DISSIPATED FORTUNES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

DISSIPATED FORTUNES.

, SOME GREAT SPENDTHRIFTS. $2,000,000 SPENT .IN. FOUR YEAR& Handsome Jack" Cudahy, who j brought his; life, to an untimely end at Los I Angeles some time ago, deserves a place among the world's greatest- spendthrifts. I "His father was one of ■ the; original GadI ahy'a. who were poor Irish butchers half i a century ago. They joined, the Armours in the tinned meat business in Chicago and made millions. ' " ' '_ ■ ; ' ; When :; Jack's father died he 'left £12.400,000.' Out of this, by his .will,< tEe millionaire left to Handsome Jack " only £2000, but as the result of a -lawsuit,: ho succeeded in securing ,! a One-seventh in;terest in estate. , !■'-, .;?--. : ., vr. , One hundred thousand pounds .were paid outright and . the rest held in trust for his children. : . ; ■■■.'- -..■■'■■■. In ten years every penny of this fortune had been'squandered, and ho shot' himself after failing to negotiate a loan .of £2600. ; ; John W. Steele, known for many .years as • " Coal Oil Johnny," was another notorious spendthrift. In early life ho was a poor 'farmer in. Pennsylvania, but one day an oil gusher was discovered on his. farm, and he found himself with £200 a day from his oil wells. ' When he got over the shock of having such wealth he proceeded to get rid of it in a, way thai dazzled all beholders. He went to Pittsburg, bought • saloons,, • threw.

open the doors the public, and he chartered theatres < for days at a time, hla greatest enjoyment being* the. sight of othors enjoying what his money: would do for them. ,- -•,■■■- -Notes to Light Cigars. _ . Attending one theatre in . Pittsburg, he, stepped out of his box when a black-faced comedian finished his song and handed man a £200 note, asking at the same time that the song ehoulcV be repeated'. 1 In Philadelphia he used ten-dollar notes for lighting ; his cigars, insisted upon the , driver of'his carriage wearing livery designed by himself, and would not associate: with any of his hangers-on unless they wore silk hats, for' which he paid. j In New York he threw bank notes to the crowd as he walked down Broadway. When his oil wells dried up after sevl eral years, Steele found himself ;as poor as before and was glad to get a job as station agent on the Burlington railway company., He died at the rage of sovehtyseven. .■-."■ ■ ;<■-' Dashing Young Count. Some.years ago the world was ringing with the doings of that monumental spendthrift and dashing young sprig of the old French nobility, "the. Count Boni de Castellane. The daughter of the late Jay Gould brought him, on their marriage, somewhere about £2,000,000,. This vast sum of money, and an almost' equal sum represented by unpaid 'tradesmen's bills, were squandered in fewer than four years. : During the week that he gave a bear hunt in honour of the/Grand. Duke Boris ! of Russia, de Castellans gave, close upon! £4000 for a fur coat and - between . seventy and eighty thousand, '.pounds for" a wardrobe in which to hang ;it and his other, garments. . :./:'./' ■■"■- '■,''•■■. > Other Forms.' Once when sorely - pressed to find new forms of extravagance he paid £12,000 for a few. paintings-worth' about £&& This appealed to him as such ■;&'■- successful, method- of reduchm his income, thatv,.he immed bought?® pair'*, of, candlesticks for £5000/,. ■ ,■! *• / r .--, ; -■■? *• ■■%■:' >'».; ■.-.-■'" Not-all. of the 52,000,000 through which Boni'went''in four years came' fr'oini the Goulda After Boni had spent £600,000, •&ifc>;Ms#g^ji^ nthe Little 1 ' ; >'Tria.piH; .:JW.jGastellaheJc, George Gould; did relax 'to' the ejeterit of another £26u,0<) :V. No, Jess a-purn ! than;£2,ooo,ooo: ! .Count Boni owed- to tradesmen* ■