CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1900-05-24

struggle for wealth furnished more
news than now. Yet there IL q great
dearth Of talk concerning prodigals.
At this time the world has NO big
spendthrift OF the class Of Howell Os-
born. the New York dude: Max Le-
baudy. the French sugar reflner's son.
and Ernest Benzon. better known a.
Jubilee Juggins." These thres men
were unique In their extravagances.
Benzon was the son of German junk
man in London. who died when Ben
xon was a boy. leaving his fortune to,
be divided equally between his son and
his adopted daughter. Young Benzon
was Is before he was told Of his IA
ther's riches. From his infancy every
penny allowed him had been doled out
with the utmost penuriousness, his
clothing was poor and mean. his edu-
cation was anything but that which
would At him to manage a big prop
erty. and such acquaintances as he was
allowed to make were of the wrong
sort. Naturally he lost his head on
discovering the truth. which had been
kept from him SO that the fortune
might grow. Within week after he
learned the situation the youngster
spread the news widely. Not only did
his credit become limitless. but the
money lenders fairly sought him out
to press loans upon him. Before he
was 81 Benzon had succeeded in rum
ming 3165. 900 In debt The entire prop
erty to be divided between him and
his foster sister amounted to $780,
900. OF his share $4,000 was liz ready
cash. Most young chaps. even OF ex-
trayagnnt ideas. would have made that
much loose money do for while. but
within twenty-four hours after he was
21 Benzon drew out $3.50 900 wherewith
to pay the debts of his minority and
meet the expenses Of a trip to Austria
lia, whittier he started with as little
delay as possible. He then left In ne
gotiable securities almost a million
dollars. In two years he was dead
broke. Benzon's fads were gambling
and fne clothing. He rarely wore the
away any of his apparel. his collec-
tion Of trousers. coats. waistcoats,
cravats and other personal belongings
was immense. Benzon's father had the
wisdom Of leaving a trust fund for his
son. and upon the Income from this
the spendthrift has since worried
along. Lebaudy's case was different.
Lebaudy. the father. began poor. but
speedily became rich in the sugar
business. his career being 80 similar
to that of a certain great American re-
finer that he has been spoken Of fire.
quently as the French Havemeyer. Old
Lebaudy deliberately taught his son to
BE- . profiigate. to take for his motto
the significant saying. Youth comes
but once" Mime. Lebaudy did not AZ
prove of this. and there are stories OF
bitter quarrels in the family over the
path taken by the son while the father
was alive. The father paid all the
sons bills cheerfully. and even when
lying prostrats from paralysis Just
prior to his death urged Max not to
pay any heed to his mothers protests.
On the old mans death Max came into
. fortune of $5.000. 900.
Nine. Lebaudy was grieved at her
sons course while his father was
alive. Later she was horror-stricken.
for almost before the sound OF the
clods falling on the old mans comm
died away the young man redoubled
his expenditures. rushing into every
conceivable sort of excess that was un-
paralieled even in Paris. Being n
Frenchman, Lebaudy's gallantries were
notorious. but he spent his money In
every imaginable direction. Paris
dressmakers got millions of francs:
entertainers OF the sort characteristic
of Paris got other millions. and still
other millions were scattered In the
gayest towns in Italy and Switzerland.
Like Benzon, in two years Lebaudy got
rid of all his money save trust fund
OF which he could spend tho income
only. After that he had to serve In
the army, and while In military scrv-
Ice he died of consumption. Lcbaudy
was the victim OF Parisian blackmail-
ers, and hundreds OF thousands OF
francs were wrung from him.
Howell Osborn for years was known
as tho "King of the Dudes" after Berry
Wall stepped down and out, and cut
wide swath. The elder Osborn left
large IOTLune. nOWtH tuundBeu 10
scatter 100000. Young Osborn spent
money in wads before. his fathers
death. After that his income was from
s25, 200 to $4,000 year till his moth
er's death, when he came into tho
residue of the family wealth. on con-
dition that he should not marry an
actress or a singer. BY reason OF good
credit and knack he had OF taking a
lucky flyer "on the street" once in a
while. however. Howell managed to
put a good deal more than his income
into circulation every year. He cleared
up $780, 900 at one clip in an operation
In st. Paul. and lucky strikes In other
stocks were not unusual. He bought
seat on the stock exchange. and for
time attended to business regularly.
While living In Paris. after giving up
his stock exchange seat. he plunged
heavily at the races and on tho cloth.
as Lebaudy and Benzon did. but. un-
like them, he won SO heavily as to be
one OF the famous men on the conti-
nent that year. Osborn never threw
money away without a purpose. nor
was he blnckmalled. Once he swore to