The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-05
MS NOSE MADE HIS FORTUNE.
a KentucISyinn Who Buys whisky
ny the Sense OF Smell
From the Louisville courier.Journal.

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Patrick ]. Lanphear, aged S. of Lex
ington, KY, has, perhaps, the most val
liable nose of any man in America 1t has
made his thousands of dollars. He has
saved enough to build him an elegant
home, and, although unmarried, he en-
joys 1t with his brother and other relatives.
He is well enough fixed financially to Of
fer William Tarr 10000 for his distillery
plant In this city, but Tarr refused to take
It, Lamphear's nose is rather large, in
clined to be Roman, and 1t has the sense
of smell so well perfected that through It's
use its owner can tell the age of any
whisky set before him. He can tell which
internal revenue district of Kentucky pro-
duced it, and in many instances he has
even been known to tell the brand. Large
transactions in whisky have taken place
on account OF this sensitive nose. One
of the most remarkable was that which
took place in the well-known house Of
Chaplin & Gore. on Madison street, Chi
cago. Lamphears house had tried
through its senior and junior owners 10
sell to the Chicago firm, without success.
They sent Lamphear who was at that
time unknown to them, Jim Gore Mr.
Carter and Col. VIII S. Barnes were in the
office when Lamphear called. He told
Gore he wanted to sell him some fine Ken
lucky whisky, and proceeded to show his
samples and quote prices. Gore laughed
at him, and told him he had whisky much
better than that offered by Lamphear that
he would sell for price much lower. He
produced plain round bottle, from which
he poured half glass full. Lamphear
raised the whisky to his nose and smelled
it long and carefully. "How much OF that
whisky have you?" asked Lamphear.
Seven hundred barrels" replied Gore II
wi IA al co T.on will
be here tomorrow morning to fix up the
papers"
Lanphear went to the telegraph office
and wired his house In Louisville that he
had bought ECO barrels of such a brand of
Bourbon whisky of such an age and to be
prepared to protect II. He received an an
swer saying the deal was all right that
they would protect the whisky. He appear
ed at Chaplin & Cores Office next morning
and demanded the 200 barrels of whisky
naming the brand. Gore was thunderstruck
at Lanphear being able to tell the brand
of whisky by simply smelling a small sam
pie, and he tried to back out. Lanphear
pointed out the bottle from which the sam
pie had been poured and insisted that IL
was the kind of whisky he described. Mr..
Carter spoke up and said to his partner
that he had Just as well admit that Lamp
hear was right and let him have the whis-
ky. Gore finally admitted that he was try
ing to deceive Lanphear and trying to bluff
him into believing that he had better whls-
ky for a smaller price The transaction
amounted to nearly $4,000, and Lanphear
resold the whisky to other dealers at a
handsome profit to his firm. Since then
the firm of Chaplin & Gore have been
among his best customers. Some time af-
ter this transaction large dstiller was
trying to sell a Louisville dealer about ].
900 barrels of whisky at an exceedingly
1,wrv e..taI -
with the goods, but the low price at which
it was offered made him suspicious, and he
called in Lanphear to sample it.
The moment he put the whisky to that
Roman nose he exclaimed: "It's musty. d"
The distiller was furious and asked him
how he could tell 1t was musty without
tasting. The dealer declared the trade off
and the dlstiller afterward confessed that
the entire thousand barrels had been
made from corn which had become musty
in the crib. Lamphear's last exploit in
describing whisky by its smell occurred
in New York city in the house of c. p.
Mccarthy, % William street Using only
the sense Of smell, Lamphear said that
the sample submitted to him was com Dos
ed of little pure spirits blended with
Irish whisky, with small addition OF 9TH
err spirits One of Lanphear's friends
hearing of this remarkable case, wrote Mr.
Mccarthy and received the following re-
ply:
New York Dec. %, 1S97.-Dear Sir: Tn
reply to yours of the 2st, would state that
Mr.. Lanphear came into my Office and ]
showed him a blend of whisky supposed
to be Irish, and he told ne the compon-
ent parts from smelling the same. have
shown the same goods to at least fifty
other men that are in the business, and
he is the only person who discovered by
smell the combination. Yours truly, c. T.
Mccarthy"