The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-05-02
RICH BUT uNcULTURED.

One of the Oddities Created by Successful
Operation I'm Western Mining Schemes.
There is man in this city, says the
New York Telegram, whose peculiar
career has been in harmony with his
peculiar character. He was born in the
south, has had some education, though
he cannot be considered an educated
man, and has lived in many parts of the
world. He is one of those men whose
indomitable will power makes success
with them foreign conclusion. He is
now about forty-fve years of age, the
possessor of tremendous fortune,
which he has made by specializing in
western mines since 1875, when he lost
comparatively small fortune which he
had inherited. This calamity, instead
of depressing him as it would many
men, seemed TO bring out all the latent
power in his nature. He went west inn
mediately with his large family, lived
with the greatest economy and was
happy in the confidence of his ultimate
success. This success came to him in
very short time. He found himself to
be the possessor Of an admirable judy
ment of the value of mines, and showed
an extraordinary skill of driving a hard
and close bargain. AS one of his friends
has said of him: He has made his
money by squeezing it out of others.
He would, by taking advantage of a
mans EN- barrassed financial situation,
get all his property out of him, and
then, with fine magnanimity, present
his victim with fifty dollars as a gift"
A few years after his advent in the
west he found himself millionaire. AS
soon as the discovery was made it
dawned upon him that the west was too
small a place for him. So he came to
New York expecting to take the town
by storm. But, strange as it may seem,
he has not succeeded in this am bition.
On the contrary, there are few people
who know that he lives in this big city.
thrown into the shade by scores of
New Workers, each of whom possesses
many millions more. But he is we'll
content. His experience in New York
has taught him to affect a contempt for
wealth, though he still continues to &C
cumulate it. moneys" he says, with a
fine scorn which is very amusing to
those who know him, money is not
worth striving for. There are other
things in the world Of greater impor-
tsnce than mere pelf." He is particu-
larly fond of making this remark to
those persons with whom he has
business relations. He certainly COLI
vinces them that there is no use iii
striving for money with him, for in the
struggle for it he is sure to win. This,
however, is only one Of his many aphor-
isms He loves to pose as a philoso-
pher and to scatter bits of wisdom
strangely familiar sound, as though
they had been said before by some one
else. He is also very religious, and he
invariably throws the cloak of his re-
ligion over his little prevarications and
hard business dealings. His life in the
wild west seems to have inspired him
with an intense desire to be a gentle
man and to surround himself with gen
tlemen, and his efforts thus far have re-
suited in some curious episodes. His
rude speeches to his guests at table are
the talk of those who have met him,
and his peculiar manners have already
inspired one novel writer to put him in
a story. He has an intense admiration
for Napoleon, whom he takes for his
model, and initiates in manner which
gives delight to those who can appre-
ciate it. Altogether, he is a most curious
example of a civilization which is rap
idly dying out, of the type which is
neither boor nor gentleman, but a cross
between the two, the result of state
of social transition which produces in
him a mixture of natural vulgarity only
imperfectly concealed by veneer of
spurious refinement.