The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-20
THE RESERVE FUND.
Every Man Tries to Keep One, but 1t
Goes i'm Emergency.

New Orleans Times-Democrat.
81 dare say that every man who makes
fortune by speculation remarked WIS.,
itor from San Francisco at of the
hotels, "and who keeps in the game after
the fortune is made, resolves privately TO
lay aside a nest-egg as a provision against
disaster-a certain sum that is not to be
risked under any circumstances, but held
in reserve strictly as a means of support in
case everything else is lost. No doubt the
majority of lucky spectators put this idea
into execution for the time being" con-
tinued the Californian, but you may rest
assured that few If any of them allow the
nest-egg to remain in the nest when the
losing tide sets in. 1t is too much TO ex-
pect of flesh and blood When a gambler.
/ don't care of what breed-card sharp or
stock exchange baron-sees all he possesses
slipping away from him through what ar-
pears to be a mere streak of exceptionally
bad luck, he will pawn his very soul for
another stake-for enough of the where
withal to make just one more play. Those
are the times when men who have always
lived honest lives suddenly 10 Incredible
things-cheat, lie, steal, wreck banks and
play the dickens generally with established
precedent; and 1t is unreasonable to sup
pose that any reserve against a rainy day
would remain intact under such stress.
II goes along with the rest, and the poor.
daZed victim lands at the bottom Of the
incline without a sou in his pocket.
have Witnessed a good many financial to-
boggan slides of this kind in my time. and
never knew of but one instance IN which
a man actually laid aside living morley DUR
ing his prosperity and didn't eventually
draw on 1t in desperate effort 20 recoup
fallen fortunes. 1t is rather queer story.
The person to whom L refer was a mining
operator who cut a wide swath on the Pacific
coast back in the early so S. He had strug-
gied along for years on the ragged edge OF
starvation, and then, all OF a sudden, he got
on the right side of the market In big zeal
pressed his luck for all there was in IL,
took Irightful chances, and was a million
aIre In less than twelve months. But he
had been in the speculative game so long
that II was as necessary to him as breath
ing; so, instead of pulling out and taking
things easy for the rest of his life he
remained right there in the thick of III, de-
lighting in the risk and excitement. His
only relaxation was an occasional trip
East, which invariably assumed the shape
or huge, gorgeous spree. / hate TO put
the fact so bluntly. for the man is dead
now, and was an out-and-out good fellow,
but it has a direct bearing on what / wish
to tell you. During these sprees he used
TO wander aimlessly from city to city, hold
before winding up was usually seized with
a fit of remorse and horrible Fremont
ton that he would one day be penniless.
When that idea possessed him, he would
go straight to the nearest bank, rent
safe deposit box and plant the larger part
of whatever cash he happened to have on
his person Then he would put the box
key on a string and continue the merry
round of pleasure. In the course of time he
acquired large collection of keys, which
was all he had to represent deposits scat
tered over nearly a dozen States; but. as
each key bore some sort of identifying
stamp, IL was easy enough to locate the
different plants AS bad luck would have
1t, however, the Frisco Hotel, at which
he lived, caught fire one night, and he
barely had time to escape in his pajamas.
his safe deposit keys, and when he tried
to recall the places from which they came
he found TO his chagrin that he could re-
member only three or four.
1.-The truth was" continued the Cali
fornian, that he had been very much
ashamed of his freakish hiding OF money
and in his intervals of sobriety he dis
liked to look at the souvenirs of his sprees,
special attention. OF course he was an
noyed at its loss. but he didn't waste much
time on the subject just then. for the rea-
son that things began to go wrong with
his business affairs almost Immediately
after the fire at the hotel A slump in Ne
vada Consolidated gave him his first Jolt
down hill. and then, as usual. everything
seemed to be creased for the occasion. He
was cleaned out In about the same length
OF time 1t took him TO get his fortune to-
gether, and that, by the way. brings me
to the point Of my story. In the latter
part Of the struggle. when he was scram-
bling around frantically for more money
he secured the deposits IN the few cities
he had been able to rccollect. but he knew
thero we're at least = dozen others that
remnneo - b located. and after he had