LIVING HISTORY
16
SUMMERLIN COLLECTION
After the railroad pushed south to St. Lucie Village in 1894, Quay and his friends would arrive for their winter sojourns in private cars which would rest on
a siding. This walkway connected the railroad and the St. Lucie Club.
workmen would do in weeks, so she opened her flood gates
and cut a channel a great width in a turnkey. The water in the
cut is teeming with thousands of fish, coming into the river
which bids fair to make a prosperous winter season for those
enjoined in this popular industry. Hurrah! For Senator Quay
and Capt. Ben Sooy.”
He also offered assistance to local pineapple growers who
were interested in putting a duty on foreign imports. In fact,
he was so amenable to aiding local interests that he was affectionately
referred to as “Florida’s third senator.”
PAID FOR RAILROAD WORK
Quay was responsible for a railroad station in St. Lucie Village.
He broached the subject of the need for one with Florida
East Coast railway executives who asked him to choose a
site. He chose a location, the station was was built, and to his
surprise, was given a bill for the job — $1,500. He paid it.
He could be counted on to support local causes. For
example, he gave $100 toward the building of the Episcopal
Church and donated to the children’s Christmas fund. He
was often accompanied to St. Lucie by a Philadelphia physician
and must have arranged for the doctor to extend his
service to locals as it was reported in the local news that Dr.
Fox removed a cataract from the eye of Mrs. S.A. Bell.
Today, at the corner of a lane in the village, there is a sign:
“MATTHEW QUAY WAY.” It is next to a house that was
built in 1899 by Richard Quay, the senator’s eldest son and
right-hand man. An earlier house, built in 1890 when Richard
purchased the first of three parcels of land from Tom Paine,
burned in March 1963. When the popularity of St. Lucie
outgrew the hospitality of the two Quay houses, a group of
Pennsylvanians built the St. Lucie Club, similar in architecture
to the larger Quay house. This building also survives.
What is no more is the palm-lined walk that led from the club
to the railroad siding where the private cars of Gilded Age
dignitaries waited to take them away.
FACED BANKING SCANDAL
The year 1896 brought the most resounding challenge yet
to Quay’s career. John Wanamaker, Philadelphia department
store tycoon, led the opposition. “You voted down black
slavery, why not vote down slavery to one white man, even
though for a quarter of a century he has been your master?”
he challenged.
On March 24, 1898, the Peoples Bank of Philadelphia failed
and its cashier, John S. Hopkins, longtime financial errand
boy of Quay, went home for lunch and committed suicide.
Quay’s opponents pounced on a note from the senator found
in Hopkins’ desk: “If you buy and carry a thousand Met for
me, I’ll shake the plum tree.” The scandal caused deep rifts
in the Republican hard core. Later in the year, Quay was arrested
and charged with being involved in the bank scandal
and misusing public funds. His pending trial did not keep
him from the Indian River.
In January 1899, the Pennsylvania Legislature convened to
elect a senator — in those days the office was not decided by
popular vote. Between Jan. 17 and April 20, no candidate garnered
enough votes after 79 ballots to claim the seat. While the
balloting was going on, Quay was tried and acquitted of all
charges. As the legislature adjourned without choosing a senator,
the governor appointed Quay to the office. The Senate opposed
the appointment. The Senate voted 32-32 in April with
the nays avowing that the founding fathers never intended to
give the state executive the power to choose a senator.
It came about that it was up to George Graham Vest, a
Democrat and the senator’s good friend and recent guest at St.
Lucie, to break the tie and he did, voting no. Next day, Quay
received a note in which the Missouri senator wrote that he >>