The Irish standard., 1906-01-06
LESSON FROM LIFE.

| lrGeOOm.
LESSON FROM LIFE.
Last week there died in one of the
hotels of the city of New York man
who, from the standpoint of business
was successful man, Charles Il
Yerkes had managed to gather togeth-
er many millions Of dollars. He start
f, ed in life poor. He worked himsel
up to a position of trust, and was be
beginning to be successful when he
abused his trust and was compelled to
serve a time in states prison. The
man possessed physical courage ana
energy. He started out anew and made
another fortune. Success again brought
out his true character. AS soon as he
had made a fortune he deserted his
wife and secured divorce in order
that he might marry another woman.
Upon her he lavished his wealth with
an unsparing hand, until in time he
tired of her and was in the act of try
ing to get q divorce second time when
death ended his career. He is an ex-
ample of a class of men in this co.n-
try who obtain wealth through special
opportunities secured often times
through crooked means and who use
their wealth in an endeavor to salts
fy sensuality, and that, too, without
much regard for what the public see
or say. The death of Charles T. Yerkes
made public to the whole country the
character of the life that he led. For
some weeks before he died the room
in which he lay was surrounded by
police guard to protect him from his
wives and mistresses. After his death
his body was carried to the grave sur
rounded by private detectives. The &C.
casion for all this was the fact that
from every city to which business o.
pleasure had taken him there came wo-
men claimants for his bounty. His
last struggle on earth was an effort to
prevent an open rupture between the
many women to whom in life he had
distributed his wealth and his affection
Regarded wholly from worldly
standpoint such lives are a fiat failure.
Yerkes will be remembered more be-
cause of the disgracefui scenes which
surrounded his deathbed than for any
thing else he ever did. Most men de-
sire to be well thought of by their
friends. Such lives call for nothing
but the contempt of mankind All his
millions will not serve to procure for
him that respect which every honest,
law-abiding citizen is entitled to and
receives. Yerkes was able in his life
time to build palatial residences and
ornament them with works of art, He
was able to procure every object which
his senses craved, and yet he died with
his foul cravings still unsatished; re-
spected by no one and sought after only
by those who were willing to receive
his vulgar attentions. We can not
conceive of anyone making any pre-
tense to responsibility or having any
honor left who would be willing to TAX
all the millions which this traction
magnate left, and die the death tina
he died. A few blocks from the hote
where he died there stands a mansion
costing more than million dollar
which he had built and which he owned
at the time of his death. So notorious
had been his association with mistress
ses that he was denied even the priv
ilege Of dying in his own home. High
society processes to be terribly shocked
at the disclosures brought out, but Sc
ciety countenances just such lives ;.s
that lived by Charles T. Yerkes. It
recognizes the right Of a wealthy man
or woman to put away his or her
spouse when age and familiarity tires
them of one another. 1t legalizes the
RIGHTEOUSNESS through the divorc
courts in which in the case Of Yerkes
wac misdemeanor Society, when it
le ..rned that Yerkes had mistresses in
Iondon, New York and San Francisco,
condemned him. but it never condemned
him for putting away from him the
wife of his youth who had labored
with him in his days Of poverty and
adversely. She had remained faithful
to him when he was imprisoned. So
ciety sanctioned the divorce. If the
second woman who became his wife
had been as easily disposed Of as the
first one he would have obtained a
divorce some years ago from her, and
society would have sanctioned that.
There is little difference between this
legalized immortality and the kind that
was practiced by Yerkes.
A NEW YEARS THOUGHT.