Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1895-04-20
SPENDTHRIFT JOHN L.
HE HAS EARNED AND SPENT
HALF A MILLION.
Has Thrown Fortunes Away - Onco
Robbed of $4,000 in Chicago
Hotel, but the ex-Champion Scarcely
Mentioned It.

hard up that he was obliged to seek a
fight with the winner of the O'Donneu-
Kilrain fight in Boston last night, IL the
contest had not been drawn. And yet
he has made a fortune estimated at
S5O0,OOO dvring the last fifteen years
that he has fought in the ring. But he
has spent or given away $500, 900, too.
When he reached Boston last week,
after the failure of the transforming
company in Jacksonville he was penni-
less. In the height of his power, when
his reputation as the great knocker-out
was indisputable, little Pat Coakley,
Boston's famous gambler, made the
prophecy that inside of ten years Sulli-
van would want for the dollars which
he was then throwing away so reclS-
Iessly. This prophecy has come to pass
AS he has been with his money so has
he dealt with himself He has been
. q spendthrift of health and physique
and manhood 1t would be hard to
recognize the prefect specimen of man.
hood that won the championship OF
America from Paddy Ryan in the bloat-
ed and heavy John L. Sullivan of to-
day. He would go days at a time with
but little or no sleep. He had a raven
Gus appetite, being known to have eat
en- three or four small chickens at
meal. But he oftentimes confined him
self to single meal a day, and at other
times would go a day without eating
Many of his friends in palmy days
know him no more. Resorts that ac-
corded his the warmest kind of well
comings now present to him closed
doors. Beer has supplanted wine, and
the chance acquaintance has supplied
| him with beer So has the mighty fall
len! No one believes that Pat Coax
ley's prophecy that Champion John
would some day be dependent upon
charity for his living will ever come to
pass. There are too many men under
obligations to the big fellow to permit
of his falling so far. But certain it is
that the John of old has gone forever
| HIS attraction even as a curiosity even
does not pay. That accounts for the
failure of his tour in the south. There
are managers who think that there may
be final wind up with an exhibition
in Cuba or Spain, but they haven't
| summoned up confidence as yet to an
nounce this tour. There are few men
! VINO nave had more opportunities to
accumulate a fortune than the ex-
champion, who can certainly couple
with his pugilistic title of king of sports
that of the king of spendthrifts. All
Kinds of estimates have been made of
Johns winnings, and the most con-
servative of these agree that from the
day he met Joe Goss in Boston Music
hall in 1880 up to the present time he
has received and spent over $780, OOO
There have been days, and that. too,
before his more prosperous ones, when
ne mas spent or squandered 81, 500, and
there have been weeks when his out
lay amounted to $40, ,OOO and this amount
has gone for nothing except to pay for
wine for other people to drink, or to
| humor some whim, or to keep out of
some scrape. For the insane pleasure
OF burylng colored mans face in a
squash pie he paid the colored man $50
This incident took place in Wards
saloon, on Washington street, Boston.
For the privilege of knocking a waitress
down in Yeaton's oyster-house, also on
Washington street, he paid $4OO. For
the brutal pastime of kicking two Of
lending grays he paid 5000. He as
saulted Michael Meehan, well-known
Boston man about town, and paid
heavily for it. He gave his friends
carte blanche one night to drink to his
health, and they punished $1,000 worth
of wine. And so the money flew. An
other faVorite pastime was to scatter
small coin of all denominations, from
81 under, recklessly as he passed along
the streets, for the mob that ALWAYS
followed him to scramble for. And, as
showing his utter recklessness, the
story is told that, on one occasion. in
Chicago, when he awoke from a nap
he Informed the proprietor that some
one had touched him for $4,000 He
treated 1t as merely a passing incident
not worthy of attention on his part.
and no effort was made to find the
thief There are hundreds of men who
are indebted to him for amounts rang
ing from 500 to $4,000, which they bOr-
roWed under promise to pay, who still
owe him the money, and, as he has no
record Of these loans, he is not likely to
ever receive a single dollar of it. John
has big heart. a pitiful story, cry
ing begSar, man, woman or child in
misfortune, could have anything he
had, even the coat that he wore upon his
back. AS an instance of his generosity
when he was in business with Michae
. I. Clarke on Washington street in Bos-
ton, and while the center of an admir-
ing thronS, he happened to hear the
conversation which a bystander was
holding with one of his bartenders
This gentleman had happened to be the
witness OF an eviction scene and he
was telling how pitiful it was to see
the old woman thrown out on the street
on that cold December day. No one
supposed John had heard the conversa-
ton, but he suddenly broke away from
his associates. 1t was only by chance
that the results Of his absence ever be-
came known. He had found the old
woman and her furniture on the street.
he had settled with her landlord for
a years rental and had so overstoc5ed
her larder that had it not been for the
assistance of neighbors portions of the
bushels of potatoes and the barrels of
flour and the hundred and one other
things which he had lavishly bestowed
: upon her would have gone to waste,
for he had furnished her with a supply
which would have fed one person at
least five years This is one instance OF
very very many, Newsboys, widows,
the poor people generally he had known
as boy, were all recipients of his boun-
ty.