Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-01
THE DUKE OF TOMBSTONE,
He Took Three Baths q Day When
Water Cost Five Cents q Gallon.
From the Chicago Times-Herald

He Took Three Baths a Day When
Water Cost Five Gents q Gallon.
From the Chicago Times-Herald.
He used to be called "the Duke of Tomb
stone" when an Arizona settlement mar
veled at the recklessness of a man who
bathed three times a day, and water
cents a gallon at that! Edwin Fields in
those days changed his white flannel suit
whenever The smallest blemish in the way
of dust was noticeable, and rode behind
pair Of horses that we're a sensation in a
community where burros were the highest
type of draft animals. Now he is poor old
Ed. Fields" and when he gets out of the
county hospital, where a Harrison street
police ambulance took him last night, he
will be taken to the poor house at Dunning
to spend his few remaining years in con-
temptation of the time when he owned a
large part of the city of Tombstone and a
mine worth more than half a million.
DR.. Joseph H. Greer knew Fields in Ari-
iona, and has assisted him from time to
time during the past three years in Chi
cago.
II went to Tombstone. Ariz., in 1879"
said DR.. Greer, land Field was there before
me, although the town contained but seven
ty-fve people at that time. He was squat
ting on some mining property, which was
not supposed to be OF much value. But the
town grew to 1900, and he owned two
thirds Of the town site, so that his rents
Increased untll tnGy gave MIN an income OF
over $4,000 a month. The mine which he
owned was called The Gilded Age and
proved to be rich property. Fields title
to it was little shaky. but he was backed
by Boston and New York capital, and in
the end secured a perfect title. He sold
the mine In 1881 or 1882 for 100000 in cash,
every cent of which went to him. After
the town grew and Fields amassed his
wealth he assumed a mode of life that
made him the most conspicuous character
in the west. He was known everywhere as
the Duke of Tombstone on account of
the gorgeous manner in which he carried
on his establishment He rode behind a
handsome pair of bays, and kept a negro
valet. He dressed during the summer In
white flannel, and changed suits three times
day. When water was selling in Tomb
stone at cents a gallon he took three
baths a day, and broke bottle of Florida
water in every bath. He started as a nine
days wonder, and was the most talked-of
man in the country.
Il left Tombstone and settled in Chicago.
One day during the worlds fair period a
seedy-looking individual stepped into my
office and / recognized Edwin Fields. j
asked what he was doing, and he told me,
with a mournful smile, that he was store
man at the Southern Hotel His salary,
he said. was s14 a month. Where had his
money gone2 Well, / asked him that one
day, for I could not understand how a
man that never drank, never played cards
or gambled to my knowledge, could have
squandered cool million of dollars, which
amount he certainly possessed at one time.
He told me that he had lost most of his
property in speculation on the board of
| trade and had then taken to the bucket
shops, where the rest of his money had
| taken wings. He was at that time, even
with his pit'ance of salary, drifting daily
| to the bucket shops in vain endeavor TO
| retrieve his lost fortune. He lost the most
| of his money in st. Louis, but carried On
his speculations both in that city and in
| Chicago
Il do not know his birthplace but he was
| an eastern man, and was well connected.
| He has sister living at Steubenville, Ohio,
| a brother at Farleys, n. NJ, who owns a
| big sheep ranch and another brother who
| owns a cocoanut plantation in the Sa-
! moan Islands. Such has been his pride or
| his perverseness that he never would seek
| aid from them.