A.C. in A.C.
The Andrew Carnegie No One Knows

A paper read before the Allegheny City Society, 24 April 1997.

When Andrew Carnegie came to the United States at the age of 12 in 1848, he brought with him an inherited spirit of Scottish pluck which would serve him well. When his family settled in Allegheny City, he took to American life like a duck to water--entering on a life of crime, which, had it not been for the benefactions of Col. James Anderson, might have either been his undoing or have made his fortune for him in a field other than steel.

Andrew Carnegie was the leader of a gang known as "The Forty Thieves." Evidence as to the influence of this cartel in the sleepy city of Allegheny only gradually begins to emerge--the first major notice occurring some two years after the young Andrew's arrival in the States. As reported in The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, 4 May 1850,

Juvenile Offenders.--Our police offices give daily evidence of the necessity for a well conducted House of Refuge in this city. Yesterday and the day before the Mayor of Allegheny committed two young lads to jail, who have been living almost as outlaws. They belong to a gang of young rascals who style themselves "The Forty Thieves," and have been sleeping all through the winter in stables, ice houses, &tc, and subsisting, for the most part, upon what they could steal. We saw the mother of one of them at the police office, a very respectable widow woman, crying bitterly. She had endeavored to bring up her son properly, but bad company had rendered him incapable of control. A House of Refuge might reform these delinquents; the jail will probably turn them out worse than before.

While we know that William Carnegie, Andrew's father, did not die until 1855, I suggest that the actors in this small melodrama were none other than the young Henry Phipps, the young Henry Oliver, two of Carnegie's most trusted lieutenants, and Margaret Morrison Carnegie, Andrew's mother, who had had a brief stage career back in Edinburgh.

This notorious gang was responsible for burglaries, larcenies, incendiarism, robberies and even grave-robbing--that is, supplying cadavers for secret medical researches at the Western University of Pennsylvania which "remained alive but dormant" after the Great Fire of 1845--a fire some claim the University administration had started, as part of a land grab, in order to absorb downtown Pittsburgh as its new campus.

Resurrectionists--Quite an excitement was created in Allegheny city, on Monday afternoon, by the discovery that the body of a young lady had been 'raised' from the burial ground in the rear of Dr. Swift's church. Yesterday morning, Alderman Buckmaster was applied to, for a search warrant, to search for the shroud as stolen property. In looking for the shroud, the mutilated limbs of a female 'subject' were discovered concealed in a hay mow. Certain circumstances having come to light tending to implicate three young men, medical students, in Allegheny. Alderman Buckmaster, on application, issued a warrant for their apprehension. [Don't you believe it--Red herrings!] Whether they were arrested or not we were unable to learn before going to press.
--The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, 31 January 1849.

One of the young Andrew's earliest memories was of Pittsburgh as a jumping off point for the gold-diggers of '49.
As reported in The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette:

A company of young men, 68 in number, from New York city, are now on board the steamboat, Hudson, lying at the point. They are bound for California, via Fort Smith and the Arkansas river. They started out on Thursday evening, but not being able to get below Long Island, on account of the ice, they were obliged to return. An equal number of as healthy, fine looking men are seldom seen together, and withal, they are gentlemen of agreeable manners and much intelligence. They go well provided with everything necessary to render their journey comfortable and have expended about three thousand dollars in supplies at this place. They expect several others to join them at Cincinnati. The company is called the 'Knickerbocker Exploring Company,' and is under command of the following officers--

Young Andrew determined to join these men, but Margaret Morrison Carnegie, said "Nae, Andra, Nae." In his Autobiography, Carnegie himself quotes his mother, "What! my son a peddler and go among rough men upon the wharves!" But Andrew's mind was set on making his fortune any way he could--witnessed in this report of the arrest of one of his operatives:

Against the Ordinance.--A man was fined $1 and cost, according to ordinance, yesterday by the Mayor of Allegheny, for digging and carrying away sods from the commons.
--The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, 9 May 1850.

By May 1850, nearly ten years before the Civil War, a regular reign of terror was underway in Allegheny:

Street Loafers.--A proclamation has been issued by the energetic and efficient Mayor of Allegheny, setting for[th] his intention of rigidly enforcing the city ordinance against loungers on the corners of streets, canal bridges, at church doors, &tc, in consequence of the numerous complaints which have been made to him respecting the annoyance experienced by the citizens in the obstructions and insults to which passengers, particularly females, are subjected. The penalty is a fine of $5 for every offense.
--The Pittsburgh Daily Gazette, 15 May 1850.

At the height of his success as leader of "The Forty Thieves," A.C. boasted

"Let flood or fire destroy my lair and all its booty from the face of the earth, but if I retain my organization, I would be whole again in 6 months."

At the height of this early success he was, however, injured when crossing the frozen Allegheny on thin ice (to avoid paying the bridge toll). Saved only by the quick thinking of his companion, Christopher Gist, the two young men were forced to spend the night on a small island in the river--since washed away. The next day, the young Carnegie was taken to Allegheny General Hospital where he spent several weeks recuperating. His moral rehabilitation began in bed when he learned to read.

Thanks to the generosity of Col. (a meaningless but jocular nickname) James Anderson a local blacksmith, Andrew Carnegie had the world of books opened up to him. James Anderson had gathered together a small library in a shed attached to the back of his blacksmith shop.

Margaret Morrison Carnegie, ever thoughtful of her son's future, enrolled Andrew in James Anderson's "Sunshine Club" which brought reading matter to those confined to bed or unable to get out to the library.

In the course of his hospitalization, young Andrew had the opportunity to read the following titles from cover to cover:

Many of these books he read more than once.

At the end of this unwillingly-imposed course of study, Andrew Carnegie found himself a changed man. If you yourselves feel the need for self-improvement, many of these titles are still available for loan in the reading room of the Allegheny Regional Library and Steve Pietzak will be glad to assist you.

Very little has been made known of this dark period in Andrew Carnegie's early life. Some people know him as a robber baron--in a sense, "the best of a bad lot," few people know that he started out as virtually a common highwayman. But it was the power of books and the power of reading, nurtured here in Old Allegheny, that led Mr. Carnegie down the path of true success.

For your benefit and erudition, I have provided you all with a copy of Mr. Carnegie's dicta on "How to Succeed in Life." If you read carefully between the lines, you will detect the sinner who became a saint. Thank you.

Scanned drawing of Andrew Carnegie, in kilt, astride a dinosaur.

* Direct Sources Used in "A.C. in A.C."
* A Note to the Perplexed

Revised: 28 April 1997.

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