The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-10-20
Once a Rich Man, He Came at Last
Near to Being Buried at
Public Expense.
AN ARTIST IN FEEDING LINE
HEIRS FOUND NOTHING LEFT BUT
DELICATEssEN BILLS.
He Insisted on Having Both Quantity
and Quality and Lived to BE
Ninety-Some OF His Dinners.
Correspondence. o. the indianapolis Journal.

| Correspondence o: the indianapolis Journal.
| VIENNA, Oct 1s.-After enjoying the
reputation of one of Vienna's richest men
| for the last thirty years, DR.. p. Breyer, re-
! tired merchant and champion feeder of the
| continent, laid himself down to die the
| other day and when his loving relatives in
| quired into their heritage they found the
| Uncle" or Cousin Poldi had literally
eaten up his entire fortune of 10000 forms
/ Money chests and safes in the dead mil
/ nonaire's" house were bulging with re-
| ceipted bills for sterlets from the Voiga,
| grouse from Scotland and bustards from
| Sweden, for old Madeira, Pichon-Longue-
| vile and sparkling Moselle. while his
| burglar proof in the safe deposit vault
was stuffed to overfiowing with acknowl-
/ edgements of enormous payments to hotel
| and restaurant keepers. There was no
money In the bank; on the contrary, that
| institution held a mortgage on the doctors
| small real estate holdings and even his
| household furniture. The relations did
| some figuring and found that the bills for
victuals. meats and wines alone amounted
l to 100000 forms in the aggregate. If 1t had
not been for a petty insurance policy the
| estate would not have covered the burial
expenses.
| Poldi lived to the end Of his ninetieth
| year, as he had always expected he would
| and as his last will stated. never knew
| days illness. And even though OF late he
! had been compelled TO visit his favorite
| haunts. the great hotels and restaurants
| seated in an invalid chair, his stomach
| had remained young-this to offset the
fallacy that high living necessarily creates
| govt and other failings of the human
| body
| RECORD OF GREAT DINNERS.
| Poldi, as he was Familiarity known, pre-
| pared himself for the career of gourmand
| and gourmet rolled into one by a life of
| hard work and close attention to business,
! permitting him little or no leisure, but
| when sixty he said he had his fill OF the
! turmoil and petty jealousies of trade and
retired with snug fortune, annual
| income of 10000 forms, enough Ito live like
a prince in this city. And. unhampered
| by wife or child. he forthwith began to
spend his accumulated wealth by burning
| incense before his idols.
| Poldi became a man about town in the
| widest sense of the word. The Austrian
! stage never had a more devoted patron,
painters. sculptors and scientists called
| him "Maecenas;" his name was on all pop
ular subscription lists: he was the most
! clubable of good fellows; no ten horses
| the theater concert or lecture room; he
| feted explorers, ballet girls and generals,
bought rare books. china and books of
| celebrated men, collected autographs gar
tiers. stamps and what not But the things
interest were the menus of celebrated res
taurants and hotels in Vienna and all parts
of the world. OF these he left over ten
thousand. arranged after the fashion of the
graveyard" in newspaper offices, and
among them hardly a single one without
marginal notes that would be of the great
| est interest to oscar" and other great
| chefs. while several hundred have long
dissertations pinned to them in which Poldi
set forth his approval or displeasure in
| elaborate style.
AN ARTISTIC EATER.
Some men of leisure excel in riding to
the hounds. in arranging festivities or maxi
ing love, 1 am artist in the eating
line" he used TO say. "and therefore col
lect anything and everything appertaining
to the matter. Menus are mile-stones on
|
we have missed and keep US from overin-
| diligence in favorite dishes by pointing out
new, or heretofore neglected articles OF
| food"
But you are also a lover of music, and
| particularly an enthusiastic admirer of
Beethoven" said Emperor Francis Joseph
| to Poldi, when the latter explained his the
| DRY to him on the occasion of a court ball
4
Like your Majesty, 1 take Beethoven
| to be the greatest of all composers" re-
piled DR.. Breyer, "but what are master
pieces of sound compared with a truffie-
pattie (for instance) such as my house
passable in the pattie line. 1 shall will her
to your Majesty in my last testament"
Alas and alack. this jewel of a pastry
| cook died before him, and took the recipe
| with her into the grave.
/ Poldi's stock in trade as a diner-out were
an unquenchable appetite. wide knowledge
| OF food as ii grows all over the world
reverent appreciation for the cooks good
points and ability to root out and COM
pose new dishes all the time. He invented
macaroni. but in the course of years aban-
doned nine. "A different one every day in
the week is enough for an old man." he
| said.
| Poldi remained man about town I'D to
| ten years ago On his eightieth birthday he
/ bid goodbye TO the theater and its female
/ attractions. to the race course, to club and
| society life. and from then on devoted him
| self entirely to the cult OF his palate As
| he put IL in his farewell speech He was
/ dead TO the pleasures OF this world-to all
/ but one. and as he dropped everything else
/ he hoped his capacity for appreciating the
! good things Of the table would still in
/ crease. And it did. Henceforth, having
/ no other purpose in life but TO eat and
/ drink, he was able to concentrate his whole
/ mind on breakfasts, dinners and suppers
! and as a result they grew in elaborate
ness, uniqueness and style.
/ GOURMAND AND GOURMET.
/ At about that time the writer received a
/ letter from Poldi asking him what he
/ meant by referring 10 him as a gourmand
II happen 10 know" he wrote, that in
| English the term is used TO designate q
person who regards quantity more than
quality. Now, while l like quantity and
| must have il, quality, to my mind. is stil