The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-11
GOLD BRINGS NO JOY.
Odd Ways in Which Four Men Spent
Their Fortunes


Four men in the world have recently
been engaged in demonstrating the fact
that the mere possession of money is
by no means happiness One of them
is said to be dead on the field of battle
where he fell in the garb of an officer
of the fanatic Mahdi. One is throwing
his wealth about the streets of Europe,
SO that his sons may not inherit it.
One is seeking the woman whom he
loved in his youth and poverty, and
cannot find her. And the fourth hay
ing dissipated his fortune in gambling
now works IN a stable.
1t is but three years or such a matter
since the habitues of London hotel on
the Thames embankment were startled
by the appearance of a small dark
man, whose clothing and linen were
studded with purple diamonds. and who
rarely spoke to any one. He seemed to
possess bOundIess means, and devoted
himself chiefly to theatres and billiards
His acquaintance of the billiard ia BILE
he ignored everywhere else. While
generally considered a foreigner, his
English was excellent, and his manners
showed the highest refinement. His
name-at the hotel-was John Rustin.
He occupied an expensive suite of
rooms. In one of them curious altar
of Oriental design was surmOunted by
an idol whose eyes were great, brilliant
purple diamonds, while lesser gems
crusted it's rich apparel. One day a
waiter in the hotel accidentally STUN
bled into the room, and found Rustin
kneeling in devotion before the idol.
RuStin pursued the waiter through
the hall, brandishing a dagger and
threatening to kill him. But the waiter
escaped him, and, as Rustin was spend
ing G100 weekly in the hotel, nothing
was done to prosecute him.
At the theatres his conduct, while
quiet, was still eccentric. He invariably
occupied them alone. He always sat in
the center seat and eyed with a fierce
glare any one who, inadvertently or
otherwise, seemed to be about to enter
his row.
At billiards he was an expert. but he
never bet nor would he listen to any
one who talked of betting. At the end
of each game he invariably gave the
man who kept the score, known in
England as the billiard marker" a
sixpence- provided he lost. When he
won the marker got nothing.
Thus Rustin lived for several months,
no one knowing, nor any venturing to
inquire, whence he came, who he was,
what he was. Nor did he vouchsafe
any information upon the subjects.
One day he appeared al the office of
the hotel and asked for his bill. I
leave today" he remarked The bill
paid. Rustin'S effects were loaded into
a cab and he went to the station. 1t
was learned that thence he took the
train for Southampton. At South
ampton he boarded q magnificent yacht
that lay in waiting in the harbor, %ld
sailed away
That was the last London ever saw
of Rustin. But later, when one of those
who had known him in London was
wandering over the battlefield of On
durham, the day after Kitchener's ma
chine guns had moved down the Der
wishes Rustin's body, clad in the white
uniform of an Emir, was found lying
near the front of the battle line.
They stripped the body to seek evil
dence OF his identity. There were jew
els and money-Bank of England notes,
Bank of France notes, American notes,
a watch made in Switzerland, a curl
ously jeweled pocketknife bearing the
name of a maker in Copenhagen,
pendant bought in Brazil and one piece
of parchment, half the size of visit
ing card On it was written the Arabic
word Allah-the eternal
Those who remembered Rustin in
London were interested in the romantic