Huntington advertiser. [volume] (Huntington, W. Va.) 1874-1921, 1874-12-31
A REmARkAn1E CAREER-Lark

"A hkMAHkAbLE OAhEEh -1dTk
yns was a man Of infinite adventure
| He was one of Charles Levers heroes
in real life. As the youngest son o.
la rich Scotchman, he got deal o.
learning and little lucre. A few
years Of life on the continent added
to the former and swept away the lat
ter. When he was living royalty on
his principal, he seemed to have
amused himself with plotting dire de-
struction for the crown heads OF Eu,
rope. He carried musket under
Garibaldi, and is said to have belong.
ed to Mazzini's secret league. The
spies of Europe knew him. he grew
accustomed to being escorted across
frontiers by two policemen. He was
withal only an amateur conspirator.
Plots fascinated him. He declared
that he never meant to do any King
harm, and indeed his schemes always
failed. Perhaps he meant that he
was to reign himself. But we antici-
pate. When Larkyns came home, ac-
complished and penniless from his
wandsrings, bis. relatives bought him
an army commission. He sailed for
India to join his regiment. Arrived
there, he soon wearied of the routine,
sold out of the service, and started
for Central Asia. There his fortune
eliminated. He fell into the good
graces of heather potentate, admin
istered his government for him, and
finally freed him from all other care
in the matter by making himself Ra-
jah. He succeeded to the palace, the
harem, and the treasury of the man
he had expelled, and led a lite of
barbaric magnifcence. After about
six years of solitary splendor, he wea-
ried of the cares of State. He de-
camped at night, and betook himself
and trunkful of diamonds to Lon
don. His family naturally killed the
fatted calf in his honor, but he quar-
relied with them soon and bade them
goodbye forever. This made depen.
dence on them impossible, when, soon
after, an unlucky speculation robbed
him of the spoils Of his Rajahship.-
His beggary and the outbreak Of the
Franco German war were co-incident.
He was soon fighting as Major Lar
kyns, ON General Bourbaki's staff -
Bravery gave him the cross OF the
Legion of Honor, and then at Metz a
wound. He limped through the cam
paign, which ended at Sedan, and
was captured with his pro tenn mon
arch. He fades out of view as a pris-
oner of war at Sedan, and reappearcd
as soldier Of fortune at Salt Lake
City, in the winter of 1872. Thence
he wandered to Honolulu, back to
San Francisco, and into Frisco Jail.
The failure of the man who had CASH
ed his fictitious drafts to prosecute
him, set him free. The ex-King be-
came coal HEAVIER. As day labor
er, as stevedore, as clerk, as a
translator, as a critic and correspond
ent. he worked to gain money and re-
gain reputation. He was well en-
ployed at Calistoga when the end
came. A jealous San Francisco hus-
band hurried thither with Larkyns'
letters to his wife in his pocket, and
his pistol in his hand. He called
Larkyns to the door, and the doomed
man came. A cry of Throw up
your hands ~ an oath, a flash, and
the dull thud of a bullet, and the man
of the world went out of the world
The wages of sin were death. He
might have done much, but he pre-
ferred to enjoy much and this was
the ghastly end of an odd life. Among
the queerest of the queer crowd that
will rise from CALIFORNIA; soil when
the last trump sounds, will be the
late Larkyns. Chicago Tribune.