St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-15
Some OF the Vicissitudes I'm the Career
OF Silas McCloon,
A story OF Wealth, Foolishness, Dis
sipation, Crime ana Pardon.

CHICAGO, Jan. I4.-Sllas McCIoon, one
of the four Deer Island convicts who were
pardOned at Boston this week for heroism
in rescuing the remnant of the crew of the
wrecked schooner Juliet, off Winthrop
Point. has had a romantic career according
to history of his life, which is published
here to-day. MeClOon's father was
wealthy merchant and shipbuilder of Rock
land. Me-, being worth at least 81. 500, 600
at the time of his death. The inheritance
was divided between the mother, two
daughters and the son, he receiving, in ac-
cordance with the provisions of the will,
one-third of the whole fortune. The resi-
due was equally divided among the other
heirs. One of the daughters, soon after
the disposition of the estate, married an
ex-lieutenant governor of Massachusetts.
now one of the most prominent members
of the bar in that state. Silas became the
husband of young lady distinguished i'm
the society of Haverhill, Mass, for her
beauty and accomplishments. A $50, 600
residence at ROckland was his first invest
ment. His next was the fatal purchase of
half interest in the incompleted invention
of Yankee 10 utilize steam without allow
ing an exhaust. Thousands after thousands
of dollars melted away in this scheme.
The financial hacker, inexperienced and
perfectly
INSANE WITH ENTHUSIASM.
fastened on to Europe with an imperfect
model and illustrations TO introduce to the
old world an unpatented patent, that was
destined to reyOlutioniZe the pOwer-supply-
ing methods of the universe. Sharpers at
London and Paris saw the weakness of both
the man and the machine, and while at
tending 10 the introduction of one, showed
no hesitation in patrOniZing the apparently
ineXhaustible wealth of the other. Young
McClOon, it is said. had wined and dined
himself out of nearly $500, 600 when his
married sister, then in Paris with her hus-
band. one night had him spirited off to
America. He stuck TO the invention
sharper until all of his available resources
were dissipatod. Nothing was left but the
ROckland house and a limestone quarry
that yielded an income of about S., 600 a
year. These he gave to his wife, con-
WINGED that lie was irreclaimable. His
mother gave 10 him with a lavish hand, but
when she saw that he was falling lower
with each gift, she withheld her favors for
his own sake. Thinking to nerve him TO
better deeds. his sister closed their rich
home against him. AT last his mother gave
him purse with which to start again to
the West, eXacting a promise that he would
never return TO her until he had overcome
his unfortunate appetite. In February.
1877, young McCloon passed through Chi
cago on his way to the Black Hills, then
the scene Of a
GOLD EXCITEMENT.
He had not allowed an intoxicant to touch
his lips for full month. AT Omaha.
while the overland train was waiting for
a lunch, he bought a bottle of ale. The
next night while the train was speeding
past Gibbon, small station in Nebraska,
the keeper was shocked TO see body fall
and apparently roll under the wheels. He
took the unconscious man into the station
and restored him. 1t was the young New
Highlander. He had miraculously escaped
with only few bruises on the head. The
following train took him TO cheyenne.
Then for two days he surprised the border
men by his munifcence and-princely ways.
On the fourth day he awakened with a
meagre $500 remnant of the $40. 900 which
his mother had given him for the first in
stallment on the purchase of a cattle ranch.
His next effort of reformation was made
as an exile at the Medicine Bow range.
where for four months he remained search
ing for gold where human beings ara
rarely seen and where intoxicants could
not be had. AT the expiration of that
period, having suffered the adverse fate of
most gold hunters, McCloon returned home
to his wife and two children in Maine,
sure that circumstances had redeemed him.
and resolved to recover by hard labor the
fortune he had so recklessly sQuandered.
His release from convict's cell for BRAY
cry Is the first that has been heard from
him since then.