The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-24


to prevent his friends, especially his
young friends, from following his ex-
ample. 1t was in 1885, 1 think, that I
manage a show for him. That was the
year of the famous wheat gamble in
Chicago, and poor Colonel Jack, God
bless him, was in it to the limit. When
/ got to Chicago he was already in
| to the tune of nearly 100000, and he
never worried minute.
Played for Big stakes.
"'My contract with him contemplate
ed the equipment of a $4,000 show.
| and, naturally, was vitality interested
in Colonel Jacks financial success.
- Will he would say to me. there's
no use of my monkeying around with
a quarter or half a million dollars. l
can't do business at all unless 1 have
at least a million, ready cash. I'd just
as lief be fiat broke as go bluffing
around with two or three hundred
| thousands
| $50 he stuck to the wheat game and
| l, quite carried away with his big plans
for a winning, invested nearly 81, 900
of my small nest egg in the same ven
| ture. l waited two or three days and
lthen pulled out about $4,000 winner.
didn't tell Haverly about it, but 1 was
sure the market was going to drop, and
| so | pleaded with him to cash in and
get out of the squeeze
when things began to get a bit
| squally I reminded him that perhaps
his whole fortune and certainly mine,
! depended upon his ability to win out
| on that famous wheat furry. I tried
to scare him with the prospects of to-
tai defeat, but 1 might as we'll have
| tried to head off the tide with a land
| ing net He used to laugh at me and
| say: Wait a few days, Will. can't
be any worse off than 1 am now, and
if the market breaks right I'll have a
million at least before the week ends.
That's my minimum. If 1 haven't a
million 1 feel poor
Cool I'm Face of Failure.
81 used to come down to his rooms
| he lived in Adams street then, near
| Dearborn-and anxiously ask him how
things looked. 1 reached his hotel at
l o'clock one afternoon, and, as usual,
put the question: Well, colonel, how
| does it look to-day? He was standing
! in the doorway calmly picking his
teeth when l came up. The janitor
was sweeping the pavement, and dust,
| scraps and debris were flying before
| his broom into the gutter.
See that janitor, Will? asked the
colonel, smiling. Well, those Board of
Trade sharks are doing just what he's
doing. They're sweeping me into the
| gutter. My little three hundred thous-
| and is flying before the broom right
now. If it doesn't stop before o'clock
I'm broke
| Il tried to get him to make some
move to save himself. but he just
| 'kidded' me and we went over to Kins-
leys to lunch. When the market
closed that day Haverly wasn't worth
| a dollar, and he knew it. but he Danish
ed the whole subject from his mind and
started right in with new plans for
making a newer and bigger fortune.
Always a Free Spender
You just couldn't stop him. Moth
| ing but death could have ended his ca
reer as a moneymaker. He was in
! terested in gold mines in Utah when he
| fell away before his final Illness I'm
sure that he would have grown rich
again. He made more money and
| spent more than half the millionaires
whose names and pictures are in every
| days papers. But the queer part of it
was that he never seemed to feel
! broke When he was down to his
| last ten he lived better than mer-
| chants whose income is above a thous-
| and a day.
He wasn't a whisky drinker, nor an
| immoderate man in any of his habits
He liked wine, the best wine, and he
bought 1t with a prodigality that made
many strangers believe that he was
hard drinker. But he wasn't He want
ed his friends and associates to enjoy
every moment of their lives and he
went out of his way to see that they
did so.
He was the nerviest gambler that
ever lived. He regarded all kinds Of
| business as gambling but most Of
them were too slow for him. He'd bet
or anything If he couldn't get his
choice of sides on the proposition he'd
take the other. Anything to get bet
| He tust didn't have any time or pa
thence for small things. lie hated small
men as heartily.
Big as his heart was and loyal as
he was to his friends. he was Cor
sican IN his hatred. But IL took him "A
long time 10 make up his mind about
| condemning a man. He was always
slow about entering into a quarrel
| Once in. however. he never quit. And
he was generally right"
wills sweatnnm's story.
willis sdeatnam. The famous min
| Ftrel. now appearing in Cleveland IS
company, developed his extraordinary