The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-03-05
THE CHEcKERED CAREER OF
AN OHIO NAN.
$l,ooo,ooo for Ten Drinks.


strangest Vicisitudes that ever, t
my personal knowledge, fell to th
lot of any man. " hat the fna
end of his career may be-for he i
!. still on the sunny side Of fifty,
: shall not attempt TO conjecture.
KNEW him before the war in Per
ry county, his father having emf
grated to Ohio from New Jerse,
some years previously, and upol
his death leaving John a yer,
handsome fortune. l was thel
struggling under adverse circum
stances to gain livelihood and 81
education at the same time.
John Gray was one of my bes
practical friends. Himself was 1
graduate of Princeton, he volunteer
ed to become my tutor, and gave
me such aid and assistance as set mt
fairly on the worlds highway. Be
ing some years my senior he assum
ed the relation of an elder brother
to me in such a way that there wal
no sense of humiliation in accept
ing his favors.
He entered the mercantile bust
ness in New Lexington in 1858, and
became prosperous, brilliant, and
wealthy, he welded the belle of the
county, who was heiress to for
tune equal to his own.
In 1860 he became wild and dis
sipated, and speedily ran through
all his means, and early in 1861
separated from his wife and two
children, leaving them but 5000
oSt of 100000. He disappeared
from Perry count y, and no one
save, perhaps his wife, who always
retained 3 warm affection for him,
heard from him for years.
Shortly after the battle of Gettys-
burg, l met him for the first time in
nearly four years in Washington.
He was convAlescing from a wound
he had received in that action,
where he earned fame and promo
ton at the head of Pennsylvania
regiment.
Two years later and after the
close of the war again met him in
the national'capital He was pitia-
ole sight. Every line of his face
showed dissipation. He was rag
gsd and penniless, and told me that
he had just sent his wife and chill
dren to their old home in Ohio, Civ
ing them the last cent he had in
the world. 1 was able to repay
him partially for his early kindness,
and we parted, and did not meet
him for almost ten years.
Two or three years later / learned
that he was an extensive planter in
Mississippi, where he was living
with his wife and children in luxury
and happiness. Three years later l
met his wife who told me that her
husbands fortune was all gone, and
he was q wanderer, she knew not
where.
In 1876 while attending the cen
tenn1al at Philadelphia, met John
Gray, looking as bright and clipper
as in the days of youth. 1 accom-
panied to his home, in fashiona-
BILE part of the city, where 1 met his
wife and children, now well grown.
Not q word was said of the past,
and no -one would have imagin-
ed tor a moment that any clouds
had ever shut out the sunlight of
their lives. He was manager for q
large manufacturing firm, and was
in a fair way to retrievej all his
losses. Two years later L found
him in Cleveland working with q
gang of street cleaners. He said
that his family were back at their
Ohio home, and he was trying to
raise money enough to go west to
better his fortune I again offered
to divide with him, but upon COM
pairing notes it was discovered he
had more ready money than L, and
he refused to accept anything.
When 1 next heard from him he
wrote from Nebraska, asking ms to
come and visit him on his rancho
and enjoy a months hunting. l did
not find it convenient to accept the
invitation, and for year or 80
heard no more from him.
About one year ago, one cold and
blustry night, my door bell in Co
lumbus was rung violently, and
upon opening it was l was greeted
with:
81 saw yoar number in the direc-
tory, and as l had no money and
didn't want to sleep in the station
house, 1 called to see you"
There was nothing about the di-
lapidated tramp that + could
recognize until got him
fairly under the gaslight, and there
stood John Gray. But L never be-
fore had seen him look so dilapida-
ted, so dissipated or so nearly lost,
to all human appearances.
He remained with me week and
l got him fixed up and restored to
something like his normal condi-
ton. One day he inquired:
whisky is dreadful thing, isn't
it?"
assented.
''Ten drinks of whisky have cost
me 100000 in my lifetime time,
asked him to explain.
'sAs long as / don't drink it is no
trouble for me to accumulate a for
tune, and 1 have no appetite for
rum. But i'll swallow one drink
I'm gone, and never stop until the
last dollar is gone. l move on to
some new field, and my wife goes
back to her old home, where she
has little property of her own, un-
til am at myself again. But l un-
derstand that her property is all
gone now, if she should come back
to Ohio again l don't know where
she would CO."
"But when you are wealthy, why
don't you provide for her?'
"Well, there's the trouble. I've
always been going to do it, but put
it off till 1 took the fatal drink.
Each time think it will never occur
again, and the fatal delay intervenes.
1 am losing faith in myself, and the
next time l will look for her first,