The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-02-18
WH|MS OF THE RICH
Millionaires Who Spent Fortunes
on Merest Fancies.
HOW The MONEY DOES FLY.
Spendthrift Young Banker Who Lit
Cigarette with n Fifty Pound
Note Got Two Black Eyes as
Sequel to the Escapade.

Sequel TO the Escapade.
No man is more careful, as a rule,
with his money than your million
aire. He would never have made his
fortune II he had not acted on the
principle of taking care of his pen
MES. But when a very wealthy man
dies and leaves his fortune to ire
sponsible heirs, then it is that the
money flies.
We have all heard of the man who
uses five-pound notes to light his
pipe with, and most OF us have put
him down as a myth4 But he really
exists At fancy-dress ball a
younger member of the well-known
Bleichroder banking family, lit his
cigarette with a note, not for FIVE,
but for fifty pounds. The sequel
was rather amusing. An attache OF
the Austrian embassy, viewing this
childish bit Of swagger, called Bleich-
roder "a young ass" The Juvenile
millionaire resented his remark with
a blow, whereupon the other sailed
in and administered a well-deserved
thrashing. When the police stopped
| the fight the millionaire was found
| to be the possessor of two beautiful
| black eyes.
In France there is law by which
the family of q spendthrift can apply
| for an injunction to control his wild
| expenditures. Such an injunction
was recently obtained by the rela-
tions Of a youth named Lemaire. 1t
appears that the boy-he was hard
| ly more-was at Cherbourg, during
his military service, when chance
took him into a menagerie. Greatly
pleased with the animals on exhibit
tion, he went to the proprietor and
asked what he would sell the whole
business for
zone hundred thousand francs"
was the reply.
Without moments hesitation,
the youth wrote a check for that
amount. and so became the owner of
a large and miscellaneous assortment
Of savage pets which he had not the
faintest Idea how to control or man
age.
American millionaires are credited
with all kinds Of eccentricities, and
really fiction could hardly outvie
fact with regard to their whims A
man named Fleischmann is SO de-
voted to baseball that he keeps two
teams at his country place, where
they play before him every day that
he Is at home. Board, lodging and
salaries are all on a lavish scale.
Another, named Sands, has a passion
for models Of cathedrals, abbeys and
churches. These are executed to
scale In solid silver, and already fill
a large room. Their cost to date
has been $4,000 pounds.
Speaking of silver, the Rama CT
Oodeypore, a Hindoo prince, not long
of helmet, cuirass, buckler and
gauntlets, made entirely Of virgin
silver. the edges being decorated
with 22-karat gold. Another Indian
prince ordered last year In London
a complete set of bed room furni-
ture, all of solid silver. The four
posted bedstead alone accounted for
a tone Of silver, and the total cost
of the order exceeded 5000 pounds.
1t Is not Hindoo magnates only
who go in for costly articles Of per-
sonal use. We read with amazement,
not long since, of the Sultan Of Mo-
rocco's golden camera. The Khedive
of Egypt's pet extravaganza is har-
ness. His four-horse set for state
occasions has buckles and ornaments
Of solid gold, and cost IA, 900 pounds.
| Rich women are not behind men
In weird and amazed extravaganza.
The, wife of certain Chicago mil
lionaire has scent distilled from
a rare variety of water lily, which
costs her pounds a drop. It takes
over hundred tons of the lilies to
make small bottleful.
i Another millionairess, namely,
Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, actually
closed one of the most important
theatres In New York-the Knicker-
bocker--for a night in order that
the company might present the first
act Of the play. THE Wild Rose" at
an entertainment she was giving at
her Newport home.
The fact that she had to pay 700
pounds for the concession, besides
salaries and other expenses, running
to another 800 pounds, did not trou-
, BILE her In the slightest