| Show MONEY THAT HAD WINGS how royal spenders of the past and present have cast away fortunes DE castellane THE KING french husband of anna gould seems to have had absolutely no conception of the value of money in england the marquis of anglesey and in america coal oil johnny dissipated enormous sums they had not earned count boni de castellane has sequan dered in four years halt of the millions were the gould mil lions and the other half belonged to trusting tradesmen notwithstanding the timed boast ing of pliny seneca and juvenal now principally read by college boys against their will of the ability of the royal money spenders in their time count de castellane appears to deserve the palm as the king of spend thrifts starting out to vie with who upon the statement of the ancient writers mentioned sequan dered on riotous living he has surpassed lucullus who at one meal devoured a whole estate juvenal did not intend this allusion to a whole estate to be taken literally in the case of the french count who married anna gould the estate to be devoured was a very large one but the nobleman made a good fight and it he failed to cause it to disappear at a single little supper it was because he lacked the necessary invention the kiench count vas too much of a gentleman to ask the price or to ques alon the bill hence he acquired for a bagatelle of 60 a few paintings appraised at about 50 and a pair of candlesticks fandle sticks for 18 which contois deurs aver are imitation and perhaps alorth about one one thousandth of he price anybody would be glad to do business with such a gentleman even if he did have to send a col lector for the money the fact is the count is typical of a very numerous class of persons who have no adequate conception of the value of money he appears to have imagined that the gould millions bred like rabbits and that one lifetime was entirely too short a period in which single handed the most energetic and determined spendthrift could throw them away victim of Shar pers although the late jay gould is credited with having left an estate of 75 in rapidly increasing investments the dowry anna gould brought to the french nobleman was only 3 this was regarded as ample considering the fact that it was practically 3 more than the count was accustomed to enjoy under the french law the husband has full control over the income of bis wife so that at a stroke of the pel the poor count had million to spend appreciating his own weakness he guarded the countess against acquin ing his habit by limiting her to from 60 to 80 a month this prevented her from buying cheap paintings at fabulous prices and inculcated a model spirit of frugality As for him self the count lost about 25 a day during the racing season after the first day or two the ordinary man would have become suspicious of straight tips and sure things but boni appears to have been too much of a gentleman to have ever harbored a suspicion against any person el ther at longchamps or in the picture dealer s gallery wisdom does not appear to have guided any expenditure of which the count has been guilty he put his wife s whole dowry into a town house in paris modeled after the little trianon then there Is a country house which cost another half million A yacht cost and a yacht can not be kept in commission tor noth ing nor a crew paid with I 1 0 U s his attempt to become a politician cost another follies are numerous no extravagance was too ous or too astonishing to be neglected by count bont once he had conceived the idea for an entertainment his dinner to the king of portugal made h m famous not only was it carried out with a magnificent disregard for cost but it was one of those complete and perfect entertainments where every guest feels that an artist Is in command it was cheap too ac cording to reports it ran the count only about in debt although it is reported that a 60 clock was added to the little trianon de cas bellane in order to provide the sen national sat ional feature ind give a regal zest to the dinner the fur coat which the count purchased Is not perhaps to be credited to the account of the bear hunt which the croesus gave tor a russian grand duke opinions differ as to whether the hunt was the excuse or adding a fur coat to his wardrobe or vice versa thus giving rise to an other impenetrable historical mys tery As about the same time a hand some wardrobe price was in produced trod into the count s apartments it may be surmised that this fact will be seized upon as the key to the mys tery by the future who will show conclusively that the coat was bought to ornament the costly piece ot furU ture and that the bear hunt wa a mere incident dance Is expensive another entertainment which was he talk of all paris was a little dance louis XVI style this cos tume ball was very charming and not too dear at A more modest dance louis XIV style cost both of these fetes were ampro in the palatial setting which the castellane mansion afforded when the other day tl e countess lawyer denounced poni as a bonu mental spendthrift he evidently waa well informed for the rapidity with which the count showered money and obligations tor moie money has perhaps never been equaled there Is far more fiction than truth in the accounts of the loyal spend thrifts of former ages for instance the statement that caesar s supper bills for four months moie than sterling or almost 25 is probably exaggerated gome explanatory notes are needed also with the anecdote of antony div ing his cook a town of innab hants next morning very likely an tony rebuked him for falling to take a joke but the case of count de cas bellane is one of those modern in stances which in a measure is open to the inspection of the world in class by himself the modern spendthrift is in a class all by himself in nearly every in stance he has developed his prodigal ity by sudden rise to large wealth wealth of proportions far exceeding the dreams of the alchemists of an other time in the cases of the late marquis of anglesey and the late max lebauda young men who received am mense estates by inheritance the lack of restraint allowed them to develop the most reckless extravagance both died very young neither having the physique necessary for the strain of throwing millions away anglesey castle in wales was never so charming nor gay as dur ing the brief tenancy of the boung marquis like count boni he did things handsomely but it was his own inheritance he was squandering much of his wealth was lavished in an attempt to adorn his own slight figure in two years he spent 3 and was adjudged a bankrupt tor a sum considerably more than 1 wardrobe a wonder jewelry gorgeous figured waist coats and a private theater were the principal avenues through which his money disappeared he gave 50 for a single pearl and worth of jewelry was sold during hie bank proceedings his wardrobe was the envy of every dandy he owned suits waistcoats ties pairs of gloves overcoats one of them of sable fur which cost 5 pairs of pajamas pyjamas 73 ing suits 61 lounge suits but the cat Is entirely too long to be tol lowed the sale of his effects at the castle occupied several weeks and was agreeably divided one day of the sale would be known as the day of waistcoat poems another as bath gown day and so on america has had its share of gor ageous spendthrifts there are so many of them that only once in awhile one distinguishes himself by some freak which compels attention the first of the magnificent money spenders was john W steele still living in franklin pa and known best as coal oil johnny his reign lasted but a few months but in that short period actually seven months he Is said to have squandered coal oil johnny was a youth 0 20 when in 1861 oil was found on the farm which had been bequeathed to him had he held on to his farm he might to day been one of the envied standard oil group but he did not rise to his opportunity instead he planned how he could cut a dash with the enormous sum paid him tor his property unique rich men he began by lining his clothing with bank notes he pinned some on his coat be gave away notes he lighted cigars with 10 bills he tipped waiters with 5 or 10 at a time he hired the continental hotel in philadelphia and boarded every body tree another time he had a bathtub filled with champagne and took a ath in the costly liquid he backed a minstrel company fre he hired a cab then he bought it and at the end of the day he pre dented it to the driver one day his bill at the girard house was 19 and there were days when he spent as much as now he is down and out and for 40 years has had to pay with hard work for his seven months of folly walter scott familiarly known as scotty blows into the effete east now and then on a special train and proceeds to a himself in a bizarre manner scotty is the owner of a mysterious gold mine in death valley and cautiously brings ls products east in 5 parcels at a time re bently be was starring in a play writ ten around his adventures and at the same time acting as angel for the enterprise the amount of scotty s wealth has never been disclosed but as he showers his gold on bellboys messengers waiters and hires special trains to run across the continent and break records it Is probably conald erable however scotty is not very communicative he drawls when put to it that perhaps he has a mine and perhaps he chasn t |
