The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-10-06
WHEN DRAYT0N
WAS M0NTANAN

SPECTACULAR SPENDER HAS
JUST BEEN ARRESTED
BY JAPANESE.
Mixed Up in Abortive Attempt to Fo-
ment Revolution in China and Will
be Deported; When in Montana
Spent Money Like Water.
j. Coleman Drayton, who Walling-
forded his way through Montana most
spectacular]y some fifteen years ago,
IS i'll the news spotlight Of the far
east. lie has been arrested in China
by Japanese secret service agents in
connection with an abortive effort
on the part of some mandarins who
were attempting to foment a revolu-
ton among those of China who are
against the policy of the Japanese.
An attempt is being made by the Jap
anese authorities to suppress the
news of Drayton's arrest, because of
the delicate state of feeling between
the United States and Japan, and
further than spiriting him out Of
China it is thought that the conse-
quences to Dravton will not be of a
serious character. A beautiful adj
ventures, of whom Drayton was
enamored figured in the incident, and
she is being conducted out of the coun-
try by the agents of the Japanese gov
eminent.
Coleman's Montana Career.
Many will recall Drayton' s meteor
lc career in this state. He arrived in
Butte suddenly from nowhere. He
was not the real J. Coleman Drayton,
of course, but was the cleverest i'm
%personator in the country, and was
the hero Of many questionable adven-
lures long before he came to this state.
He was sauve and smooth, and he had
not been in Butte "a hours before
he was comfortably ensconsed in the
Silver Bow club. the mining camps
most aristocratic organization, and
was IN terms Of familiarity with w.
A.. Clark, the younger Clarks, Marcus
DAILY, F. Augustus Heinze, and all the
Butte notables worth knowing.
One of the several campaigns in
which Senator Clark figured was on
at the time, and Drayton won the mil
lionaire's confidence to such an extent
that he was put in charge of n of
his Montana newspapers, upon which
he spent money as though it came
from a pump and the supply was in
exhaustible. But he made a good
newspaper while he lasted, which was
not long. In the year that he was here
it is said that over 100000 passed
through his hands. He was one of the
best little single handed distributors
of money that eve came to Montana.
Sold a Pearl Scarf Pin.
And when it was all yer and he
had come to the end Of his string, he
found himself without the cash to
make the hurried getaway that was
necessary. He went to the late Frank
Corbett with his troubles. He told
Corbett he was without money and
that it was necessary for him to leave
Montana in a hurry. He was wearing
a beautiful pearl pin, and he offered
it to Corbctt as pledge for a loan of
5000. He told Corbett that the pin
had cost him 81 200. and it looked as
though it was worth the money. Cor
bett took the pin for his loan and
Drayton took the train for nowhere.
!, That night when Corbett was showing
the pin to some of his friends and con-
graduating himself upon having got
ten a pearl of such price for little or
nothing, the pearl collapsed between
his fingers. Corbett' s regard for
Drayton collapsed with the pearl.
Fed Bulldog Beafsteak.
While Drayton was at the heydey
of his Montana career he bought one
of the best bred bulldogs In America.
He would 90 into a first class restau-
rant and order a fine porterhouse
steak for this bulldog, always stipu.
latin@ that the steak should be cooked
rare. He changed his clothes three
time a day and was the beau ideal OF
the young men Of the time in the mat,
ter of raiment. He introduced the
e custom of wearing dinner coats il
Butte, and after his departure, sc
great an inroad had he made on the
money kings Of the mining metropolis
that when a stranger came to Butte
and appeared at dinner in a Tuxedo
is he was Immediately marked down az
one whom it was unwise to loa1
money to. To this day this prejudice
exists in Butte against the dinner Goa
and all because of j. Coleman Dray
f., ton.