Daily camera., 1898-01-11
FORTUNES THROWN AWAY.
Men Of Millions Are Often Greatly
Overrated.
When They Die the Sum Total OF
Their Wealth Is Found to Be
Smaller Than Report
Has Made 1t.

When John H. Inman died we sup
posed he had left an estate OF about
S7,OoO,0OO. For years he had been
ciassed among the very rich men OF this
city. 1 hear now, by way OF Atlanta
that he left practically nothing; that
his fortune was diminished enormously
in disastrous speculation in the two
years Immediately preceding his death.
Sam Inman, the head of the big cotton
house in Atlanta, complained two years
ago that he had done all for John that
he could afford to do; that he had sent
him S2Oo, 1000, and didn't intend to put up
any more. The Inmans have handled
as MANY as 100000 bales of cotton an
nually.
1t is the talk of Atlanta that Inman
committed suicide. People no longer
speak of it in whispers, but openly.
[ know that he ate himself to death.
He was the most omnivorous OF men,
and thought he had the stomach of an
ostrich. Like Brignoli, he could eat
dozen chops at a sitting and repeat
the performance within an hour. Not
withstanding his prodigious capacity
for food, he never was obliged to wear
an abdominal supporter. uis physique
did not run toward embonpolnt. lie
was in no sense bon-vivant; simply a
gastronome-an Apicius. Ii required
to answer the old question: DO you
live to eat or eat to live? % he would have
said: Il live to eat He taxed his
stomach to the utmost, destroyed the
mechanism, and died at the early age
of SO.
Are the great fortunes of our pluto
Gratis dwindling? Are we not giving
them too high a rating? We thought
Ogden Goelet worth at the very least
S1OO,OOO,OOO. The most conservative
men placed his fortune at $5o,ooo,oo0;
vet it dwindled to less than $10,000,0O0.
The $3O,OOO,0OO of "Spite-house" Rich
ardson dropped to $5o0,ooo as soon as
it struck the courthouse. George M.
Pullman was supposed to be worth
every cent of $50,0O0G00. Immediately
after his death $25, 100000 was the fig
ure; but the latest reports named ST.
100000 as the value of the estate. How
is this? Can it be that, we are far
wrong in placing the fortune Of John
d. Rockefeller at $780, 100000? Will it
dwindle to S50,000,0O0 when he shuff1es
off? Is Gen. Sam Thomas, a partner
of Cal Brice and Inman, worth $1O,000,-
900? 1 doubt it. What is Cal. worth ?
His is about the only fortune that no
one tries to estimate. From the way
he flies around he must have big money.
Who can tell whether Uncle Coils
Pacific Huntington is worth $3000,0o0
or $3O, 900? What is Flagler's for
tune-$10,OOO or $75,O00,0OO? Is it
possible that James B. Colgate is worth
$20,0O0,O0O? No? Is John e. Andrus
worth S3o,OoO,0Oo? 1 think not. Is
J. Jennings McComb worth $50, 100000?
Where did he get it? Is Charles L.
Tiffany worth S30,000,000? That is his
rating. And there are John D. Arch
bold, whose fortune is estimated at
$4,000, 900; r. E. Hopkins with S5,000,-
COO; Asphalt Amzi Longeye Barber with
S25, 100000, John T. Terry with S30,o0o,-
Coo; William Rockefeller with $60,000,-
0OO, II. Walter Webb with 5000 ,00G,
Warren B. Smith with S25,000000, Mrs.
Elliott T. Sheppard with $50,000000,
Cornelius Vanderbilt with 100000,
Willie K. Vanderbilt with S90,0o0,000
Frederick Vanderbilt with $40OO0,O00,
George Vanderbilt with $30O00,000,
George Could with $3C,000,0O0 and SO
forth and so on.
The safest way to get at the size of a
mans fortune is take the public esti-
mate and divide it by ten. [ generally
find that man who is rated at $20,000,-
600 cuts up for about $2,O00,000. 1t is
the custom in this day and generation
to converse in millions. We account a
man poor who has no more than 81 ,000,-
600. He is between the devil of enter
tainment and the deep sea Of financial
stress-tco well off to be parsimonious
and too poor to trot heats with the
Croesuses. He cannot afford $4,000
for dinner and reception without feel
ing it. 1t is so easy to talk millions
that we invariably use the word in the
plural.
Our popular estimate of the fortunes
of our richest men reminds me of Maine.
Up in the state of the pine tree and the
foxes we find great many miles to
the mile, great deal of water to the
gallon, tremendous amount of air in
the atmosphere, and powerful sight
of mountains to the hill. And so with
the fortunes down here-there are a
great many millions to the Million
N. Y. Press.
One OF I'erry-s Lake Erie Fleet.
Buried deep in the sands at the edge
of Spring Lake, near Grand Haven,
Mich, lies the hull of the old sloop