Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1878-10-10
A GREENBACKER IN LUCK.
The Hon. John II. Jones, of Nevada-IIow
He Lost Fortune of Five Millions, and
is Now swiftly RegaininS It-Intcrest-
ing Details in the Life and Career of the
Senator from Nevada

ing Details in the Life and Career of tn,
Senator from Nevada.
From the New York Correspondence Inter Ocean,
1t does not often happen just on the eve
of Il close election, and especially in times
like the present, of party perturbation ant
political peril, that the candidate for {
high and warmly contested office meet,
with the extraordinary good fortune that
has befalcn Senator Jones.
When he left New York the middle Of
July for his home in Nevada, where q
campaign for the Scnatorship of that
I State was before him. he was in his owl
estimation broken in fortune, although
five years before he was worth not less
than S5,000,000. He has. however, re,
! Gently recovered about onc-tOurth or it.
In financial matters Senator Jones ha,
had rather Il checkcrcd career, having
made and spent two or three gOodsi2cd
fortunes in his lifetime, and he Is yet on
the sunny side Of 30. While his financial
affairs have been somewhat diversified
politically he has had very smooth sailing,
Though nominally Il Republican, he be.
longs TO no party, but is in his own State
cmphatcally the first choice of both par.
ties. Early in the summer, when the
financial cloud hung darkest over his per-
sonal affairs leading politicians of both
parties hastcncd to assure him in advance
Of their unanimous preference for him ov-
cr any candidate that could possibly he
named, and that no money would be re-
Quired on his part for the expenses of the
campaign. In Congress he belongs more
to the whole country and the whole peo-
| pie than to any section or to any class.
| He is cosmopolitan in his nature, and
could not possibly be made a narrow,
scheming pot-housc politician.
Senator Jones was born in England,
in January, lS29, on the banks of the Wye,
la small river that runs between Wales
and the mainland. His parents were
| Welsh, and had always lived on the other
side Of the river until short time pre-.
yiouS to the birth of this distinguished
member of their household; 50 that really
he is Of Welsh origin rather than English,
but is American rather than either. This
country has produced few men more thor
oughly and instinctiycly her own than the
Anglo Saxon here mentioned. He loves
her soil and her peculiar institutions Us
few native Americans love them When
asked in the summer if he intended to
visit the Worlds Exposition at Paris, he
replied: 81 do not between the Atlantic
and Pacific slopes find abundant scope
for my ambition.
In 1880, when the subject of this sketch
was eighteen months of age, the family re-
moved to America, and the year following
settled in Cleveland, Ohio. where the
children were raised, and educated in the
public schools of the city.
Ofthe early life Ex-senator Jones the Hon.
Andrew FrccSc, for many years supcrin-
tcndcnt of school, in that city, writes as
follows:
''lIc was
RARE SPECIMEN Of \ BOY.
Finely developed physically and intellect
ually, not one IN II thousand having face
50 intelligent as he.
Ills father was amau gilmore than ord-
nary intelligence, and had much original
independent thought.
His notions Of education for boys were
he had six other sOns-that they should
be trained to manly habits. and taught
some branch of practical industry lie
owned Il large marble manuactOry. and
through the boyhood of John, he was more
or less engaged assisting his father at this
work. He attended school Il less
number Of months inthe year than the av-
eragc city boy, but when there he always
outstrippcd his associates, who put in their
whole time.
"PhySicalIy he had an unusually fine
development, and the writer was led to
notice him ON this account long before he
reached the High School.
Having passed all the lower grades as
first in his class, he reached the Academic
Department at the age of II, where he at
once took a high stand as scholar.
''lle cXcclledin the higher mathematics
and was especially fond Ofal those branch |
cs Of study which required the exercise of
Thought.
"In cxtemporncous debate he also cy-
cclled, and in the discussions held as II
school exercise he had no match.
''llc had quick, keen sense of honor, |
and most heartily dcspiscd Il mean action. |
In this feature of his character he was es-
pecially marked, standing ont and apart |
from the average high-schOol student.
when he selected his piece for dccla-
nation it was usually an extract from
some orator who pleaded for down-trod-
den people. Robert Emmctt's defense of
himself at his trial fOrtrcasOn was speech |
that he used to rchcarsc with great feeling
and effect.
AT an early age he felt the Importance
OF doing something in the worlds great
enterprise. He often talked with me long
and seriously about lifc's unsolved prob
lens, and the part he should take in the
worlds great drama.
"llc finally called one day and made
the surprising statement that he would
sail for California on the day following,
and that he had called to
BID ME GOOD-BYE.
81 parted from him with more regret
than ever took farewell of any pupil in
my life,
81 did not see him again for twenty
years, when he called ut my residence, a
man Of wealth and amembcrof the United
States Senate.
'ln this extraordinary man of talent
and genius saw fulfilled all the promises
of q rarely endowed and prccocious
youth.
At the breaking out of the California
gold excitement in 1919, he was among the
earliest to embark on the pcrllous voyage for I
the land of gold. When only 20 years of
age, in company with u brother next older
than himself, he took passage on an old,
weather.beaten sailing barge, sailed out
through the Wclland Canal, down the
st. Lawrence, round Cape Horn to the
Golden Gate.
Immediately on arriving in California
he went into the mines, and, by dint of {
muscle and skill, exhumcd there
from in very short time what proved to !
be the nucleus of II great fortune. This, /
from the beginning, has always been Law {
shly shared with his friends. Eminently
social and affectionate, he was devotedly
attached to his family, and the first gold
nuggets ever exhumed from the mints {
were shared in part with every member of {
the numerous household; and from that {
lime till the present no one connected with {
MIN, either by family ties, or ties as re- |
mote as sconsanguinity through Adam, has
ever failed to share his fortune who came {
in his way, either in the intimate relations l
,f friendship or business, or even as
Deggar at his door. G
His charities and munifcent gifts OF /
have not fallen below one mil
ion of dollars in his lifetime.
When he first went to Washington as I
Senator from Nevada, he had the princely q
ortune of $5,000,000. He did not antici- {
1ate the long-continued business collapse |
hat has since wrecked so many fortunes, 4