The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-15
HOW HE EARNED A PARDON.
The Romantic Career of a Massachusetts,
Man Who Squandered a Fortune.
SiIas McCloon, Imprisoned at Deer Island for
Misdemeanor, Aids in the Rescue of
Shipwrecked Crew.

CHICAGO, Jan. 14-The News prints the SUD-
Joined telegram from Boston: ''Si.as McCloon,
one OF the four Deer island convicts who were
pardoned tins week for heroism in rescuing the
remnant of the c,,,w of the wrecked schooner
Juliet. off Winthrop Pom, mas nao a r0mah'ic
career. McCloon's father was n wealthy ller
chant and ship builder of Rockland, Me. mon
Silas was quite young the father died. leavih.
him fortune of nearly $100, 600. Silas took to
drink, fell III with a bad set lived high, drove
fast horses. and was leading character in Rock
land for a number of years. For few years
past he has resided most of the time in Massa-
chusetts, where he worked occasionally. Drink
got the better of him, and several of his friends
had him sent to Deer Island.
Little by little young McCloon's fortune has
has disappeared. Much Of it was spent in diss-
patton. gambling and sporting, and still more in
gifts to his friends and boon companions, when
under the influence of wine. Last Thanksgiv-
ing day famous game of polo was played at
Bath. Me-. between Bath and Rockland teams.
McCloon and large party of friends went over
to bet on the Rockland team. The latter was
beaten. however and McCloon lost large sum.
Made desperate by chagrin at his i'll luck, he in
vited his friends to notorious resort and began
to drown his thoughts in wine. Soon his remain
ing funds were squandered. His valuable watch
and chain he had to leave in the hands of the
keeper of the place. as security for the debt
he had contracted Late that night McCloon
was found in nearly helpless condition from
intoxication by one of the night police and taken
to the lookup, where he passed the rest OF the
night oblivious of his surroundings. The next
day he was allowed to depart. and was given
passage to Rockland. From what can be learned
McCloon never redeemed his articles in pawn,
and he was never heard of afterward by the
Bath officers until the reading of the account of
the shipwreck and rescue Being at last pennl-
less he drifted to Boston. and was sent again to
Deer Island for drunkenness. The way McCoon
acquitted himself on the occasion of the great
storm demonstrates that all the so-called crimi-
malls are not the hardened wretches they are
painted, and that a brave and manly heart often
beats under the vest of a man who has bad
reputation"
The News furnishes the following history of
McCloon
There are a few inaccuracies in the foregoing
dispatch. McCloon's father was worth atsleast
81 500, 900 at the time of his death The inheri-
lance divided between the mother, two
daughters and the son. he receiving. IN accord
with the provisions in the will, one-third of
the whole fortune. The residue was equally di-
vided among the other heirs. One of the daugh-
tiers, soon after the disposition the estate mar
ried an ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of Massachu-
sets. now one of the most prominent members
of the bar in that State. Silas became the hus
band of young lady distinguished in the society
of Haverhill, Mass, for her great beauty and &C
complishments.
A $50, 900 residence at Rockland was his first
investment His next was the fatal purchase of
half interest in the ircompeted invention of a
Yankee to utilize steam without allowing an eX
haust Thousands after thousands of dollars
melted away in the scheme. The financial
hacker, inexperienced and perfectly insane with
a.
feet models and illustrations to introduce to the
old world an unpatented patent that was des-
tined to revolutionize the power-supp}Sipg meth
DDS of the universe. Sharpers at EUhdon and
Paris saw the weakness Of both the man and the
machine, and while attesting to the marvellous
worth of one showed no hesitation in patroniz-
ing the apparently inexhaustible wealth of the
other. Young McCloon wined and dined every
body who would listen to him. In fact
he had wined and dined himself out of
nearly 5000, GOO when his married sister. then in
Paris with her husband, had him spirited off to
America one night when he was insenslble from
bauch. He stuck to the invention sharper
until all his available resources were disspated.
Nothing was left but the Rockland house. and a
limestone quarry that yielded income of
$1,000 year. These he one day gave to his wife,
convinced that he was irreclaimable His mother
gave to 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
the doors of their ricn homes against him. At
last his mother gave him purse with which to
start anew in the West, exacting promise that
he would never return to her until he had over
come his unfortunate appetite.
In February, 1877, young McCloon passed
through Chicago 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 a
full month. At Omaha while the overland
train was waiting for lunch he bought a bottle
of ale The next night while the train was
speeding past Gibbon, small station in Nebras-
ka, the keeper was shocked to see a body fall,
and. apparently, roll under the wheels. He
took the unconscious man into the station and
restored him. 1t was the young New England
er. He had mraculously escaped with only a
few bruises on the head. The following train
took him on to Cheyenne. Then, for two days,
he surprised the generous border men who con-
gregated at Dyers Hotel by his munifcence and
prncely ways. On the fourth day he awakened
with a meager 5000 remnant of the $l0,0
which his mother had given for the first install
meut on the purchase of a cattle ranch.
His next effort at reformation was made in ex-
lie. on the Medicine Bow mountain range. where
for four months he remained searching for gold
whore human beings rarely seen, and where
intoxicants could not be had for the wealth of
Plutus At the expiration of that period, having
suffered the adverse fate of most gold-hunters,
McCloon returned home to his wife and two chill
dren in Maine sure that circumstances had re-
deemed him, and resolved to recover by hard la
Dor the fortune he had so recklessly squandered.
His release from convict's cell for bravery is
the first the writer has heard from him since
then