The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-05-10

- Titanic, William Vincent Astor
is the richest young man in
America, possibly the richest in the
world. The fortune Of Colonel John
Jacob Astor has been estimated all the
way from $10O000,000 to $150,000000.
and the bulk of it goes to his son.
This boy of twenty now becomes the
head of the Astor family I'm America,
controlling a large number of hotels
and other buildings and real estate in
New York city and inheriting connec-
tions with important corporations and
business interests throughout the
country.
Thus far in his career young Astor
has been chiefly distinguished for fast
automobile driving and reported en-
\ gagements to girls at Newport and
elsewhere. At one time he attended
the famous English school at Eton.
but soon left, followed by reports that
his elaborate wardrobe and display of
wealth had arrayed the other students
against him. At the time he was call
ed to the management of one of Amer
ica's greatest estates he was student
at Harvard.
When Colonel Astor went on
yachting cruise i'm the West Indies In
the fall of 1910 Vincent Astor accom-
panied him. A great storm arising Mt
sea, the Astor yacht was reported lost.
For days a search was made by gov
ernment vessels, and finally the yacht
was discovered riding at anchor in the
harbor at San Juan. After the loss Of
Colonel Astors life on the Titanic the
incident was recalled. and some imagi-
native people saw in it an omen of his
fate.
Vincent Was Delicate Child.
Vincent Astor is tall. with straight
black hair, dark blue eyes and not par
dcularly strong face. During boyhood
his health was delicate, for which rea-
son six months of each year We're
spent at the Astor country estate, Fern
cliff, at Rhinebeck- k-on-theHudson, three
months at Newport and three months
in New York. About the first time the
chief heir of the Astor millions came
into the newspapers for a big story
was when as a child he was sent to
Switzerland for his health in charge
of a small army Of nurses and physi-
clans He is yet far from robust, and
since the shock of his fathers death
those who have seen him describe him
as more than usually pale, with the
careworn face of man of middle age.
From boyhood he had been the chum
of his father, and after the separation
Of his parents the court placed him in
Colonel Astor's care, while his sister.
eight years younger, went to her
mother.
The stories told about Newport of
young Astor and his automobile es-
capades indicate that Notwithstanding
i'll health he has red blood in his veins.
These tales recount how he drives
about the streets at such breakneck
speed that he has been fined more
than once. On one occasion he col
lided with another machine, and, while
no one was seriously injured, the occu-
pants Of both cars received a shaking
up that sobered the youth for time.
On another occasion Astor and young
. friend raced their machines on the
beach. They were driving at pace of
110 miles per hour when the friends
machine caught fire and the Astor car
skidded on the wet sand and ran into
the sea. Emerging from the wave that
overwhelmed young Astor for the first
| time, he saw his friends plight, has
tily struggled out of the water and
helped to put out the blaze.
Colonel Astor Was an Able Man.
Colonel John Jacob Astor was more
than a man Of wealth. He was the in
ventor Of an improved turbine engine,
a pneumatic road imprOver and a bicy-
Gle brake, was author Of two books, a
soldier in the Spanish-American war,
yachtsman of no mean ability, a good
roads enthusiast, builder of many ho-
tells and other edifices and a successful
business mau. At the outbreak of the
war with Spain he organized a noun
tain battery that did good service
1 lBoth at Chickamauga and In Cuba he
Served as inspector general of volun-
teers with the rank of lieutenant colo
nel' being on the staff of General Shat
Ter and taking part in the fighting that