Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1883-05-10
THE TROUBLE IN THE FAIR
FAMILY.


came from San Francisco stating tina
Jouag James G. Fair, son of tn,
United States Senator from Nevada
had attempted to shoot his father
This statement was contradicted by .
subsequent dispatch which stated tina
Senator Fair, who was at the Occi
dental Hotel, in San Francisco, posi-.
lively denied the correctness of the
first dispatch.
This denial was we'll calculated tc
deceive the average reader. Those
acquainted with the Fairs, however,
could not be SO easily misled. Sena-
tor Fair owning one Of the most mag.
nificent residences in San Francisco,
which he occupied with his family
until very recently, it was evident that
there must be serious trouble in the
family, or he would never have taken
rooms at a hotel in the same CITY.
The knowing ones therefore kept on
the lookout for further developments.
They had not long to wait. A few
days ago news came that Mrs. Fair
had applied for a divorce, and that
Senator Fair offered to give her 49,.
100000 if she would agree to sepa.
ration. This amount, it was stated.
Mrs. Fair refused, demanding s1O,.
100000. So the case stands. Sena.
tor Fair is one of the members of the
great bonanza firm, and supposed to
be worth $25,0O0,0OO or more.
The cause of the trouble, it is
stated, is the desire of Senator Fair to
marry a young lady who is travelling
in Europe, pending the separation of
the Fairs. This report comes invested
with such probability that we are
justified in believing it.
This seems to be another illustra.
ton of the truth of the saving:
"When riches enter the door love
often flies up the chimney"
Scarcely a decade ago the Fairs
were living "from hand to mouth
and moving from camp to camp with
every new mining excitement In the
course of their peregrinations they
went to the Comstock lode, where
Colonel Fair, or ''slippery Jim," (by
which latter cognomen he was better
KNOWN soon became interested in
mines in partnership with John w.
Mackay. The discovery of the great
Con. Virginia and California bonanza
(which yielded over $l2O,OOO,ooW
found him and his three partners
lMessrs. Mackay, of Virginia, Ne.
vada, and Flood & O'Brien, of San
Francisco in possession of majority
It the stock. The exploitation of
this property soon made him one of
the wealthiest men in the world.
Having become so rich, Colonel Fair
made up his mind that he wanted to
be United States Senator, and at the
last Presidential election secured the
return Of Democratic Legislature in
Nevada which was easily ''persuaded'
into sending him to Washington.
Up to that time no very serious
storm had, as far as known, disturbed
the clearness Of the domestic sky of
the Fairs. But his election seemed
to work a most pronounced change in
his feelings. Leaving his family in
Nevada, he went on TO Washington.
where he soon became famed for his
luncheons and other entertainments
to the daughters Of the prominent
men of the capital. When he re-
turned home it was evident that he
was an altered man, and he soon
manifested desire to stray from his
family. This new departure has
turned out Is might have been ex-
pected.
While possibly palliating Senator
Fairs misdoing in this connection,
our sympathies are irresistibly drawn
to the forsaken wife who, after quar-.
ter of century's devotion to a man
whom she assisted in placing among
the leaders OF his fellows, and during
which she bore and raised him a
numerous family, finds herself cast
aside for IN utter stranger.
j. S. Wallace is down in the valley.