The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-20
FAST N OF MONEY.
NEW VINO HATE DELIGHTED nv
THROWING AWAY MILLIONS.
A Heune Fasteners Cnrvusals an " spa
Dswu the Pncino Coast, ana y TrEsp's
wsrid-vgiae spree on sass, SIS. 90 . Tear
oil LArltnsfs ldeA Of Expensive Hnn.

- NNeA "A -
Dswu the Pacific Coast, ana . Trxsn's
weVid-vsias spree On sass, sps. 90 . Tear
Old Iarhtns's Hdea OF Expensive vun.
WARRINGTON, June TO-" While were on the
subject Of spendthrifts.' said Tancredo Lucas,
an Idaho silver mine owner, at q Chevy Chase
roadhouse the other evening. old Conner Lark
FMS, who made things warm out my way until
within n few years OF his death at Nampa a short
time ago. was surely the most cheerful and
philosophical moncy.burner I ever met. Lark.
ins struck 1t rich in silver up in the Cuur dAleno
country seven different times, and on each OF
these seven occasions he chuckcd away within a
month at most the tens Of thousands Of dollars
the syndicate gave him for his claim. But he
always stood pat TO tho situation when he
reached the bottom OF his stacks Of yellow.
"He struck a ledge Of rock in tho summer Of
's3-this was his sixth find within four yoars-
that he got $4,000 spot cash for q week after no
happened upon It. He was q fool to give IL up
ut any price, for 1t has since panned out mil
lions; but he hadn't had a'time' down In spo-
kane for over q year, and he couldn't stand II
any longer. So ho took the syndicate managers
draft for the e30.0 OO, and, still in his red flannel
shirt and spattcred boots, he kited OF for Spo-
kane TO blow 1t in. He was a Rrizzled man
OF So, who had been tinkering with o pros
pcctor's hammer all his life, and you'd
have thought that his years of hard
ship would have jammed some sense into
his fool head. As a matter of fact he was
q quiet, level-headed sort OF man when he
was broke and up against It with his grub stake
and pick. but when he got hold OF his wads Of
money he was just a nasural born wild Indian.
He blew in from 81 600 to 81, 900 a day on this
Spokane trip, Just as he had done before with
the money he got for his other strikes. I could
generally figure to a day when he would get
back in the hills. 1t depended on the amount he
carried away with him. The basis OF calcula.
ton I used was that 1t took an average OF 81 500
n day for him to buy rum and trimmings for the
town of Spokane.
About three weeks after Larkins had gone
away on this sixth excursion, I started out in q
wagon one morning for some holes in the ground
my boys were digging in the hills. / hadn't
travelled more than Ave miles on the rough,
boulder.strewn road, before I saw, a little ahead,
the figure Of q man in a red flannel shirt. with a
-four sack Of grub slung at the end Of the pick
he shouldered, trudging on at n good clip. / saw
It was Larkins az I drew close behind him with
my wagon. He didn't turn In his tracks, and l
could hear him alternately muttering and
whistling to himself. I felt sorry for the blamed
old idiot and pulled up.
"'Want a ride, Larkins r I inquired Of him.
"'Rldef said he. breaking of his whistling
and recognizing me with q nod. Much obi ged
but not by n damned sight do I want a ride.
Finished my ridin' down Spokane way. Now,
damme. I'm goin' to walk He took up his trudge
again. 'Hoof 1t. ye bloomin' Galoot, he NUT
tered to himself. Go on and wear your dad
hinged feet of a-hoofn' it. Amt ye had your
| fun. blast 70. and amt your head bigger'n q
a dogs yeti What more do you want, and what
kick have you got a-comin'i G'wan, now, and
hump It up lively and he started whistling
Rory O'More' with all the cheerfulness in life.
I couldn't induce him to get into the
wagon, although he was bound for the
Same place I was. He wouldn't even
take a drink, badly as he needed one. He was
used to taking his medicine like this. and hated
q wilmer. He struck It again seven months
later, got another pot Of money, and did the
thing all over again. Then his sister, q level
headed Irish woman, turned up. and to give
Conner a change Of scene she started him off for
the gold country down near the Mojave desert.
He was one of the first to light upon pay ore
there, and his sister saw that he kept his money.
When he died in Nampa n few months ago he
left her several hundred thousand dollars"
There's a heap Of difference" said a Califor.
MIA winemaker in tho party. between these
dust-blowers you hear so much about when they
are In the middle OF their imbecile performances
and SO little about after they've finished the sec.
ond and final stage Of the skyrocket trip. AS a
general rule the spendthrift who has made his
own money and scattered it never degenerates
into a whimpering. rcpentant prodiRal after his
little fling Is over and he awakens some fine
morning to find himself broke and up against
1t. No matter how many different kinds OF
o fool he may have made of himself, he
mover emits u bleat when It Is all over.
On the other hand many Of the chaps
who tumultuously blow in great sums OF
| chat thnu ava tur-al a ..l
earn. but simply inherited, display the yellow
that's in them when they reach the end OF the
coil, and make all hands that know them weary
with their contriteness. The man who has the
nerve and the force to accumulate his own pile
never becomes a moaner after he has spent II
and discovers himself to be possessed OF only
the buds on his back.
Tho only man l ever met who inherited his
money. spent it like water. and was game after
he went broke was one wen call Carl Brill. a
young fellow well remembered by many Cali.
fornians who were young, painfully young, with
him back in the sixties. He was a young chap
of the incorrigible scapegrace sort. He belonged
to a Philadelphia family. and was partly cduca.
ted at Oxford and partly at Heidelberg-I say
partly. for the boy was fired from both ~institu.
lions for deviltry of an unmalicious, though
eNasperating. character. His father was q rich
man, but no cut his scapegrace son Off without
a dollar when no died. Young Brill struck
California tho year after the war. and
when he turned up at one of my grape
ranches in Sonoma county the manager
gave him a Job as timekeeper. He was
q bright chap, fne-looking and accomplished,
and II an aunt'of his hadn't died In Philadelphia
about six months after he went TO work in this
vineyard Of mine he would have been better off.
This aunt left the boy 100000 in Govern.
ment bonds. His sisters got all of the old lady's
real estate and personal property. 30 that young
Brill didn't even have to 20 East to get his In.
heritance. A lawyer came out to the coast by
way of Panama, and the first thing the time.
keeper on my ranch knew anything about his
luck this lawyer man plunked into his hands a
certificate Of deposit OF an even two millions In
the bonds OF the most solvent country on the
map. happened TO be at the ranch at the time.
and / felt rather sorry for tho boy, for | knew
he'd go. right to the devil at a lope. When he
had finished his first talk with the lawyer he
walked over TO my office and said:
"'Cap, this Is a pretty good job I've got here
among your vines; l don't want to give IL up,
but this money they've left me has mace me a
bit too hefty TO work for the present, and | wish
you'd give me a vacation for'a year or SO, with
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