The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-06
Income already insured to him If he tried
ever so hard. s

Income already insured to him If he tried
ever 80 hard s
KNEW NOTHING OF BUSINESS.
It is incredible that the thought that
his son might be unqualified 20 succeed
him never occurred to old Derives. ex-
cellent business man and fine judge of
character that he was. But 1t did not
just as a king might casually mention
the accession Of his first born to the
throne, so his will announced as a mat
ter OF course that his Oldest son would
step into his shoes. paul Sr. is dead !:
long live Paul Jr.." that was the tenor
of the legal instrument.
Whle Paul Jr. was still debating with
hlmselr whether 1T wouldn't be more con-
Venient to sell the whole business and
get rid Of It, the colonel of his regiment
andrew Pomeranzeffa happened to get
his walking papers, and as he was very
poor man. and had lbeen very kind to
Paul Jr. the latter felt deeply for him
IN MS disgrace. His first impulse was to
make Pomeranzeff present of 100000 ru-
oEes, then 1t occurred to him that he
might make use of8the old man by max
Ing him administrator to his enterprises.
The Russian proVerb says: "a general can
do everything" and from the command
or regiment to that of a brigade it's
but step. Before he knew what was
happening to him. and certainly before
he had a clear idea Of the manifold re-
probabilities involved. the ex-colonel was
installed as general manager and admin
1strator plenipotentiary of the DERIVES
sway over the immense properties and
the tens of thousands of employees until
Tuesday last
Here we have another anomaly! The
man judged incompetent, or too feeble,
longer to preside on the regimental drill
1T1flc Crlff
plfcated duties which the commercial,
technical and financial worlds have in
store for a few eminent men onEyi In
the course of time he acquired a reputa-
ton Of being devoted to his work, but
what his work was very few persons
not in his confidence knew. Meanwhile
the owner Of the great properties con-
ttnued his career as a dandy, horseman
and grand seigneur, keeping up palatial
establishments in st. Petersburg and
Moscow and spending his summers abroad
or at his country seats, that rtvaled the
most opulent court of our times in the
matter of gorgeous hospitality and en-
tertainments Of all kinds. So busy was
he enjoying himself that he never found
time to confer for. the short space or half
an hour, and the administrator s written
reports were cut up unread to light cl-
CARS with, which was Paul's lordly, way
confidence in his old colonel.
So reckless and -brainless was the heir
of the great DERIVES that he actually
married a penniless woman OF evil repu-
tation, whom he was soon compelled 10
divorce after paying an acquittance or
q million rubles.- This ex-wife is now
richer than the sQuondam greatest eaten
of Europe.
II PENNILESS AND DISGRACED.
His matrimonial troubles seem to have
proved on Paul's mind He gave up his
commission in the army and closed ms
great st. Petersburg palace on the En-
glish quay, which surpasses In beauty OF
decoration and furnishing any house In
the capital, not even excepting the grano
ducal residences Makowskt,, the great
Russian painter had finished 5000 rubles
worth Of ceiling painting in the English
quay house just before Paul took 1t into
his head to close it. After that the mil
lionaire withdrew to his model farm,
Staroshilowo, cultivated at the price or
an annual deficit Of a round quarter OF
a million. He built a palatial stable Tor
his horses, and henceforth devoted all
his time to these favorites. giving up Wine
and women and all other fashionable pas
times. During the last two years he has
hardly ever left his stables to go riding
or driving He ate and slept there and
refused to talk on any subject not con-
nected with horses.
Now that he is ruined his mother and
younger brother will probably take care
of him. Their fortune is supposed to be
nearly intact as they had less than hve
millions invested in Pauls enterprises.
Up to the very moment when Pomer-
anzeff confessed to be unable to meet the
draft for 100 900 rlibles the DERIVES system
was thought to be in a very fourishing
condition by the general public, though
some of the big -f1nanciers had lately be-
gun to doubt It's solidity. Learning or
the true state Of things, Paul was so
enraged with the colonel that he instantly
DISCHARGED him. which was an act OF I'M
prudence on a par with some of his pre-
'vious performances, for Pomeranzen
seems to be the only person that Uholds
a key to the financial chaos involved by
the colossal failure. What will become
of an the railways steamship lines, banks
and mines that the heir Of the Russian
Vanderbilt let slip through his fingers
nobody knows as yet. A group Of Mos
COW financiers proposes to take temporary
control Of things.
Pomeranzeff seems to have been pos
sessed by the trust mania. Having I'M
limited capital at his disposal, he tried
to establish monopolies in every line or
business, and, being bound to operate
these trusts secretly, he sunk fortune
after fortune. 1t has beeen discovered
that he had over 300 companies going,
monopolizing everything from locomo-
tives to shoestrings, after fashion.