The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-01
THEKIND OF MAN DAY WAS
A Topekan's Acquaintance With the
Man Hamilton Killed.


+, G. Willard of Topeka had a ten DAYS.
9acqualntance last October with Leonard
Day; lhe young mults-millionaire Of St.
fau', Tor whose murder Frank Hamilton
mas been on trial the past week. 1t was
only few days before the tragedy. and
When they separated Day went Straight
20 MS death. They We're in New York
ana started west on the same day bur bv
SSI41leTsnI routes. and the first newspaper
MI wizard saw after ne reached home
contained a story of the encounter in the
west motel and Days tragic taking off.
~ Was staying at the Holland house."
Mr. Willard said to reporter for the
star on train coming to Kansas City,
ana was introduced to Day by a friend,
, W. S1lO lnaI since we both had little
leisure on our hands we might employ ii
pLOLlldDly IN company L found that Days
uIne was all leisure, while had only my
evenings.
Day had just come into the hotel office
from he street nd my II end said2 There
comes an odd character: he will inr-l,est
II not entertain YOU So when Dav came
up to the counter my friend introduced
US. lie was dressed in the top of fash
ION Every thing he had on was the hest
mat money could buy, and Jewels blazed
protusion- He must have had on s. 500
I MoIth OF precious stones, possibly twice
that sum.
He was a young man. hardly a man
yer. OF slight build, and he seemed TO
shrink from responsibility. He was lack
all his travelling had been of no advantage
TO him. He knew nothing of current. news
OF books, OF public affairs or the govern
ment of the world He had come from
! Carlsbad, Monte Carlo and other nofed
resorts Of ElurOne ONLY a short time he
IoIe, out he could tell me nothing Oh unem:
only OF the women he had met and the
/ money ne had spent on them. He was a
/ man VINO went through the world without
/ seeing 1t. He was a pet of fortune and
mad been trained to believe that the world
a T,Ie me people IN 1t, especially the wo-
men, were made for his use or abuse He
/ was not a vicious man. On the contrary
/ ne mad many latent good qualities if they
/ mao onIy been developed. 1t was his
/ Slothful training that DESTROYED his 11se-
IuineSS. He had had a wrong beginning
some place, and lack Of learning had Ieff
nm a shallow, empty man, whose misfOr-
tune was to have millions of money which
/ ne oeleYed would make good for all his
shortcomings.
! We'll, we were introduced, and he gave
1 US his heart and hand in a moment. |
! was his bosom friend instantly. We would
] GO THIS tonight and that tomorrow night.
and so on, night after night he planned
% r4 for;1,' OF pleasure; What are you to
ne SAID Wen go 10 the theatre. FL
meet you at Z 80 here in the office 1 have
/ an engagement till then He took the
] elevator TO his room and nv friend who
! mad remained with US, said: He'll Ice
/ down again in half an hour and I Wanf
| you 10 stay till he comes, for he will have
on a new outfit from head to toe, includ-
ing new blaze of jewelry-a new lot.
went with party Of friends to SBohe-
/ mia ana gave to the actresses all the
tbl IL 5ha pms ne had on. Sure enough,
! ne Htu put on a different suit and the
/ new rings were there, as my friend had
| pred1cIeG. lie was little late when he
! appeared 10 III MS appointment with me,
! but we were in good time for the theatre
J we took carriage, and on the way, and
/ between acts, he talked of women and
/ his money. After the theatre 1 Invited
| MIN to go with me to a place where
! bought a modest lunch The next uiZht
| we went to the theatre again, this time
! at my expense, and afterward he invited
/ me to Sherry's for supper, and the bill
| against frankly told him that he out.
! cIaSsed me, and that L could not afford
! ~ OG uLuSI lhdl KIM OF an oplSatlOn
/ But he only laughed and said it was his
! way The champagne we drank cost SIS
4 a bottle, ana while We were waiting fol
| the 1oWl c. come ne recognized two wo-
men who we're with a man at another
/ table and sent them two bottles with his
/ compliments. The young fellow didn'i
! know how to get rid of his money He
/ explained that he had met the women two
| or three days before The man he didu'
| know. They accepted the wine and bowed
| over their glasses to him, and he smiled
| patrOnizinSly During the meal spoke
OF hunting and he told me of the many
] eAPenslve Ilsnlng RODS, guns and othel
; Sp0rtSnen apparatus he owned, but
| never had used He had not known me
forty-elght hours, he knew nothing OF
me; 1 was stranger to him, but thai
made no difference was invited to be
| nus guest IN the game country OF Mantle
ba. tell this to show the shallow char
| acter of the man, his thOughtlessness. the
freedom with which he gave his friend
| ships, and behind that one could see a
] sort of mortgage he was ready to claim
! for money spent upon you He was not 3
/ society man, but he was ready, l judged
| to get in at the first opening. and until he
1 found one he was ready to put up money
for cOmpanionship. There cropped out his
| rearing again.
One evening he said to me, I must
leave you tonight for couple of days
Going to run over TO Pittsburg on some
! business. A mere trifle, but ii must bs
| attended to 1 guess, for it is what 1 an
! supposed to be east for Just now. Ii
| wearies me, this business The Afternoon
of the second day arterward he returned
| and showed me check for $4,000 thai
had been given him by a PittSburg firm
! for royalties on a copper mine that ht
owned
! Il saw much of Day for ten days, and
forenoon. afternoon and evening he reg
| ularly changed his clothes. 1 guess saw
/ him wear as many as twenty-five differ
| ent suits in ten days and every time ne
/ had on a different combination of jewels
! He wanted me to go TO St. Paul with him
/ but I had no business there and was not
| out for a pleasure trip. So we parted one
| afternoon, and the day or a day or two
/ after I reached Topeka and read in the
! afternoon paper an account of his death
| NY estimate of Day was that he was MOI
/ a brave man; he had not had enough OF
| the worlds rough usage TO develop tha1
| quality. He was gore ready 70 run, or
as I have put it, shrink, from respon-
/ sibility of any kind, and whoever killed
him was the agg-essOr and forced the en-
! pO10tpr''