The record-union., 1895-12-05
SORROWS OF 4 MILLIONAIRE.
John W. Mackay's Wealth Has Not
Brought Happiness.
Troubles, Worries, Bereavements'
Shot AT, Operated On by Surgeons
Overwhelmed With Lawsuits, His
Household Broken Up.

Listen to the story of the troubles OF a
multi millionaire. His name is John
w. Mackay. He has commonly been
thought of as man whose life has peen
q phenomenal success, because he made
q great fortune suddenly in early life,
but the truth is that his life since ne
became wealthy has been one long series
of troubles.
The greatest of them, no doubt, was
the death recently of his eldest and
favorite son, whom he was raising to
succeed him in the management or MS
vast fortune The newspapers had
hardly ceased to discuss this, however,
when it was announced that he had
lost his suit of S500000 against Edward
S. Stokes. These two events illustrate
the variety and frequency of the
troubles which are always raining down
on this unfortunate millionaire.
VARIED TROUBLES.
They range from the most serious to
the most ridiculous He gets shot by a
crank and has a rough-and-tumble hight
with social rival. He loses a son and
loses a law suit.
His great fortune has enabled his wife
Europe. She has magnificent houses in
London and Paris, and entertains the
Prince of Wales and the most fashion
able French society. Mr.. Mackay, by
the mere fact of his fortune is kept
away from her. He works in San Fran
cisco and she entertains in London.
Thus wealth has broken up his house
hold
His daughters marriage with an Ital-
ian Prince, once talked of as brilliant
event, has turned out a miserable fail
ure.
He has been engaged in a long and
ridiculous Squabble concerning the So
cial origin of his own and another Cali
fornian'S S family. Such Squabble is a
particularly undignified one for a man
of Mackay's ability and force of char
acter.
He gets little or nothing in the way of
personal comfort from his milnons. His
digestion and his tastes cause him to
live simply and even coarsely. Fine
wines and delicately cooked foods are
not for him.
NO LUXURIES FOR HIM.
His culinary tastes were illustrated
by a lunch which he gave to Hermann
Oelrichs and some other friends before
their departure for Alaska. 1t con-
sisted of clam chowder, corned beef
and cabbage, squash pie and butter
milk.
He has to live on a rigid diet from
which the above feStivity was no doubt
slight departure. A regular course of
muscular exercise has also been pre-
scribed for him by his doctors.
The doctors have had plenty to do for
Mr.. Mackay His digestion requires
constant attention. Then he was shot
and Immediately after he recovered he
underwent an operation for appended
tbs. He refused to pay bill of S12,5OO
for the doctors who attended him when
lie was shot.
He does not belong to clubs or go to
theaters. He has no serious interest in
life except to make money, of which he
kas already about fifty times as much
as he can spend
He is and has long been engaged in
innumerable lawsuits. He has quar-
relied with all or nearly all of the part
ners of his early life, the men who made
up the picturesque Big Four of bonanza
days.
John w Mackay, James G. Fair, Will
lam O'Brien and James c. Flood were
the Big Four. They had all gone to
California in 40. Mackay drifted to Ne
vada, where he gained possession of the
famous bonanza mines at Virginia City.
Pointing to the entrance of one OF
these mines Mackay is reported to have
said: "Out of that hole 1 took $l30.
100000"
In-1S7S the four established the Bank
of Nevada In 1884 Mr.. Mackay was