The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-10
MOUNTAIN OF TRUNKS
Required to Hold Mrs. Barley
King" 0'NeiiI'S Clothes.
ALL ATTACHED BUT EIGHT
For the Debts She Made Buy
ing Her Finery,
ALL ATTACHED BUT EIGHT

New York, Dec. THE Journal says
Just what to call the lavish expenditure:
Of Evangeline Claire O'Neil. wife o
Chicago's Barley King" who has beer
disturbing the police in the United State:
and the police Of Canada for ten years
As one of them expressed it succintly
she has everything SO elegant, you see
you can't just call her anything tina
sounds ordinary"
So with bated breath they talk Of ex
travagances, occasionally of debts tina
have not been paid, and still more occa-
sionally Of her arrest on a charge Of at
tempting to defraud her creditors.
She is in Montreal in the finest suite
OF apartments at the finest hotel the
town affords
She and her little fairy daughter, Jea-
ne, a child by her first marriage, are
the observed Of all observers. One reas-
on for this is because they are both SO
gorgeously gowned. Another reason is
that constantly invariably at their e.
bow there stalks a man who seems to be
neither friend nor relative He is a de-
ectixe, in the employ of Uncle Sam. He
IS there to see that Mrs. O'Neil does not
escape on some European steamer TO
foreign shores.
When she left Chicago, a few weeks
ago, she took with her twenty-three
trunks. En- route TO Montreal, where
her creditors were rude enough TO hint
she had gone to escepe them, she stop
ped at Baltimore and several other
~7a Har Of
tached until finally she arrived with a
paltry eight good-sized saratogas.
Mrs O'Nen has been heard to lament
that in them there are only the bare ne
cessities of life. Their contents have
nevertheless been appraised at something
Ike $4,000.
How can I i've" she cried, more
than few weeks " Her wailings wrung
compassion from the hearts of those
about her. Tothem she explained that
she had in those trunks only ninety-nine
pairs Of silk stockings. twenty-eight par
asols and $50 pairs of gloves. besides
what she called the necessities of wear
ing apparel
For years and years before she met
Chicago's Barley King" Mrs. O'Nen
had lived meagerly on s. or So a week.
In those days she was Mrs. Mcpherson,
the widow of a man who had left her
penniless at thirty. with a child to sup
port. Suddenly, into her narrow, pinched
existence in the early years of her widow
hood. came the wealthy Harry J. O'Neil.
Within few weeks the woman who had
known poverty in its direst form. became
the wife of a man rich enough to be
known on the Chicago Board of Trade as
the Barley King.
Suddenly freed from the letters Of pow
erty, Mrs. O'Nen plunged into a vortex
Of expenditure.
Her huband denied her nothing. In
fact, he gave her carte blanche.
Her tastes ran riot in every and any
direction. Somehow. even when reduced
u a weekly stipend of S. she had
learned the use Of money if not the value
Her trunks. which have lately been at
tached everywhere, detained for debt TO
this firm and that in every city through
which she has passed. were a reveal ton
IN the art of extravaganza. One trunk
alone contained twenty-five costly lace
handkerchiefs, twelve pairs of lace
teen parasols, twenty-eight silk vests.
nineJy-nine pairs of stockings, twelve
nisht-gowns, and whole packages Of lace.
in Baltimore, the seizure Of another
trunk revealed an inventory of clothing
perhaps still more remarkable. In 1t
were twenty boxes each containing
half dozen silk stockings. some of which,
being set with medallions Of real lace. are
valued at S45 a pair. In this trunk there
were also fourteen ebony-handled umbrel-
las, worth from $50 to $50 each one box
Of bolts Of lace, valued at from $500 to
$1,000 a bolt, and l94 pairs IF kid gloves.
The O'Neils have denied that this Bal
timore trunk, though marked "E. c.
ON" belongs to them. However. Mrs.
O'Neil has now become so distinguished
as a mistress in the art OF expenditure
that experts insist no other woman could
DC the owner Of these trunks.
For some years in Chicago. Mrs. O'Nen
has been known as a Monte Cristo among
women. Clerks and shopkeepers every
where have gazed upon her with admira-
tion. She was generous. and accustomed
To make her purchased without regard TO
price
Where most women are content 10 order
one pair of SIS corsets. Mrs. O'Nen or
dered a dozen. She bought always in
uaan.i,ies.
1t s. a way to save trouble" she sail.
IF a thing is good. why. then. it is just
a good for dozen. Why stop at one
crter and then have the trouble Of bunt-
ing atout some day to duplicate it,"
- IL was thar Mrs. O Neil owned trunks
10 tho number Of twenty-three. some 364
chemises. - mackintoshes 254 gowns. 5
pairs OF sarters. Ia silk underSki-ts. 7S6
linen bandkerchiefs. - corset covers. and I
50 OF through a list Of clothing such IS
r5w queens possess.
Her debts toCay are counted at some
th,ns like $4,000 for clothing alone.
It may easily be understood how the
amo,nt vas quickly reached when & IS
known thar for one undergaruent quite
recently Mrs. O'Nen promised to pay 500 /
Il was wonderful exquisite creation I
Of real ,ace and finest muslin. She look,t /
81 il tu; second. passed ii through ee /
cshcNciv elovtd hands and then. 20 .ka /
delight a ;heylerbs, with not 50 much as I
al -rs1ants hesitation. she ordered II u /
te SEM up 80 her home and charged L /
her husbands credit.
But Ms O'Neirs extravagances were /
not confined 70 he- wardrobe.
one day she favored etchings. The deal /
e. Informed her that their value was f.
$500. Another day she saw q window .
fun Of exquisite white Persian rugs. Each .
one was worth hundred dollars. Mrs.