The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-03
Two STORIES or REAL LIFE.
They Led Widely Different Lives, but Their
Crimes Were Very Similar.

Ahey LED widely Different Lives, but Their
Crimes We're Very Similar.
New York sun.
On the 18th of June last there sat at one of
the tables in the Hoffman cafe man of pro-
digious size. lie was six feet six in height, his
neck was like column, his shoulders moro
than three feet broad and his chest swelled like
the bulge OF a hogshead. He was both gour-
mand and a gourmet His face was smooth
shaven, cheeks bloated, but he had pleasant
smile, and was the life of the patty with which
he was dining He was dressed in good taste
and in the latest fashion. He wore rather con-
spicuous jewelry. He would have been picked
out for rather fast cluo man, and he was His
home was In Hartford where he has lived some
twenty years the ideal life-for Hartford-of a
man of the world He kept fast horses there
was breath of comment always respecting hia
relations with certain women, he was q cool
poker player, he entertained as no other bach
eier In Hartford did, and was regarded By the
lively young men there as the model good fell
low. At the same time business men respected
him. He had como from a rich bust
ness family in Pittsfeld. and brought
some $4,000 to Hartford He estab-
hshed and managed several manufacturing
enterprises. Last spring he went to St Louis
with Edgar Wells in connection with the pur-
chase OF the Wabash railroad system, and his
financial suggestions were there deemed worth
considering His name is Plunkett and he is
wanderer and defaulter for many thou
sand dollars He has been living dishonesty no
one knows how long. When, three or four weeke
ago, Plunkett ran away, people in Hartford said
that another man was ruined by fast and rotoug
living, and that such course of life as Plunket6
led was sure to bring man 90 a dishonorable
end.
That is one story Now for another
On the very day that Plunkett was dining and
Winning at the Hoffman with his jovial, fashiona-
ole companions there hurried up Broadway
slender, sharp-featured, sallow faced man, who
entered the ST. James Hotel and seated himself
in the lobby as though awaiting His
hoe N1oiV oil No1xH
OF his coat was spotted, as though he were care
less in his eating. His boots not well
cleaned. From under his bushy eyebrows there
peered, however, pair OF very bright,
quick eyes, remarkably for a man
of his apparent years-his age was plain
ly not far from seventy prosperous
business men came into the lobby, and the re-
spect with which he treated the old man indicat-
ed that the latter was person of some conse-
quence Notwithstanding his plain appearance
The conversation between them having been fin
ished, the old man went to the cloak-room, called
for a basket, and then retiring to a secluded
place, took out some bread, and butter, and
cake, and ate his frugal meal He had spent the
night at reputable but cheap-lodgine hotel ane
he had brought food enough in basket from his
home to sustain him for two days Yet this man
was power in the financial world. He was reputed
to be worth million. He had served on rail-
road directories with such men as Samuel j. Til
den. He was president of half dozen great
corporations. and his credit was so great that
DauKS eagerly accepted MS paper ana called 1t gll6
edged Men accepted his financial views as the
best TO be had, and his name and experience
alone had hoated more than company from
embarrassment to success. He, like Plunkett,
was Hartford man; bat, unlike the younger
man, he was person of singularly correct hab-
its in private life His food was of the
planest. He never knew the taste of wine
or stronger spirits. He never used tobacco. He
never had n fast horse He never visited thea
ters, nor III fact, ever allowed himself mldef
forms of social pleasures. He was very active
in his church, which he almost carried on his
shoulders He was a frequent delegate to mis-
sionary and charitable gatherings He was an
enthusiastic member of the White Cross League,
efforts to reclaim fallen women and to punish
unchastity in men. When in New York, where
he spent much of his time, he. always de-
clined invitations of his business colleagues
to participate in designations, harmless or
otherwise, and he everywhere regarded
as man of model life This George
M. Bartholomew, and last week he too was
admittedly defaulter for some 0,00O taken
from the funds of the great Charter Oak Insur
ance Company, of which he was president He
has fed like Plunket though Bartholomew \
hiding place is known and Plunket's is not His
dishonesty has involved several corporations,
will cripple probably number of banks ard
cause loss to many individuals
Here then, we lind that the dissipated fash
ionable, fast-livinC, poker PLAYING man of tho
world, and the abstemious, plain-living, moral
man and protesting Christian have been doing
the same thing-embezzlng and absconding. 1t
is no wonder that Hartford people somewhat
dazed by these very conspicuous revelations of
similar dishonest practices on the part of man
of moral and man of immoral life