The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-03-07
WRECK OF A LIFE.
An Ex-State Senator SHbsisSing upon
SwiII Buckets---A Harvard Col
lege Graduate who has
no where to lay
his Head.
Cor. Lewiston. Mo-, Journal.

Cor. Lewiston. Mo-, Journal.
While encamped in Mainetown not long
ago a seedy and broken-down man slouched
into hotel, made himself at home in an
arm chair aud picked up a newspaper An
aged citizen who observed him remarked
to me: The story of that mans fall is
one of the saddest aud most startling his
tories / ever met in life or in fiction. That
man was born in this town. His father
was wealthy farmer and land owner By
hard. stern labor and close economy he
amassed large property. He educated
his son at Harvard college, from which he
was graduated with honor and high stand
| ing in class. The young man studied law
| with one of the most eminent pFactition-
| ers in Boston, and was admitted to the bar
he possessed unusual talents. He was
brilliant in conversation, was ready and
shsrp debater, and his culture was
| thorough. He established an office in one
of the suburbs of Boston. His father gave
him library worth 5000. He acquired
good practice. In the whirlgig of time
he was elected to the Massachusetts, senate
and an Hon. was prefixed to his name.
He became one of the prominent and most
| promising young men in the common
! wealth. By and by his father died and
| left him 100000. This completely upset
| the young man. He was in such haste to
get and spend his money that he left his
Office without stopping to lock the door,
and abandoned his library and furniture to
whomsoever might come His creditors
seized his books and sold them to pay his
old debts.
HOW E.E LOST HIS MONEY.
HE set up grand establishment in
this town. and lived the most glittering
life on the Kennebec. He had horses,
carriages, dogs and servants. He rolled in
luxury. His voice was potent in society
and politics. His fortune was invested
chiefly in real estate He was soon sblig-
ed to mortgage some of his property 1t
seemed as if be could not waste his riches
rapidly enough. He gambled and drank
heavily. When the mortgages became due,
lie paid no attention to them, and they
were forecissed. One by one houses,
blocks and lots slipped recklessly out of
bis hands. He pursued the same mad
course. Night after night he allowed
himself to be fieeced by gamblers, and day
after day he stupefied his senses with liq-
uor At length the old homestead was
sold under the hammer. The few re-
sources that. remained speedily melted |
away. His old friends forsook him. His |
wife had died, and his two sons had left |
the scene of their fathers ruin and disgrace. |
For the last six or seven years he has been |
what you see him-an outcast. An old |
friend furnished him with quarters in an |
attic and fed him for awhile. He became |
so miserable that it was impossible to bear |
his presence. and he was set adrift on the |
world. One winter he slept in the corner |
of an engine house where a fire was kept |
For several months he was known to fling |
himself down on heap of rags in de- |
serted building on one of our wharves |
The hTrfa6fnr hrruad he
sleeps is a mystery. He is as sly about |
his quarters as fox retreating to his hole |
The night wstchmen have endeavored to |
track him, but he has successfully eluded |
them. He hangs around the streets till |
late hour at night. and improves some OPP /
portunity when the night watchmen are |
on the beats to steal into his b ding place |
wherever it may be. Sometimes an old |
friend gives him dinner.
FEEDING WITH THE SWINE.
He haunts the waste buckets of hotels /
and saloons | have seen him picking q |
piece of bread or bit of meat from pail |
of broken food destined for the pigs He /
drags along . half-starved existence in /
this way. Isuspect he passes many day |
without particle of food, and goes to his |
covert many a night with a gnawing at his /
stomach He is clad in odds and ends of /
clothing. | doubt it If he owns a whole |
shirt. Every cent of his 500, 900 has
flown. He earns nothing. He refuses to
ask aid from the town, and he is toosproud
to soil his hands by work Many of his
old mpaniens look upon him with pity
and sorrow, and would help himif he mani
Tested the least disposition to help him
self His sons do not come near him.
short time ago the ladies made up q purse
ind presented it to him, with the under
standing that he should open law ofice,
furnish it, and mend his ways and en-
aeavor to do little business He accepted
the money and it went the old way. His
pride and assumption displeased his best
friends One day last winter one of our 1
leading citizens noticed the poor fellow I
had no overcoat. The good Samaritan
had one of his coats repaired and it made
a comfortable garment. From motives of
sent the coat to- the man before you. The
fri md caIled the shivering man into his
hall and gave him the coat He |
turned on his heel |
and refused The charity with an oath.
The coat was allowed % remain in the ha
That very day it disappeared. and it was
afterward seen on the fellows back 1t is I
no wonder such treatment cools the hand
of charity.
He has grown thin and sallow, and is
rapidly nearing the gulf at the bottom of
the hill. If he ever suffers a recollection
Of hon oCff foo - + he