The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-08-10
THE YOUNG JACK ASTOR.
A PEN PICTURE OF THE COMING
RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD.


mors About His Engagement -
Practical Joker-Not Club Man.
(CopVri0ktl
NEW YORK, Aug. John Jacob Asto
The Third, the prospective richest man II
the world, has singularIy enough ESCAPED
much observation, for the war OF the Astors
like the wars of the Roses, has ragged g
fercely that it has been difficult for New
Workers to concentrate their minds upor
any other feature Of the family excep
which of the ladies shall have the privilege
of calling herself Mrs Aston. And We
young John Jacob Astor, or, as be is know
in all of the clubs and drawing-rooms il
New York, Jack Astor, is a man worth
knowing. Men do not like him, womeI
day be worth a couple of hund red million
dollars or whether it is solely on his OWL
account know not But he is always wei
come in any corner of the room where
pretty girls congregate, and he laughs and
Jokes with them as cheerfully as an eppren-
tice of for a holiday. In personal appear
ance he is tall, being nearly six feet IN
hight, and very slim He has decided
stoop in his shoulders. a bad complexion
and fishy eyes. but he possesses, above all
things, the good sense that char
actsriaes the entire Aston family.
ana be has done nothing SO
far TO cause any uneasiness.
His face is not strong one. There is nc
character in it HIS mouth is weak and his
eyes seem to lack ability to concentrate
themselves for a moment on anything. He
would attract no attention in a crowd, not
even for bis dress. His clothing is made up
in the latest fashion, but he is not loud in
any sense. To be sure he wears the finest
of clothes, his patent leather boots are the
best in the market, his silk hosiery is the
richest that money can buy, his
trousers are creased to nicely,
his white vests and shirts
are spotless, his jewelry is Of the richest and
finest, and to his credit let it be said that he
does not wear too much. He has a pro-
fusion Of rich neckwear and an assortment
of canes and hats that fairly rival the COL
lection of Bob Carrot, but Of all this it is no
ones business
he LOOKS LIKE A GENTLEMAN
and acts like one. Everything about him
points to great wealth. His horses and car
riages, of all descriptions. are the finest that
money can obtain. His bachelor entertain
ments are on a princely scale. He knows
how to live well and how TO gather a jolly
party about him. OF course expense is of
no moment TO him. He must be worth
anywhere now from $1,000, 900 to s10,
100000 and is the heir TO the bulk
of the entire property. He will some day
be the richest man in the world. 1t is not
at all likely that he will ever find the wolf
at his door, no matter how much money he
may squander. He inherits many traits of
the Aston family, except that he has not yet
mastered the cold indifferent stony stare
that has been a marked characteristic OF all
the male members of the family from the
beginning. He is not student or lover Of
pictures, like his father and cousins,
but, on the contrary, prefers out
door amusements, dancing and social
gayetles. He is a graduate of Harvard,
and came through that great institu-
tion OF learning like hundreds Of other men.
by the skin of his teeth. His enemies say
that 1t was his name and not his brains that
got him through. At any rate he got
through all right, and it may be because he
is bic TO cut such a wide swath in social
affairs that the other young men about
town do not like him. Like all the jeune
doree he is a member of half a dozen clubs.
but he Is not a club-man in any sense,
sensibly preferring bis own luxuriant
home He has not many friends
among men. and has never been
heard OF in barroom brawl. This is one
OF the things in his favor He is a shining
light In society and is always sure to be in
vlted to every affair that is going on He
spends good portion of his summer at
Newport, and goes to Europe three or four
times year. These European trips have
not made him any the less American No
No one ever accused him of anglomania,
and his great wealth and position do not
seem to have turned his head. There is one
feature OF his life that should not be over
looked he i9 q YNraatiCaI ioHar
MANY STORIES
are told about his pranks and the
inability of his father and mother
to stop him. One of his favorite amuse-
ments used to be to keep every sailor aud
officer on board his fathers magn1fice Mt
yacht In state of mind bordering Ga fren w.
He did 1t by little prankish tricks, whicn
might be called practical jokes by all except
the ones who had the pranks PLAYED
on them. Once when he and his ia
Their were IN the yacht off Newport,
one of the sailors went forward Just as the
tide was about to turn and leaned over the
bow in order to ascertain whether in swing
ing about the bow would get scraping
from the cable. Young Aston crept
stealthily forward and suddenly pushed the
sailor, who fell overheard. He was good
swimmer and was hauled out safely. Jack
Astor thought 1t was a great Joke
One day the cook in the yacht went to
sleep on the forward deck and the young
man conceived plan of waking him sud-
denly in novel and dangerous way. He
put rope around the fellows neck, ran the
other end through pulley block in the rig
ging and began to haul away. When the
cook awoke, as he did Immediately, he
found himself being strangled. 1t was too
much for the captain to bear and he APP
pealed to Mr.. Astor TO put a stop to such
cruel pranks.
But those were in the days when he was
young and reckless. He has grown to be a
man, but the fun of the boy often leaks out
at periodical intervals. Another escapade
related of him will have to be taken with q
grain Of allowance. 1t is said that he went
to Florida once, steamed up river aud
rented big house. He invited a large
number Of negroes in the neighboorhood to
the house and gave them as much cham
payne as they could drink. He just wanted
TO see what effect champagne would have
on negro. 1t had a very hilarious effect
and was one Of the grandest orgies ever
witnessed. But the particulars of that
champagne spree had best not be described.
His friends declare that he has toned down
considerably of late and is not much like
the reckless boy of years ago. Anyway, he
has great deal of fun and tries TO extract
as much out Of life as possible. He cam
take his millions with him.
IT HAS BEEN REPORTED
over and over again that young Astor wa.
to be married. He has been engaged FAC
cording to the newspapers" to at least g