MILLIONAIRES WHO BECAME PAUPERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6132, 19 March 1898, Page 1

MILLIONAIRES WHO BECAME PAUPERS.

There are few life stories of such thrilling interest as those of men who havo rapidly accumulated millions and as rapidly squandered them; rising from pauper to millionaire, and relapsing to pauper again within a few years. '• One of the most interesting of these records of sudden wealth and subsequent folly is that of Lemuel Bowers, a " redheaded Irishman," who, in 1869, was a day labourer near Carson City, Nevada. " Sandy," as he was familiarly called, was wooing a widow, who farmed a few poor acres near Carson City, when the famous Comstock lode was discovered by Mackay and his three colleagues in 1869. Sandy was quick to learn that the lode ran under the widow's farm ; and equally prompt to make th« widow lira Bowers and himself owner of the farm. The result of this lucky stroke exceeded his wildest dreams. Within a few >nontbs the happy pair found themselves in receipt of an income of ,£SOO a day, and refused offers of many millions of dollars for their "silver farm." This sudden accession of wealth was celebrated in a novel way. Sandy engaged a special train, which he filled with his many friends and with the rarest delicacies, and went on a tour to Chicago and New York, whore he entertained his travelling guests with PRINCELY LA.VISHNESS. His next ambition was to build a "loi'dly pleasure house," such as he had seen in New York ; and within a year a stately granite palace arose in the desolate Waahoe Valley, to which " Sandy " had taken an unaccountable fancy. The mansion was-furnished and decorated with an utter disregard to cost. The very door knockers were exquisite designs in solid silver ; the stair-rods were of silver tipped with gold, and his dinner service, even to the massive tureens, was of pure gold. The marble hall was graced by a fountain, which threw oub jets of the most exquisite scents, and the house was crowded with the most costly appointments that money could buy or travelling agents discover. Here Mr and Mrs Bowers entertained on a scale unknown even in America, and their hospitality frequently cost them .£2OOO a day. From this point • disaster pursued " Sandy." The lode which had poured money into his pockets at the rate of nearly .£200,000 a year, "petered out," and THE SUPPLY CEASED. Sdndy's extravagance, however, continued until he was obliged to sell his palace and its contents, and to live modestly in one room. He ultimately died penniless, and was buried by charitable friends ; while his widow makes a scanty living to-day by fortune-telling. The story of Edward Schieffelin is Little less interesting. Schieffelin, who was the son of poor German emigrants, was a labourer in the Eldorado mines, when he conceived the project of prospecting on his own account. For eleven years he tramped in fruitless search of fortune, and underwent terriblo privations. In 1878 he decided to prospect in Southern Arizona, where the Apaches had recently risen. and killed a number of settlers. His friends tried in vain to dissuade him, telling him that he would find NOT A FORTUNI!, BUT A TOM3BTONE. . Schieffelin went and, quickly discovered a rich mine of silver, which he satirically christened " Tombstone." He raised a little capital, with great difficulty, ( and within a few months the mine was producing ore worth .£SOO a ton, and a j net profit of .£IB,OOO a month. When, in 1880, the mine was sold to a syndicate Schieffelin took away with him a cheque for 1,180,000d01. Within ten years he had lost every penny of this princely fortune by foolish generosity and wild speculation. . One example of his folly was the building of an opera house, at a cost of .£16,000, in a small hamlet, the people of which had treated him with kindness in his days of poverty. Edward Schieffelin died a few weeks ago, absolutely destitute and alone, in a cabin among the mountains near Canyonville. Richard Gird, who also sold his share in the Tombstone mines for over a million dollars, squandered his fortune within sixteen years on farming and stock-rais-ing. FORTUNE PLATED STRANGE PRANKS with Henry Fuller, an illiterate sailor, who deserted his ship for the mines in California. For twenty years Fuller had no success in prospecting; and his wife, who maintained the family by washing, used to chaff him unmercifully about the mine he was always on the point of discovering. One day Fuller disappeared, and for weeks nothing was heard of him. Meanwhile he had discovered the mine of his dreams, and, selling it promptly for 75,000 dollars, returned home with a bag full of gold and greenbacks. These he poured into the lap of his astonished wife, as he said : " You won't be having no more fun about my Yankee mine, will you ? " Fuller proceeded to build a house at a cost of .£6OOO, and sent his wife and children, accompanied by a secretary, for a tour in Europe. Within two years his last dollar had gone, and Mrß Fuller was again at the washtub. A second fortune followed on the heels of the first ; and to-day Fuller, a broken-down man ia rags, earns a wretched living by picking up the refuse on the beach at San Pedro.