The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-28
Tales of tom" ochiItree.

the straight and narrow path. He
thought his son would be quiet man,
of gentle habits, and therefore placed
him under the care and tuterage of two
Catholic priests. The priests tried in
dustriously to keep their pupil in lines
of thought that might possibly take
him into the clergy.
The lad stood it for a time, and at
the age of Is suddenly took the mat
ter into his own hands He wanted to
fight the Indians. The priests were
powerless. and with a great deal Of
shrewd planning young Tom made an
enlistment as a private in the Texas
Rangers, starting West for the scalps
of the Apaches and Comanches in 1854.
y year knocked all the romance out of
this bOyish ambition, and he was viii
ling to come home and buckle down to
his books.
He was taken as a partner into his
fathers Office in San Antonio when he
was barely out of his teens. Judge
Ochiltree went away from town one
day, and while he was gone the boy
had the sign changed. San Antonio
awakened next morning to laugh for
years at the strange name of the firm
Thomas p. Ochiltree & Father At
torneys."
He went to Paris and was soon on
a footing with wellknown Americans
there, one of whom was the elder
James Gordon Bennett. Col. Ochiltree
couldn't see that it was possible for
any metropolitan newspaper to out
shine his Texas paper; so when Mr.
Bennett cabled 1000 words to his pa
per of the opening of the Paris Expo
roI l,nN
the dispatch be duplicated to the Hous-
ton Telegraph That was to show the
Frenchmen that as an editor he was
just as big as the next.
Gable rates were high in those days,
and the cost of the dispatch was
severe drain on the resources of the
Houston Telegraph. Three days after
it had been sent Col. Ochiltre got word
that the dispatch had been paid for,
but as a result the paper had sus-
pended publication.
Both of the Ochiltrees, it is said.
were fond of the game of faro. 1t is
related how upon one occasion in
Texas town the father and son were
engaged in the game at the same ta-
Ele The son lost and became tempor-
arily bankrupt. He appealed to his fa-
ther for funds. The old gentleman de-
clined to advance a loan.
mo, sir" he exclaimed, Il will not
lend you a cent l do not approve of
your gambling. You are a minor and
have no business here. l have a good
mind to have the promoters of this es-
tabishment indicted for allowing you
to gamble here"
Young Ochiltree acquesced in this
decision. He left the place, and going
to u friend near by raised a small
amount of money, with which he re-
turned and renewed his play. This time
he prospered Within a short time he
had gathered a large amount before
him on the green cloth. The father, on
the contrary, had experienced i'll luck
While the younger Ochiltree was gain
ing the father was losing, and shortly
became broke" Going over to his son.
he in turn asked for a loan. This was
refused.
Very well, SIR" demonstrated the
elder Il shall proceed to confiscate
this money. You are minor and are
responsible to me. 1 will take all you
have"
"One moment" interrupted the son.
II am perfectly willing that you should
take this money upon the grounds you
have indicated, but I want to say this:
/ owe considerable money in this town.
you are therefore entitled to this you
must also assume my debts. You will
have to pay every cent / owe
The elder Ochiltree surrendered. He
walked away and allowed the young
man to pursue the game in peace.
After he had been made United
States Marshal in Texas President
Grant was disturbed by hearing of the
OF arIy -,
the country.
"Oh." Col. Ochiltree is reported to
have explained. I'm rot the Tcm OchiI-
tree. He's a racehorse John Chamber
lain named after me-"
Once, at least. the colonel told the
truth.
During a visit to England Col. Ochil-
tree was called upon at banquet to
respond to the toast, The American
Merchant" He gravely stated he
would omit sentiment and deal entire
ly with facts. Oddly enough this was
followed by statement that when New
York city had a population of 2,G00 600
there were only twenty-five failures in
one year, and most remarkable of all
was the fact that these few presuma- =
bly, unfortunate men eventually settled
with their creditors with compound in
terest.
Almost overwhelmed by such state
ment one of the Englishmen present
asked whether he did not exaggerate
a little bit. NO" replied the speaker
undaunted; mot a bit exaggerated; it
was simply ID lie"
Any number of poker stories were
told on Ochiltree. One which he al
ways claimed was untrue, but which
he nevertheless enjoyed, was as fol-
lows:
Ochltree walked out of Chamber
| Inns restaurant here early one morn
ing looking rather tired lie met a
friend on the sidewalk who told him
he looked weary.
"Weary?" he exclaimed. We'll, l
| should say l am. 1 have been playing
poker ali night and have lost $4,000. |
guess you would look tired yourself if
you had lost that amount
oh WELL" replied the friend cheer
fully, DON'T mind a little thing like
that. You'll recover and it'll be all
| right"
Recover" returned Ochiltree.
We'll. perhaps 1 viii, but tell you it
is tough-very tough. The worst part
of the whole thing is that $50 of that
! $4,000 was in cash.
Ochiltree had close friend i'm a
small Texas village who was addicted
to strong drink, He would reel about
| the streets and sometimes roll into the
gutter. This performance Ochiltree had
witnessed upon several occasions. He
determined that his friend should be
| cured of the habit. The next time the
! f,t4