The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-11
Al KITTSON'S MONEY
NEW YORK WORLD TELLS HOW 1T
DISAPPEARED FROM THE
YOUNGSTERS PURSE
100000 WENT IN FIVE YEARS
keeper at u HoteI-Met the Reau-
tifuI Girl Whom He Afterwards
Mnrried-By the Signing of
Notes He Was Able to Secure
Money Freely.

Money Freely.
From the New York World.
Whats the use being a pil<er? The
moneys gone and that's all there is to
it. I've had a good time with 1t and
there is more to come. I don't regret
thing. Another drink all round"
This is the philosophical way in
which Alfred S. Ktttson speaks of the
fortune that he has squandered in a
few years, 1t is gone and he is not
sorry.
In 1859, when Gen. Wolfe came to
America to help the ColOnists against
| the French and Indians, one of his Of
ficers was John Kittson, Of Halifax,
| Yorkshire, After the war was over
| Kittson decided to stay in Canada and
was joined by his wife
In 1884 twenty-year-Old Canadian
I boy arrived at Fort Smelling, the army
| post at the junction of the Mississippi
| and Minnesota rivers, ten miles from
the site of st. Paul. He had been an
| apprentice in the employ of John Jacob
| AStor'S American Fur company. His
name was Norman w. KittsOn, and he
was the direct descendant of the Kilt
son who accompanied Gen. Wolfe to
! America.
Young Kittson entered the employ of
the sutler at Fort Smelling, and remain
| ed there for four years. Then he went
into Indian trading and was success
| full. By himself he conducted a warfare
against the Hudson Bay company on
the boundary line of Canada and was
/ successful. Everything he touched
| seemed to turn into money.
The Indian trading was continued
for many years, and was followed by
| a steamboat line on the Red river
| Thereafter Mr.. Kittson, like the more
| famous Vanderbilt, became known as
commodore.
Then followed the coup by which
| Commodore Kittson, James J. Hill and
| Sir Donald Smith became the owners
| OF the st. Paul & Pacific railway, the
| germ from which has developed the
Great Northern railway, which binds
the wheat fields of the Northwest to
the Pacific ocean, and which is still
managed by Mr.. Hill
This enterprise more than doubled
Mr. KittsOn's already large fortune
| and successful investments and shreWd
business sense doubled it again be-
fore he died, in 1887, when his estate
was valued at nearly $500O,000. Before
he died he erected in ST. Paul, at a
| cost OF $780, OC, magnificent residence
| which still stands as one of the finest
| IN the city, and which, after being va
| cent for ten years, is used as a board
| ing house.
Commodore Kittson was married
many times. How many no one seems
to know. After his death, several wom-
| en-, among them an Indian SquaW,
claimed to be his legal wife, and many
lawsuits were the result He left
eleven children, the youngest being
Alfred.
At the time of the commodore's
death Alfred was fourteen years old.
By his will Commodore Kfttson pro-
A
were to be paid until he was twenty
one, and that he was then to receive
an allowance of 1000 year until he
was twenty-five. Then he was to re-
ceive half his share of the estate, the
balance to be paid five years later.
In addition to this he was to receive
at twenty-one $4,000 from his moth
er's estate.
A fourteen-year-old boy left abso-
! lutely alone with corpora ton for his
guardian is likely to live much as he
sees fit This is what Al Kittson did.
His tastes at first were simple, and
his expenses were paid by his guar
dian. Of course, schooling was at an
end, and he lived five years for the
pleasure to be gained from living
Then his wants became greater than
his guardian thought they should be.
AS he could not get more money from
his guardian, he planned to earn it.
IIC I1du IlO IL dOS, IiO pIOlSSSIOIAJ he
knew considerable about race horses,
something about drinking and gam
| bling, and all the men about town.
He tried several things without sue
cess, and at last the proprietor of the
Metropolitan hotel employed Al as a
barkeeper. There he remained dispens-
ing drinks for two years.
About this time men about town had
a sensation. 1t was a woman, and her
name was Violet She was an English
girl, tall, blonde, beautiful. When
she appeared on the horizon she was
a clerk in a small confectionery store.
The chappies and the sports developed
a taste for candy, and for time the
business Of the cOnfectiOner prOspered.
But Of all young men who purchased
! candy over the counter, none seemed
to find as much favor with Violet as
| did Al Kittson. He was young, ath-
letic, handsome and generous, and
fairly won the heart of the beautiful
girl. One day the town was startled
| by the news that Al and Violet we're
| married.
Kittson retained his position as bar
keeper, and seemed happy. He work
ed hard and no longer associated with
his former friends. The friends Of the
| old commodore who had become self
reconciled to the young mans profess
sion, began to hope that all would still
be we'll. But there was trouble to
| come
On his twenty-first birthday he re-
| ceived from the executor of mis- moth
| ers estate a check for $4,000. Till
then he had had but a small income,
and with the little fortune which lie
| received he proceeded to nave good
| time.
He planned to enjoy himself for once
to his hearts content and then go back
to mixing drinks. He left his wife and
went to Chicago. What he did there no
one knows, but month later he was
in st. Paul without a cent, ready to go
to work again.
Al discovered that it was not neces-
sary to work. He could get all he
wanted without working. All he was
asked to do was to sign his name to a
| little note occasionally, just to keep &C
counts straight. Then began the down
ward career which led to the appoint
ment of a guardian for his person and
the appointment of a receiver for his
| property. In four years his debts have
| reached considerably over 100000, and
when he becomes twenty-five years Of
age next November he will perhaps re-
ceive enough from his fathers estate
to pay his debts, but little more.
APPOINTMENT OF A RECEIVER.
Every one knew AL Kittson had been
leading a lively life, but the extent of
it was not known until the application
for a receiver.
This was made by the creditors, and
was hurried because an. assignment of
all his interest in his fathers estate,
signed by young Kittson, was filed in