The Washington times., 1936-08-25
By FRED MENAGH
King Features Syndicate staff Writer

IONON1O, NdudQd, Aug. 90.
During his lifetime Charles Vance
Millar, originator Of the worlds
first Maternity Marathon, con-
sistently Stunned publicity. So
far as is known he left the world,
now so interested in him, but one
or two photographs of himself. He
carried his camera ShynesS to an
extreme. Natives of Toronto will
never forget how he fled home
from the rack track in 1915, when
his famous horse, Tartarean, won
the Kings Plate. Millar didn't
want to be photographed receiving
the coveted trophy. He wasn't.
But while he spent most Of his
life ducking the limelight, Char.
lie" Millar has never been out OF
it since his death on october 81.
1925, at the age Of 70. That and
many other factors have con-
tributed to turning the Sau, lean,
grizzled, somewhat deaf individu-
aliS into rather frightening
enigma to those who knew him
only slightly. And his circle OF
intimate friends was quite small.
The facts available show Millar,
one of Toronto's foremost lawyers
and most progressive business
men, to have been an introvert
who derived a sort Of Vicarious
pleasure in singing out and carl
caturing the frailtieS and totbleS
of human nature. He had a keen
dislike for the type OF mind rep
resented in the assumption OF su-
perior virtue.
The cloudy thinking that con-
fuses conduct with morals irritated
him. Indeed, his will was not the
first occasion of suiting his humor
by presenting the horns OF a di-
lemma to those at whom he liked
to poke fun.
$1,000 for AnsWer
Take for example the time one
of his favorite race horses, a steed
named Lee Rose, died. Millar had
entertained hopes of winning the
Toronto Cup at Woodbine with
Lee Rose, who Succumbed to an
accidental injury about a month
before the race. Instead he re-
ceived $4,000 from an insurance
company which had laid him that
amount against a comparatively
small sum that the animal would
not die before q specified date.
Millar promptly sent series Of
letters to Toronto newspapers In
which he set forth these facts and
publicly invited all the caSuists
and ethical authorities to show
ANY essential difference between
betting at the track on Lee Rose
to win, and the company betting
him the Lee Rose would live long
enough to win the Toronto Cup"
What Millar asked for in his
public letter was not a juggling
of words or termS-but factSI"
And, he asserted, he was prepared
to turn over Lee Roses insurance
money for the answer. But none
was ever forthcoming. Millar'S
final quizzical comment on this
was:
"WelI, perhaps it wasn't fair
to ask for something that has
no existence except in some peO-
pies conceptions"
One of Charlie" Millar'S best
remembered pastimes in the old
days was the dollar bill game
he used to play with the man in
the street. First, he seated him.
self comfortably on the porch of
his favorite downtown hotel, gen.
orally after office hours. Then,
making sure no one was looking,
he sauntered to the sidewalk and
dropped dollar bill so that he
could keep it in sight when he re.
turned to his chair. Feigning
sleep he closely studied, through
half-closed eyelids, the reactions
of the finder, or finders, of the dol
lar bill.
When two or more persons spot
ted the bill at once, fight or
argument in evitably followed.
Sometimes a well-dreSSed man or
woman would deliberately conceal
the bill under foot, making certain
that no one, not even the possible
loser, might be looking when they
stopped to retrieve it.
But the most fun Millar enjoyed
from this amusing little game he
invented was witnessing the self
conscious antics of some rival
lawyer or financier whom he knew
well. He never failed to make tell
ing mental notes of the occasion.
Then he would always be prepared
to spring his embarrassing anec-
dote, to the discontinue of his
unfortunate adversary who had
stopped to pocket dollar bill. No
one can estimate how many dollars
Millar must have tossed away in
this fashion.
Same Old Game
However, no one in Toronto has
ever forgotten Millar's "dollar-bill
game" Small chance of that when
Ioic OF ~ rro will q ~ oJ1Vofc fn hut tho