The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-27
FROM LUXURY
T0A CLERKSHlP
NJ. D. choIIar Has a Past Which
Is Sealed Book.
TODAY rs GOVERNMENT EN-
PLoYE IN SALT LAKE CITY.

Visitors rushing up and down the ele-
vators of the Dolly block have fire.
quentIye passed an elderly man with
snow white hair and beard. The re-
fined face, polished manners and care
full attire suggest past in which the
Injuries Of great wealth have figured.
The stranger is NJ. d. Chollar, civil
service clerk connected with the gov
eminent construction department in
charge of Major Haughn, who is direct
ing the construction work of the new
fort to be built on the site of Fort
Douglas.
Mr.. Chollar has a history, but it is
hidden behind a dignified reserve
which he displays to strangers. Yes
terday he broke through this reser.e
sufficiently to give a glimpse of lis
past 1t was only a glimpse, but it
was sufficient to prove he has moved
in the splendor and luxury of great
wealth; that great public men have
been his associates. and that he has
enjoyed the pleasures of extensive
travel There is story of unfOrtu-
nate investments, r tale in which there
is a son who did not appreciate the
value of money, who was INDUCED by
face to face with a Sterner side of life
when the fortune had disappeared
There was a time when the demands
for money had to cease because they
could no longer be gratified by the par
ents.
Travelled Over Country
Mr.. ChoIlar has drawn a curtain over
this part of his life He will refer TO
it only in an indirect way. He ad-
mitted yesterday that his associations
have once been prominent public men
of the national capital. He alluded to
trips to various parts of the country
that he made in former days for health
and recreation. There is not state
in the Union he has not visited. He
alluded in a vague way to enormous
sums which he had invested and lost.
He referred once to a ten years in
his life when his great fortune slipped
through his hands; not all at once, but
gradually, as the result of the I'M
fortunate speculations. The details he
would not discuss.
Mr.. Chollar was willing to talk of
his travels. He was in Cuba when the
Spanish flag was lowered He was in
Washington at the time of the great
military parade when General Custer
rode at the head of his brave COM
mand.
Custer" he said. twas man who
evidently loved the trappings of war.
remember there was about a block
between him and the command in front
when he was going down Pennsylvania
avenue. Suddenly his horse, a hand
some and sfinely-bred animal, became
conveniently unmanageable, and it
gave Custer a chance to display his
fine hoTsemanship. Custer was daring.
He showed it when he rode into the
ravine on the Little Big Horn against
the orders of General Terry. but he
loved display
Mr., Chollar also told of his first
meeting with General Grant at St
Louis. Grant at that time carried the
title of captain. and was mana ging q
tannery at Galena. He knew him when
he was pressed into service to bring
order out of the chaos which resulted
from the massing of the raw recruits
for the civil war. Several people had
been called upon to take charge of the
men and the officers were in despair.
A friend suggested that Grant was
just the man needed, and he was sent
for. He was not drinking at that time
and the work was like A B c to
him.
He was commissioned a colonel. and
he never stopped going up" Mr.. Chol-
lar made a brief allusion to his Do
sition in Arizona in the early DAYS. be-
fore Miles started after Geronimo. But
he merely made vague illusions to
these items in his past, which is a
sealed book to which he avoids refer
ence with quiet dignity that discour-
ages curiosity