San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-03-20
St. Louis Globe Democrat.

An Associated Press dispatch
from San Antonio, Tex, says:
"ThOs. Doris, son OF wealthy
steam boat owner, OF st. Louis, died
yesterday Of consumption. He
was an eccentric man through life,
and lived up to from $500 to ST.
600 a month, which he spent over
the table"
The deceased is supposed to be
Tom Doris, one of the best known
men in st. Louis a few years ago,
who left the city on account of ill
health and drifted to the South
west. He was a son OF Thomas
Doris, who died some twelve or
thirteen years ago, leaving an inn
mense estate. The family lived
in what was for many years known
as the Doris Mansion, out on the
Kings Highway and Delmar ave-
nue., which stood as a landmark
for years, and monument to the
prosperity Of one Of the most pro-
gresslve and wide-awake citizens
of the Future Great in ante-bellum
days. 1t was grand old pile and
excited the envy, as well as the
admiration, Of thousands of the
less prosperous fellow men Of its
generous hearted owner. Old Capt.
Doris had made his money as
successful speculator, slave dealer
and as a steamboat owner. He
mased a fortune in an incredibly
short time, and was for years a
prominent man about town and a
distinctive character. He had two
sons and three daughters, only two
OF whom are now living.
With the death OF Tom Doris,
the name Of that historic, but sim
gular, family becomes extinct. The
only two living members of the
immediate family of the wealthy
old riverman are married, one be-
ing Mrs. Moshier, and the other
Mrs. John A. Halterman, wife OF
the United States Minister to Siam.
No stranger tale of fiction was
ever written than the story Of the
Doris family. 1t is replete with
the most singular situations, the
strangest fatalities that ever the
fancy OF the novelist pictured. No
story under covers could depict the
grewsome realities of the lives of
nearly every member OF the Doris
family, or of the shocking and ter
rible fates that befel some of the
leading actors in the great drama
of their lives. The family closet
secreted a hideous skeleton that
even in their palmiest days betOk-
ened the tragic end that befel
them. One by che they have passed
from the scene, the fatal nemesis
has followed the last of the name
to the grave, and the family es-
CutcheOn is not unstained with
blood. The grand old mansion,
that source Of envy to many
Of the friends Of old Tom Dor.
ris, has Deen RACED to earth,
and not brick or stone remains
to mark the site where it once
stood. The beautiful park that
surrounded it has long since gone
into decay, and as il to stamp out
The memory OF once prosperous
race, the great city which they
once called home, has completely
encompassed 1t. The house burned
and the ruins were torn down.
Then the last vestige Of the proud
place was hauled away and
dumped into the low ground in
the vicinity; the whole block has
been reduced to the grade, and the
ruthless hand of progress has de-
manded that public thoroughfares
be cut through the once private
domains.
Out of family Of seven, con-
sisting Of father, mother, two sons
and three daughters, three have
met violent deaths, and the hand
of a grandson has been stained
with the blood of one Of his nearest
relatives, for which he narrowly
escaped paying the penalty on the
gallOWS. When the Doris man
sion reared its castellated turrcts
toward the sky in the palmiest
days Of this strange family, there
was born to one OF the daughters,
Mrs. Joseph Brown, wife of Judge
Joseph Brown, one Of the most
eminent jurists who ever graced the
bench OF st. Louis county, a son
who was named Russell Brown
This babe grew to boyhood, youth
and mans estate, the cherished
child OF his proud but eccentric