AN EXTRAORDINARY CAREER

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 4258, 17 July 1895, Page 5

AN EXTRAORDINARY CAREER

A Parisian tradesman bearing the hallowed name of Lepicier was three years ago robbed of his life's savings. Doubtless the news was glad tidings in the Quartier Latin. His wife went out of her mind ; she would have been unworthy of the name had she done less. The gentleman who stole the little fortune originally kept a bucket shop, and for this and various other crimes he was sentenced altogether to fifty years' penal servitude. At his time of life he did not feel equal to it. So choosing rather than attempt and fail to make no attempt at all he went to America and became an attorney's clerk, a commission agent, a victualler, and a household remover. Then he removed himself to Brazil and made a fortune as a sugar planter. Then he spent it and returned to France, and did a good business as a general swindler. Then he became trainer of a racehorse, called with prophetic irony Bel Espoir. Then he became a rich man again. Finally, he rode out in the Bois de Boulogne and was arrested. The moral of this story is that it is better to be a scoundrel than a grocer, but not much better.

Premier Cecil Rhodes of South Africa is a veritable Colossus of finance. He is only forty years of age, yet he is said to be worth £16,000,000 sterling. He is the son oi a country clergyman, and originally went to South Africa with the slenderest means and for the benefit of his health. His career is not to be paralleled out of the pages of romance.