his possession, was considerably nonplussed when Longworth presented his order for them.  In his extremity he offered to purchase them from the lawyer for a lot of thirty-three acres of barren land in the town, which was then worth little or nothing.  Longworth hesitated, for although he had an almost prophetic belief in the future value of the land, he was sorely in need of ready money; but at length he accepted the offer.  The deed for the land was made out in his name, and the stills became the property of Mr. Williams.  The distillery was built, and its owner realized a fortune; but Longworth did more.  His thirty-three acres of barren land were soon in the very heart of Cincinnati, and long before his death were valued at two millions of dollars.

The foresight of Mr. Longworth was fully justified by the course of events.  The growth of Cincinnati was almost marvelous in its rapidity.  In 1802, it contained about 800 inhabitants; in 1810, 2,540; in 1820, 9,060; in 1830, 24,831; in 1840, 46,338; in 1850, 118,761; and in 1860, just three years before Mr. Longworth’s death, 171,293 inhabitants.  The reader can easily imagine the immense profits which a half century’s increase placed in the hands of the far-seeing lawyer.  It seems almost like reading some old fairy tale to peruse the accounts of successful ventures in real estate in American cities.  They have sprung up as if by magic, and it is impossible to say where their development will end.  Said a gentleman of less than thirty-five years of age to the writer of these pages, “I am the oldest native-born citizen of Chicago.  When I first saw the light, my native place could not boast even the dignity of a village; and young as I am, I have witnessed all this wonderful growth.”  The prosperity of Cincinnati was scarcely less marked, as the career of Mr. Longworth shows.  The investment of a comparatively insignificant sum laid the foundation of his fortune, and the first counsel fee he ever earned, a sum trifling in itself, placed him in possession of millions.

Mr. Longworth continued carefully to invest his gains in real estate.  The prices paid by him increased, of course, with the rise in the value of property, but as he was persuaded that the limit had not yet been reached, he extended his operations without fear of loss.  He sold many of his original purchases, but continued until the day of his death the largest land-owner in the city.  In 1850 his taxes were over $17,000, and in the same year the taxes of William B. Astor amounted to $23,116.  At the time of his death Mr. Longworth’s estate was valued at fifteen millions of dollars, and is doubtless worth fully one-third more at the present day.