The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-19


thirst that ever was, along with his
coal mines and railways and steam
ships up yonder across the Canadian
Dcrder-that is what a dainty mite OF
Californian ysomanhood is attempting
IN the bitter legal battle now in prog
ress before his majesty's white wigged
judges at Victoria, B. c.
The plaintiff is the sprightly Edna
Wallace Hopper. known and loved Of
IheAtre-gOers everywhere. AS defend
ant to her suit comes no less import
ant a parsonage than James Dunsmuir,
once the famous premier of British Co
lumbia, present chief owner of the Ma
naimo and Wellington coal fields,
man to keep a tight grip on the $1,000
600 estate bequeathedr him by his
brother, Alexander. who was for forty
days stepfather to the charming COM
eoienne now suing as heor to her
mothers rights.
James Dunsmuir is q born combat
ant. with Scotch stubbornness in his
blood; a serious. self-sufficient cynical
man, who knows men and affairs, but
TO whom the making of a speech is
fraught with nameless terrors. Scotch
in his reserve. in his sense Of humor,
In the simplicity and integrity OF his
life. 1t is suggestive that his only vice
is his pipe. Drinking he left wholly TO
his more versatile brother, the facile
Alec" who departed the parental roof
70 manage the outside business of this
family OF coal barons.
Hardest of Drinkers.
This is the issue Was Dunsmuir a
victim Of alcoholic dementia when he
made his will. or was he like scores
OF other business men in every city be-
tween the two seas, simply addicted to
periodical laDses? The question cuts
both ways If Dunsmuir was incapaci
tated to make a will on Dec. q, 1899,
was he competent to marry a wife the
same day? Mrs. Hopper's claim as
beir Of her mother rests upon a valid
marriage So it goes through the whole
case. Probably no harder nut was ever
given a court to crack.
Meanwhile there are comedy inter-
luoes even in lawsuit. The fame Of
Dunsmuir'se gigantic thirst viii live
long in this western land. the home Of
hard drinkers. The newspaper reports
OF the testimony taken here have fiilel
every ambitious drinker with envy. The
stories told under legal pressure by
club attaches Regarding his high Jinks
in company with grave judges. eminent
lawyers and solid business men have
raised storm of wrath in every club
where the possibility of an indiscreet
and garrulous servant disclosing its Sc
crets is a thorn in the flesh of the
members.
AyEe revelation Of tioings in high ne
q have been a scandal to the town, for
San Francisco boasts that il has buried
it's past and is living respectable
now" and likes to talk of it's conserv-
aJism Just as If it WAS not still the
same jolly and v5ciferous abode of high
liveTs and high players as when Mark
Twain and Bret Harte and Louis Ste
VCnson painted it to the life.
Bell Boy His Friend.
Bat there was one witness to whom
Dunsmuir was a model for Sunday
schools. He was Charley Green, bell
bow at the Grand hotel. where the mil
Houaire lived five years Of his check
cred life. Green had never participated
in the dividends distributed to the hotel
attendants. He carried only ice water
and cigars up 10 that glorious room 3,
which was a mint for the other bell
boys. The coal baron had never ap-
peared to him arrayed in his paJamas
and wandering about the hotel with his
head bound in packages OF Ice. on
cross-examination Green did a thing
which a playwright might borrow
profit.
per's counsel
'Innumerous," the bellboy answered
with a generous wave OF both hands
wei. tell US now. did you see him
''Innumerous." said Charles with en-
phasis.
numerous" with growing con-
rtempt.
numerous" with pity for the law
yer's Obtuseness.
"a hundred times?"
"Innumerous. now very much bored.
"a thousand times?"
Numerous, Numerous with a
f1nality that closed the incident.
What the Doctors Say.
The dispositions of doctors. nurses
and other intimates show that the man
who made the will disinheriting Edna
Wallace HOpper's mother was on IA
miliar terms with the spirits of the air
and the creatures of the vasty deep,
Here is a short catalogue of his i'm
aginings:
FISHES singing "ragtime' songs.
Big black spiders floating on his
liquor
Huge green ants. with pink tusks,
crawling over his pillow.
Elephants Waiting on a tight rope
above his bed.
AdIueiS Playing ledpIiDB-
Whales dancing on their tails.
Enough common snakes to restock
Ireland.
Green monkeys feeding on the ceiling.
Roaring lions and dragons with
scorching breath.
Sometimes he imagined he was boa
constructor. and then il took four
nurses to hold him.
He thought his teamsters were un-
loading coal on his chest.
He was angry with his nurse be 1
cause she persisted in riding into his
room on the back OF rhinoceros.
When relatively sober his talk ram I
bled from sinking mines to building
balloons.
He announced an elaborate scheme /
FOR having his coal mines brought down 4
from Vancouver island and placed on
the dock at San Francisco. in order |
that Uncle Sans white souadrons /
might coal direct from the mines.
Once he became an airshiD and had /
70 be watched for five weeks, day and 4
night TO prevent him from sailing out /
OF a fourth story window.
Ordinarily he gave the bartender at /
the Grand hotel $50 a night for keep /
ing open until daybreak. Sometimes |
he saw two "barkeens" and then he i
gave each of them $50
One night at the old Pacific club in /
the San Francisco tenderloin. he awole /
to the fact that he was a king. Look I
ing from an upper window on a crowd
~ recognized them as his faithful
:.ssss. He at once bankrupted the bar