The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-03

with him a boon companion named Slo-
cum, whose assigned duty was the car
rylng of his money and paying it out
as ne chose TO squander it, The life of
prOdigality and uncontrolled dissipation
into which he plunged was so wild as 10
be almost beyond belief He ordered
Champagne not by the bottle, but by the
basket. He gave a 5000 diamond TO a ne
gro minstrel for singing a song that
pleased him.. He frequently bought car
riages and the teams attached when he
wished to ride a few blocks and then
presented them to the drivers.
On one occasion he Wagered a bottle
OF wine that he would spend, actually
paying out for fun" and not giving
away, $4,000. At another time he re-
ceiNed large sum of money from the
rentals on the farm when he was on the
street and quite drunk. IL was in bank
notes as he always required it, checks
being objects of suspicion with him, and
when he had stuffed it into his pockets
they bulged out like those of an urchin
after a raid on an apple orchard. His
codL could not set we'll on him padded
with money as he was, and he was dis
Just then he caught sight of a bank.
ana, rushing into it with the airy formal
lty Oh: Here, take care of this damned
stun Tor me. It's a nuisance" dumped
the whole pile before the receiving teller,
ana Went away, ere that functiOnary
eould take breath or gather his wits suf-
heiently to give any evidence Of the de-
post. And when Coal Oil Johnny, as
John Steele was by this time known,
member where he had left all that
money, he was quite unable to do so.
Ana, he decided, to hunt it up would in
NolVe more trouble than it was worth.
Its loss did not worry him at all.
suddenly his wealth came to an end.
lie had succeeded in squandering even
more than his vast income, and was I'm
debt. OF course. he had been plundered
mercilessly, right and left but had liter
any thrown away several fortunes, ana
creditors, seeming his downfall We're
pressing him He pnErnI tho farm
Tor a large sum, and plunged afresh into
even Wilder extravaganza and more reck-
less dissipation than before, but with less
70 go upon, and the end came quickly.
HIS mad career was over
After a short time of abject destitu-
ton, in which he was deserted by all VINO
had preyed upon him, he went to work
driving the Girard house stage. in which
guests were carried to and from the rail-
road depots. Soon he wearied of that.
and somebody paid his fare back TO Oil
Creek where he obtained employment as
freight handler at the depot, in which
capacity he earned $25 month. That
was not enough TO support himself ana
family, and there was nothing more re-
munerative that he could find there TO do.
His wife raised, by the sale of her jew
elry, sum sufficient for the Transports
ton of the family out to Nebraska, ana
there in Lincoln, Coal Oil Johnny settled
down. Ihey were very poor, but man
aged somehow to live, for Johnny was
willing worker at any labor he could pro-
cure. Realizing the evil fortune of sucn
limitation as had been put upon his ca
pacties by his ignorance he took care
as good an education as was attainabie
under the existing circumstances. When
the boy was old enough, ne obtained en-
ployment as ticket and freight agent al
the Ashland Neb., railroad station, ana
there his father, Coal OIL Johnny that
was, plain John Steele, as everybody
about there knows him, works steadily
and patiently for the railroad company
under the sons direction, handling freight
taking care of the station, and 50 on. And
he is hale, hearty, a well preserved man.
apparently about SO years of age, SEEM
ingly well contented.
But he is by no means dependent now
upon his labor for the maintenance of
his family, or upon his steady and in
dustrious son. At a time when his situa-
ton seemed most miserable and his pros
poets least. hopeful, while he was still
seeking days work at any hard labor in
Lincoln, fortune again smiled upon him,
a CLEAN of his old luck gilded his life once
again.
In some way the directors of that Phil
adelphia bank in which he had made his
informal deposit thirty years before
learned of the unhappy condition of the
Steele family away out in Nebraska, of
the total reformation in Coal Oil Johnny's
habits, and the manly struggle he was
making to atone for the past Having
assured themselves of the identification
of their giraffe depostor. they made up
his account and forwarded to him the
sum left in their charge, with interest
from the date of its deposit.
How much it was is known only to
those concerned, but it is believed to have
been somewhere about $4,000, probably
more rather than less. With that money,
200 acres of choice farming land near
Ashland were purchased, and a good
house erected, with barns, out-houses, ex-
cellent fences, and so forth. There Mrs.
Steele is in control, and If the bad idea
should occur to Johnny of an experiment.
al return to the tumultuous delights of
earlier days, it is not probable that he
would be able to prejudice the family in
terest in that farm.
But there are no fears of his doing so.