I HAD made the acquaintance of D. Enrique Domingo
Córdovez, known among his friends as "the Count," at Union College,
Schenectady, N. Y., in the year 1890. He was one among the many rich young
South Americans who come to the United States to take advanced courses at
the universities, chiefly in the field of engineering. The son of a wealthy
Ecuadorian, he was actuated by a very real desire to return to his native
land equipped with the technical knowledge which would enable him to install
in its primitive towns some of the many modern conveniences which were sadly
lacking. And so it came about that his serious nature and his real love of
his work enabled him to graduate with honours as a civil engineer.
My activities as one of the chiefs of the "Theta Nu Epsilon"
led to my "graduating" two years ahead of my class. Well do I remember how
the whole of my classmates hauled me down to the station in the College farm
wagon on the day of my departure, having refused to work on so memorable
an occasion. But although the "Count" did not graduate at the same time as
I did, our two years together as members of the same fraternity had sufficed
to form a lasting friendship between us. Furthermore, the long descriptions
of the backwardness of his country which he had given me from time to time,
had fired me with a determination
to go there one day and equip the City
of Quito with some much-needed modern improvements. In those days, the streets
of the capital of Ecuador were lighted by means of candles placed by householders
in their front windows.
So I kept in touch with Córdovez after I left College,
and later he came to see me at my house in Elmira, N. Y. There we finally
decided that I would go down to Ecuador as soon as he had had a chance of
examining the business possibilities of our proposed ventures, for which
he was to find the money and obtain the concessions on arrival home. Then
he left the States.
Thus it came about that in October, 1894, I received the
following letter asking me to confirm our agreement.
