Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-08-17

where he took nothin' but coffee anC
sinkers at 5 cents throw, an tha
the pan roast deal wasn't nothin' bu
a bluff he chucked to try an win me-
affections. Yes; I've torn his image
out OF my heart, but the scars stl.
there.
"Ah, mel YEARLY sighed the quicl
lunch girl as he made out my check
Its mighty hard to find a real gen
nowadays. kansas City Independent
ASTOR BORES ALBERT EDWARDS
Prince Of Wales Eliminates Him From
List Of Guests at Garden Party.
Not Mr.. Astor-he bores me-" Sc
said the Prince of Wales, drawing his
pencil through the name of William
Waldorf AstOr on the list of guests in.
vfted to meet him at a garden party
given by the Duchess of Buccleugh
With that scratch, done in an instant
ended the social career of the most
ambitious American millionaire that
ever sought recognition from English
society. AS the leader Of society the
Prince of Wales is more despotic in
England than his nephew, the War
Lord, as the ruler Of Germany His
will is law. Whom he takes up is
taken up by the highest circles in
Great Britain. Whom he turns down
is turned down not only by the no.
bility and gentry, but by the rich
tradesmen by whom Mr. Astor is now
outclassed. 1t is a hard fate, burt no
one will say that by his own course
William Waldorf Astor has not richly
deserved it.
| BY his own acts and his words of
depreciation of the country in which
| he was born Mr.. AstOr made himself
an alien in his native land BY the
| fiat Of the Prince of Wales he is worse
| than an alien in England New York
| hates him. There is no place for him
in the Four Hundred. England with
| draws the glad hand and turns away
from him with a sheer. He is a man
without a country.
A few years ago no man in this
country had brighter prospect before
him than William Waldorf Astor. He
had political aspirations, and began a
career that was promising. He served
IN the New York Assembly with credit
and was a republican candidate for
congress. His defeat soured him, and
he determined to turn his back upon
his native city and to expatriate him
self. He went to England, resolved
to win place there that was i'm
possible in his own land. His great
wealth, he believed, would open for
him the doors of the highest circles in
English society. He bought from the
duke of Westminster one of the state
Hest homes among the stately homes
Of England. He was ready to enter
tain and to be entertained 1t was his
ambition to be the equal in the social
scale of the proudest name n the
peerage, and he would have succeeded
in his aspirations if he had not lacked
'tchummy' with the prince of Wales,
and persisted in his efforts to gain &C
cess to the princes "set" without per-
csiving that his advances were coldly
received He was persistent, and at
last his persistence ended in his down
fall.
1t is not possible to believe that the
prince Of Wales only objection to Mr..
Astor is that he is bore. If such was
the case the princes act was not only
cruel-it was caddish. The prince Of
Wales is good natured, and would
probably have endured the millionaire
if there had not been a deeper reason
for ostracising this aspiring American
than a mere dislike for prosaic pre-
sumption. The act was one Of too
great severity to be merely the re-
suit of a whim. His royal highness
knew that a scratch Of his pencil
would render England too hot for one
of the richest men in the world. Mere
dulness will neither explain nor ex-
cuse sentence the most severe that
cruelty could conceive or royalty in
| fict. The words attributed to the
prince of Wales, fippant as they seem.
possess an import that in an earlier
age would have been withheld from
any one not guilty of lese majesty.
Even the block and the axe of a past
age were merciful in comparison with
the decree of displeasure conveyed by
| this act Of royalty in our age and the
| gibe that accompanied it:-"Not Mr.
! Astor-he bores me-" What then was
the real offense or series of offenses of
| William Waldorf Aston? If the charges
! that Influenced the Princes act and
dictated his words were put in the
! form Of specifications it is probable
they would be these:
IA qresumptuous claim to noble
descent for the Astors.
"a man-spirtied depreciation Of
the land Of his birth by the millionaire
American.
3-Unworthy methods of obtaining
social recognition in castle and court.
Mr.. Astor's claim of descent from
Pedro D'Astorga Of CASTLE, in the
June number of the Pail Mall Maya
zine, was the most preposterous piece
of genealogical rubbish ever per-
petrated by an aspiring millionaire
without pedigree. 1t is the case OF
great grandson Of a German peasant
tracing his ancestry to a Spanish
grandee Of the eleventh century. The
lD'Astorgas of Spain, according to Mr.
Astor's claim, became the D'Astorgs
of France and the Astors Of Germany
and America. The last D'Astorg, who
married a German peasant woman