The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-04

There was a time when he punished
more brandy than any other one man ever
drank since the days Of Garantua. lie
played cards a. the club every night. sit
ting down to the table at $50 and always
going home at H. lie called for brandy
so often that certain members OF the clhb
were In the habit OF wagering on the guam
tity. To settle IL a committee was ap-
pointed 10 keep tally. one Of the members
being. I think. Col. Simmons, one OF Mr.
Morris Oldest friends. In two hours this
remarkable man drank forty-two ponies!
At last IL began 90 tell on him. He
had an Illness that alarmed his doctor who
said that he must do one of two things
quit drinking or die. Il don't want 10 die
yet. doctor, so I'll quit drinking" he said
and he never touched a drop afterWard.
Neither Of his sons touches liquor in any
form.
Every man, high and low. rich and poor.
has his price" Mr. Morris used to say.
HI knew more about It than most people.
HesbOught more men than any other Aer
son In that line Of business He bought en-
tire legislatures as II he were buying so
much wool. He bought almost everything
except the supreme court. He owned con-
gressmen by the dozen, and senators-as
many as he needed. He bought one Pres
ident-"not with gold, he told me" but in
another way" He was a firm believer in
the weakness OF men through their vanity.
They are all vain. Al the women in the
United States did not have as much vanity
as a President Of the United states.
talked with him for an hour and a half In
his private office in the white house, and
the whole time he was so busy looking at
himself in the glass that ne paid no atten-
ton TO what l was saying"
/ once interested Mr.. Morris in a Geor-
gia land enterprise. His l0ter on the sub
ject shows the mans character:
Ny dear - l have been very seedy
lately, and unable to do any work. so your
letter has lain neglected. If you had
been in sight l could have talked to you,
but TO wTite-the doctors said Nor Getting
old, my friend!-getting too fat l did
not get OrmOnde, so nature, TO revenge
that folly, has made me a roarerl.i You
can hear me at West Chester when I am
whistling my best these damp, foggy.
wheezy nights.
AT present / am using all my funds,
not 10 find lost chord. but TO find lost
vein to a silver mine; but, nevertheless,
l would invest - thousand dollars with
you on the same terms as my mother
used 10 invest in Texas through friends
living there-the land 10 be selected with
the greatest care and most thorough ex-
animation in every way. and TO be bought
at bed rock not speculative prices-to
be in every way virgin And"
He complained considerably last year
OF the hard times, saying more than once
that the world expected rather too much
of a man supposed TO be very rich; It
thought ne always had his pockets full,
whereas they were often empty. He
wrote TO me as follows from bis ranch
near San Antonio; M
Il am hard up. Afy horses and my ranch
will keep me poor for, the next year or
two. but l have found new sensation
My visit TO Texas has taught me TO like
trials better than real racing-that is,
the trials OF young animals when no one
has a line on any of them To make It
interesting you must have enough OF
them-say forty or fifty yearlings. 1 find
there is a months real happiness in IT,.
1 never took much interest in a horse
when l knew his caliber."
Mr.. Morris could become as wildly ex-
cited as any man of my acquaintance.
and there never was a man more high
strung IS regards temper. Yet he had stu
died life so carefully as to have become
In his last years philosopher whom moth
ing above, in or under the earth could
disturb His equanimity was remarkable
He never showed anger except when TAX
en- by surprise. Then he was always white
hot. He made his philosophy, or, to be
more accurate. he made himself the slave
of his philosophy. His philosophy was toe
philosophical to be natural. Having ma IL
up his mind not to believe in God, he turn
ed 10 medicine and became homeopath-
list. / never met him that he did not have
bryonia in one pocket and spongia in am,
other. The horses in his stable were Vic
Tins of. his treatment. He dosed them
regularly. Poor St. Florian might have
won more races but for his too frequent
| drops of bryonia.
OF course. Mr.. Morris memory will al,
ways be associated with the lottery With
his death dies forever the institution en-
| couraged and patronized in one form oil
| another by every state in the union, anc
assisted by nearly all of Americas great
| est men, from George Washington down
| AS the last survivor of this class of money
! makers, the Louisiana lottery eclipsed al
/ its predecessors. 1t was the most DOW
erful engine of national decentralization
this country ever knew. It's revenues wer,
| recommendations year. Last year tn,
government drove it from American soil
And now its main prop is gone.