The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-02-05
Even kilograms Failed to Bring
Payment of an Indebt-
ednesS.
HIS LORDsHIPs DELICATE TASTE
A Fender and AndironS That Were
Ordered Posthaste, but Not
Paid For.

Unless between NOW anu utAJ
afternoon at o'clock he produces $75 to
settle gasfitters bill, ]. Talbot Clifton,
the young scion of the English nobility
who has been cutting such wide swath in
this City with his money, great coach and
horses, will be compelled to share with
Lord Sholto Douglas the dubious honor of
having appeared before a Justice of the
Peace and pleaded guilty to poverty, or
told the extent..of his negotiable property
and its location.
In spite of'the fact that ne is in receipt
of an allowance of $4,000 per month from
his paternaI relative in Merry England, J.
Talbot seems, at least in one instance, to
be industrious of settling his just debts and
liabilities.
Bush d Mallet, the gasftters. claim that
be owes them SO, and, becoming tired of
waiting for their money and of being I'M
bic to get even a promise to pay, have
de termined to bring him before the bar of
justice to explain why out of an in
come of 100000 a year he cannot or will
not pay such modest sum as $75. In pur-
suance of this object an order of examina-
ton, returnable before Justice Kerrigan
on Friday afternoon, has been issued and
will be served on his lordship at the earli-
. est opportunity
J. Talbot was raised amid surroundings
that gave him all the comforts of home
and delicate sense OF the fitness of har-
mony in the shapes and nues OF the arti-
cles used in the routine OF daily life. So,
when he leased a suite of luxurious apart
ments at the Maison Richie, his first object
was to see that nothing in the fittings of
the apartments was allowed to remain that
should offend his esthetic taste or the
feelings of the choice spirits who might
share the hospitality for which he is well
known. He soon discovered that the
fender and andirons were out of keeping
with the decorations of the mantel, and
sent his valet posthaste to the Bush. &
Mallet establishment with the following
perfumed note:
Gentlemen: Kindly send a fender and and
irons OF your best design to my apartments at
the Maison Richie. Please see that they har-
monte with the mantel and other fittings of
the ROOM ]. TALBOT CLIFTON.
The valet, who delivered the note. was
apparently bewildered at the array of
tenders and other appliances shown him,
and finally in despair said:
Better send half dozen; he's horrible
particular"
So the firm loaded wagon with reams
in brass and steel, wrought in chubby
cupids and alluring maidens, such as q
bachelor IN his lone apartments might de-
light TO gaze upon. Their trusted en-
ploye went with the load to see that the
job was executed according to his lord
ships orders, and a most bewitching
fender soon occupied the fireplace with a
pair OF sturdy andirous that might have
reminded ]. Talbot of his ancestral home.
Clifton had no trouble in getting his
fireplace fitted but the nrm had great
difficulty in getting the equivalent there
form fact, found it impossible.
Collectors who called with the bill were
met with the reply from the valet that his
lordship was not in, or was out of town.
Weeks grew into months and still the bill
was unpaid. Finally the firm received
word that J. Talbot was at Burlingame
enjoying the salubrious air of that resort
A telegram was sent him asking for paw
ment of the bill, but never a word an
swered Clifton.
Then the gasitters grew angry and
placed the matter in the hands of q col
lector of debts. He was no more sue
cessful than the firms collectors in getting
the money, but when suit was brought a
persistent Deputy Sheriff succeeded in
serving his lordship with the papers even
as he awoke in bed from refreshing
nights siumber.
J. Talbot did not defend the suit. and
Justice Kerrigan gave the collector iudg-
ment by default. AS his lordship's assets
are not largely in evidence, he having
recently sold his racing stable and turned
the stream of his income into other chan
nels, the collectors only recourse was to
get out an order of examination and let
his lordship tell on oath where his prop
erty, if he has any, is concealed and of
what it consists.
A member of the firm of Bush & Mallet
said yesterday that they had treated Cliff
ton just as they would treat any other de-
Hnquent creditor-perhaps little more SO.
Had this limb of the aristocracy shown
any inclination to pay or given US some
thing to understand whether or not he in
tended to pay, we might have been salts
ned, he said, "but the exasperating part
OF the whole business was that he gave not
the slightest attention to the repeated calls
OF our collector or to kilograms sent him
regarding the bill. His valet told our col
lector that he had stack of letters a foot
high IN his room that had never been
opened and that it was useless to try to see
him II he did not want to be seen. We
told the man to whom we gave the claim
Tor collection 10 get the money at any cost
and to take any proceedings he might
deem proper.
Lord Clifton may plead the possession
OF single cent, as Lord Sholto DoupIas
did, when brought up on an order of exam
lnatlon and thus evade payment. but we
will at least have the satisfaction OF know
ing that he has nothing to paw with. poor
fellow. eoo-
1T may be, perhaps, that he was not
SATISFIED with the fender and andirons. but
he seemed pleased with them at the time
and should have notified us that they did
not suit him. We would not take fbem
back now and he must either pay or plead
poverty"