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 could 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 8 in four years halt of the millions were the gould tall 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 tang of spend thrifts starting out to vie with apitius who upon the statement of the ancient writers mentioned sequan dered 4 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 french count was too much of a gentleman to ask the price or to ques alon the bill hence he for a bagatelle of 60 a few paintings appraised at about 50 and a pair of candlesticks for 18 which connola aver are imitation and perhaps vorah about one one thousandth of he price anybody would be glad to do business with such a gentleman even 1 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 roost 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 chaa the count was accustomed to enjoy under the french la v the husband has full control over the income of his wife so that at a stroke of the pen the poor chint had millions to spend appreciating his own weakness he guarded the countess aga nat acquin ing his habit by limiting her to from 60 to 80 a month this prevented pie vented her from buying chead paintings at fabulous prices and inculcated a model spirit of frugality As tor him sell the count lost abo it 5 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 bis wife s whole dowry into a town house in paris modeled arter the little trianon then there is a country house which cost another halt million yacht cost and a acht can not be kept in commission tor noth ing nor a crew paid with I 1 0 U s ills attempt to become a politician cost another follies are numerous no extravagance was too ous or too astonishing to be neglected by count boni once he had conceived the idea for an his dinner to the king of portugal made him 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 sat lonal feature md 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 for a russian grand duke opinions differ as to whether the hunt was the excuse for adding a fur coat to his wardrobe or vice versa thus giving rise to an other impenetrable historical mys tery As about the u time a hand some wardrobe price was in produced trod into the counts apartments it may be surmised that this act will be seized upon as the key to the mys tery by the future chronicler who will show that the coat was bought to ornament the costly piece ot furniture and that the bear hunt was a mere incident dance Is expensive another entertainment which was the 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 otner day the countess law er deno meed as a bonu mental spendthrift he evidently was well informed for the rapidity with which the coant showered money and obligations for more money has perhaps never been equaled there Is far more fiction than truth in the accounts of the royal spend thrifts of former ages for instance the statement that caesar s supper bills tor four months more than sterling or almost ao 20 is probably exaggerated some explanatory notes are needed also with the anecdote of antony div ing his cook a town of 35 innab stants next morning very likely an tony rebuked him tor failing to take a joke bat 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 la 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 j marquis ot 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 tor the strain 0 throwing millions away anglesey castle in wales was never so charming nor go gay as dur ing the brief tenancy of the young 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 ot jewelry was sold during his 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 ot the sale would be known as the day of waistcoat poems another as bath gown day and so on america has had its snare 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 acpal oil johnny his reign lasted but a few months but in that short period actually seven months he is said to have squandered 3 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 for his property i unique rich men he began by lining his clothing with bank notes he pinned some on his coat he 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 free another time he had a bathtub filled with champagne and took a bath in the costly liquid he backed a minstrel company fre he hired a cab hen 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 and there were days when he spent as much as now he is down and out and tor 40 years has had to pa with hard work tor 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 enjoy himself in a bizarre manner scotty is the owner of a mysterious gold mine in death valley and cautiously brings its products east in 5 parcels at a time re bently he was starring in a play writ ten around his adventures and at the same time acting as angel for the ente prise the amount of scotty s wealth has never been disclosed but 14 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 is not very communicative he drawls when put to it that perhaps he has a mine and perhaps he |