Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-08
BUFFOON IN A CIRCUS.
Once he Was a Wealthy Member of
the Cincinnati Bar, but Now
A WANDERER WITHOUT A HOME.
His Wife in q Madhouse and BE Penniless
and Hopeless.
WORKING IN A PITTSBURG RESTAURANT

A man with a most unusual and interest
ing history left Pittsburg last evening for
New York City. His name is Charter
weatherspoone, and during the 80 years he
has spent on this terrestrial globe he has
seen life in every phase, has tasted every
pleasure and known every trouble that the
average millionth man has His occupa-
tion while in Pittsburg was that of waiter
in the restaurant at 121 and 123 Fifth ave-
nue., and he drew a salary cf IS per week
while he worked.
Weatherspoone is a cousin of the cele-
brated Charter brothers, the millionaire
London, England, bankers, and is related
closely to Scottish people of noble descent,
and is obut few removes from a cornet
Twelve years ago the young man began life
with fortune in the neighborhood of $780,
600, which he inherited from his father, a
wealthy Cincinnati merchant. At the age
of 81 Witherspoone married a young lady of
Cincinnati with considerable money and of
very good family.
The Beginning of a Sad End.
The young man was then practicing law,
and everything seemed favorable for sue
cessful career. But then came terrible
blow in the happy heme. A daughter
was born to the young couple and the
mother lost her reason. This, as Weather
spoone said to a DISPATCH man, was the
beginning ofhi end.
81 loved my wife most dearly" he con-
tinued, as suspicious moisture came into
his eyes, 'and the blow nearly killed me.
We did everything on earth for her, but her
constitution was so weak that she never re-
covered her mind. She became violent at
length, and we were obliged to send her to
a private asylum near Cincinnati, where she
is at present, and where, the physicians say,
she will remain until death relieves her.
As for myself, everything about Cincinnati
became cdious and unbearable. MY Office
did not visit once in three weeks, and
finally gave it up altogether. Inertion
proved ruinous and began a life of dissi-
patton. 1 was so despondent that many
times did contemplate putting an end to
my earthly troubles. In preference, al
though to-day I cannot forgive myself, 1
took to leading a very fast life. AS nat
ural consequence my fortune began to dis
appear.
Found Himself at Poverty's Door.
t'The lower in finances became the faster
pace went until finally awoke one hot,
oppressive morning and, after collecting
what few thoughts had, realized L was at
poverty's door. 1 had long since become
estranged from both nv own and my wife's
family and 1 was resolved to seek new
fields. / went East, and for two years 1
knocked about from pillar to post as any
other wanderer might. One season, to catch
the full drift of the irony of fate, travelled
with Adam Forepaugh's circus as one of
the clowns. NV experience in this line was
anything but sweet, as may easily be sur
missed 1 appeared in Cincinnati and sew
eral other large cities in the white face and
red-dotted white flannel suit of the
through the streets when on parade,
and, to tell the truth, it helped
drive away the blues to hear the country
folk laugh at the contrast I made with my
donkey" and he stretched his full length,
some 6 feet inches and extended his thin
bony legs.
81 became tired of this and tried nv hand
at acting, and with partner L did the
Western museum circuit, which takes In
Chicago, Minneapolis, St Paul, Omaha,
Kansas City, Denver and Salt Lake City.
In that capacity was the long of the
long and the short of it, I was the un-
fortunate into whose head and back, axes
and hatchets were driven.
An Aristocratic Mountebank.
81 was tine buffoon who had to fall from
trapezes and stage houses, and be hit with
clubs and joke at the same time for the
81
audiences. Obi it was grim sort of humor
l gave those poor people," and the aristo-
cratic mountebank smiled softly. 'After
that" he continued. 81 was a sandwich
man at country fairs, travelling through In
diana. Illinois and Iowa Then I went on
the river. Shipped as pantryman on
steamboat plying between ST. Louis and
New Orleans.
81 spent the summer on the dark muddy
waters of the Father of Waters and then
drifted North and finally returned to Gin
cinnati. L did not have the courage to 90
home, SO, after learning in a roundabout
way that my wife was no better, / met Bob
Roberts, who is still with me- His history
was somewhat similar to mine, and, as con-
genial souls will come together eventually,
so we came together. He and 1 travelled
eastward, westward and every other direc-
ton. We have worked in lawyers Offices,
in stores and in restaurants. Last summer
/ was engaged to become the travelling COM
panion of wealthy old man to go to
Europe, but at the last moment declined
the position.
Good Waiter, and Nothing More
II have roved so long that am nervous
if L stay in any particular place longer than
q month or SO. l am at present a waiter,
and can carry an armful Of plates as we'll as
anyone 1 shall go to New York from here
probably, and from there 1 do not know
where"
Roberts, the companion of Weather
spoone, says trouble has weighed so heavily
upon the latter that his mind is somewhat
affected, and at times the eccentricities of
the man verge strongly on something more
awful than pecullarities "When I first
knew him." continued the young man, with
a disparaging glance at his white apron,
she would no more talk of his past than 1
would take of mine, but time has changed
him so that he will talk quite frequently.
At first he went under an assumed name,
but now he doesn't seem to care
A New Hall at Lawrencevil!e.