Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-07-13


Lavish Dinnerx-One Cost $4,000,
Souvenirs Were Jeweled Trfnkets.
The first thing Of note that Harry
Kendall Thaw of Pittsburg, who re-
Gently shot and killed Stanford White,
the famous architect, on the roof OF
the Madison Square Garden at New
York, ever did was to begin smoking
cigarettes when he was lad in knick-
erbockers, says the New York World.
His mother tried TO stop him, but
could not When he went TO Wooster
university, in Ohio, in 1887, his addic-
ton TO this form of smoking was SO
great that the other boys nicknamed
him 1.-The cigarette fiend." Harry was
lazy and Indifferent to any form of
study. Full OF the assurance that his
fathers wealth and his mothers rich
gifts to the university protected him,
he devoted much of his time TO play
ing FRANKS that We're astounding IN
their freakishness, but never vicious.
The only form of exercise for which
he cared was lawn tennis, and this he
pursued with great application.
President Scovel of the university
sent for the boy one day and sadly
urged him to go to work.
1T Is your mothers wish," he added.
'"Tell me what branches of study you
intend to follow"
"Oh. I've chosen all right, all right"
said the heir to millions, and he pulled
out a gold cigarette case and opened it.
And what might your choice be.
pray?" asked the Rev. Mr.. Scovel.
'Penmanship and lawn tennis, said
the youth as he struck n match and
blew rings of smoke into the face of
the university president.
1t was only week after this that
young Thaw decided to lay aside his
chosen branches, penmanship and lawn
tennis, for the time. He fed to Eu-
rope, wiring back that he had gone
over to get some cigarettes. He re-
turned, in a month and was not chided
or sent FROM school. Harry brought
back to the university several trunks
full of cigarettes, which he distributed
lavishly among his friends.
The fiedgeling millionaire became not
ed for his attentions to girls, especially
to girls i'll theatrical troupes, and occa-
of them. Once he got into n fist fight
over a girl He was always lounging
about the Wooster theater or the hotel
in which the show girls stayed. On
one occasion he persuaded all the girls
in comic opera company to wear
garters and bows of the college colors
during the performance. The act made
a hit with the students.
Young Thaw was sent to Princeton
in 1894, but he did not take life seri-
ouSly enough and he never was grad
uated.. He made many friends, who
still refer to him pityingly as good
fellow. When he left college in the early
nineties he returned to Pittsburg and
devoted himself still more seriously to
having n good time.
Long before this, of course, he had
learned TO drink. One D light he walked |
through Il big plate glass window in |
the Hotel Imperial in New York. He |
paid well for the window, of course. |
The incident was considered a great |
bit of humoF. No important arteries |
were cut, and the young man was con- |
sidered to have had Il very good time |
indeed.
His widest escapades While drinking |
happened in Pittsburg. He would visit |
the local Tenderloin with a party of !
friends. close up the house and fairly |
wallow in champagne His excuses
and abuses included all manner of vi
ciouSnesS. He would remain in house
for days at a time, and when he had
tired of it. would give the proprietress
n check for the amount of'his bill. 1t
was these checks constantly coming
into his mothers hands which so wor-
ried her. She could not help but know
how the money had been spent.
Young Thaw often came to New
York on visits to attend to the impor-
ant business of having good time,
)Ht he never forced his way into print
fntil he arrived in Paris in May. 1900,
md gave dinner that cost $4,000 in
honor of Lame de Pougy, Nellie Neu-
tretter, Anna Robinson, La Belle Ote-
o, Cleo de Merode and other noted
The dinner was served in a
in the Champs Elysee, the
most expensive in Europe, kept by a
nan who was once chef to the car.
AL that Thaw insisted upon was that
he dishes and the wines should be the
ostliest possible In this project he
lad the hearty cooperation of the pro-
,rietor. The souvenirs were trinkets
f diamonds, pearls and sapphires.
This dinner gave young Thaw a fine
tatus in the world of people who
pend all their energy in having a good
ime. He returned to Pittsburg pres
ntly and further distinguished himself
" losing $4,000 one night in a game
f poker. At o'clock next morning
e wrote checks for all the other play
rs In the game. The cashier of the
ank refused at first to honor the
hecks, having heard that they We're
or poker losses, but Harry Thaw gave
i'm an angry lecture about honor"
nd the checks were paid.
Thaw's famous $4,000 feast in Paris