Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-04-18

son very much embarrassed. In the case
OF William II. Vanderbilt, for instance, it
was known for nearly three years that a
brain disease was making alarming prog
ress with him, but none of the members
Of his family or his business associates
would acknowledge the fact to each
other, and everybody surrounding him
was working as hard as possible to keep
the facts out of the newspapers. Yet it
was known that Vanderbilt was some
times sitting tor hours at his library Ia
BILE, with his mouth open and watering,
his jaw hanging on one side n his eyes
staring into vacancy, without anybody or
anything being able to rouse him from his
s~emi-paralytlc condition, unless il were
Chauucey NJ. Depew coming with some
extraordinary statement in regard to the
family's railroad interests, or some tT0t-
ting horse chum calling in to say that
somebody has somewhere a horse which
is likely to beat Maud SIS time. or
course, in this case, the condition of Van
derbilt's sudden death did not have any
important result, for his will was made,
all business matters were provided for, and
neither the family interest nor the inter-
ests of the corporations he had control of
have suffered. But suppose the will had
not been made, what would have been the
result of the death Of this man, both for
his family and for the corporations he
was interested in? AS said above, this
tendency of cOncealing the actual condl-
ton of prominent people who happen to
be sick is universal. Quite recently, for
instance, the Duchess of Connaught be-
came very sick, but Queen Victoria, her
m~other-in-law, ordered the publication of
the bulletins stopped until the Duchess
began to improve, when. of course, all
anxiety on the part of her friends and
persons dependent upon her would be
over.
The suicide of Dennis C. Wilcox will,
by the time this letter goes to press, be
discussed by a number of moralists and
preachers, and will give them a brilliant
opportunity to attack Wall street as a
gambling hell and a halfway house to
general perditIOn. But it 50 happened
that almost at the same moment as poor
old Wilcox blew his brains out in his bill
lard room, the Earl of Shaftesbury, one
Of the richest aristocrats of Great Britain,
did the same thing in a hanson cab in
Regent street, London. Yet he had moth
ing to do either with Wall street or with
the Chicago grain market. The fact is
that Wall street people, as a rule, have
too much common sense to commit
suicide under any circumstances. They
know that the market is always there and
that if they take a loss to-day they have a
chance 10 max it up tomorrow. The pro-
fessional gambler may be occasionally
broken down, but be never ~despairs; il ts
only the amateur who weakens, and is ca
pable OF a foolish act under the pressure
of adversely. Rich as he was, Wilcox had
no reason to gamble at all, and the fact
that he went into speculation so late in
life is an indication that his mind began
to give way. The writer happened by ac-
cident some two years ago to have a one
what protracted conversation with him
which plainly indicated that the old gen.
tleman's mind was not in its normal con-
dItion. He said, for instance, that
anybody who sold anything ''short" or
predicted lower prices for securities or
any article of American industry was in
his eyes a criminal, for he deprecated
his c~Ountrymen's property. 1t IS very
likely that Wilcox lost much more than
he could afford to lose, being the father of
a large family. But the settlement of his
estate will probably show that he was
not completely ruined, and that his
suicide is very much more to be attri-
buted to a weakening brain and a fussy
nervous temperament than to anything
like the moral and mental distress which
is apt to drive to desperation a poor man
unable to bear the sight of a ruined family
dependent upon bis only labor.
An important event will shortly occur
at the New York Stock Exchange in the
election for Ohcers. owing to the retire.
ment of President j. Edward Simmons,
Vice President James ID. Smith, of the
firm of Jameson, Smith & Getting, has
been nominated as his successor. There
will probably be an opposition ticket in
the field, but the name of MIR. Smith is
certain to be on that ticket; also Commo-
dOre t. d. Smith, or "Jim" Smith, as his
Wall street friends call him, has been for
the past twenty years one OF the most
prominent and popular members OF the
Stock Exchange. Nor is his popularity
limited to Wall street alone, for he has
been for two years the Commodore of the
New YORK Yacht Club. MIR. Smith was
born in Exeter, N. H., and is at present a
resident of the State OF Connecticut,
where he has held the Offices OF State
Treasurer and member of the Legisla-
ture. Before he was 40 years of age Mr..
Smith was a director in some of the
largest corporations, like the Union Pa
cIfic, the Kansas Pacific, the Panama
railroad, and the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company. Mr.. Smith is a WidOwer and
has two children, a son and a daughter.
The son IS a clerk in the employ OF his ia
theirs firm and the daughter is completing
her education in Paris aud bids fair to be-
come a most accomplished musician. The
Commodore Is about 50 years old, rich, in
blooming health, and as full OF jOViality
and good fellowship as any man OF his
business responsibility al possibly al
ford or lind time to be. RIGOLO.