however, religious in
accordance with our idea. Among our number was a wholesale liquor man, of Decatur, Illinois. He
was a ruling elder in the Lutheran church. He was a native of Germany, and a great-brained,
great-hearted man. It had never occurred to him that liquor-selling, conducted on a large scale as a
wholesaler, was not as legitimate as selling corn, or anything else. At one time he and I went to
Denver and Leadville, for the purpose of securing a metallurgist, and buying an outfit of machinery.
That man was thoroughly honest, but he was unenlightened on the liquor question.
"While I had some stock in all the Knotts' companies, and was a director in several of them, my
investments were largely in the Parral properties, and the ruin that came to them fell heavily upon
me. Soon after the beginning of operations in the old Prieta mine, at Parral, the explosion of a blast
caused a subterranean river of water to pour into the mine, and the workmen, leaving the tools and
machinery behind, barely escaped with their lives. A good deal of money was spent in the effort to
clear the mine of water, but the undertaking was too great for our financial strength. That property
was capitalized at $500,000, and the stock was considerably above par; but, for all practical
purposes, it was destroyed in an hour.
End Of His Financial Career
"This made it so that my other investments no more than met my liabilities, and I was left without
either money or property. I felt some degree of embarrassment at the thought of remaining in a
country where I was supposed to be wealthy, when, in fact, I was very poor. Hence, I deemed it best
to take a transfer to some distant Conference. I formed the firm conviction at that time that I would
never more attempt to make money, but would give the remainder of my life, whatever it might be,
to the direct preaching of the Word of God. During all this time I had not neglected my ministerial
labors, but had devoted my spare time and energy to business. I began to engage in these enterprises
when at Red Oak, and continued in them for nearly ten years."