George Francis Train Signed Letter, 1863, With Ephemera

, . 5" x 8" signed letter on personal stationery from George Francis Train (1829-1904), visionary businessman, powerful financier, charismatic orator, passionate political activist, and legendary world traveler, who was celebrated as much for his successes as for his eccentricities. A short list of his achievements includes establishing a clipper ship line at age sixteen to sail from Boston around the tip of South America to San Francisco to serve those desirous of joining in the Gold Rush; creating a track-guided horse tram in London and Birkenhead England; partnering with Thomas C. Durant in the formation of the Union Pacific Railroad; organizing Credit Mobilier America to aid in financing 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. Train was a staunch Temperance man, and neither drank nor smoked. 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 arcane reasons would not shake hands. The letter is dated at Burlington, February, 1863 and addressed to an associate: "Dear B.F. P_ _ _ _ _, Yes for the tenth instead of third. Speak in Cincinnati on the fifth. Make my compliments to your accomplished wife. Yours, George Francis Train." Press printed along the edges of the sheet at the cardinal points 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.