Show r How Madrid's Mad Millionaire Gayest and Most I Prodigal al I I 1 i I II II ii of Spenders Died With Witha a Bottle of Champagne in i His Hand While a Cabaret Her r S j i Liveliest v t to the Strains St of ofa a Jazz MADRID ENOR ISODORO DE PEDRAZA SENOR S had bad been gallant and gay and care care- careless careless careless less for the future during all of his glamorous years which was aas why they knew him bim along the European pleasure trails as Isodoro the Magnificent and also as the Mad Millionaire of Madrid He had bad fought a n duel in Havana and inherited a fortune in in Barcelona and spent gold in Paris Pans Rome and London like a Midas on a spree He had been more prodigal of his wealth than Harry Thaw and James Gordon Bennett when they were really prodigal He lIe had com com- competed competed competed with the late King Edward Edwird for ladies' ladies smiles But the swashbuckling grandee was old and at last the time had come for him to die ie Below stairs in his mansion m in Madrid there was the wailing of old retainers over the passing of a beloved master who knew well how to reward Above the servants' servants quarters the cur cur- curtains curtains curtains shut out the sunlight from every room but one In a high bed in that one lay Isodoro the Magnificent At the side of it knelt one of his lovely daughters piously counting her rosary beads and beads and pra ingin undertones undertone's Lit Suddenly a tremor of life seemed to to shoot through the form of the dying man and he raised his hand weakly From the shadows in the corner an anold anold anold old body servant advanced crying and bent down to listen to his masters master's whis whis- whispered whispered whispered instruction while the girl prayed on Then the servant retired and a few minutes later there filed into the cham sham chamber ber as strange a collection of human bein as ever gathered at the bedside of ofa a dying man There was Felicia a cabaret girl hur hurriedly aroused from her beauty nap in ina a hotel not far from the royal ro al palace and wearing the scanty costume of the dance There were jazz musicians who shambled in shame as if they expected to be ordered to the right right- about Bringing up the rear was Pedro major majordomo majordomo majordomo domo of the Magnificent Ones One's magnificent magnificent cent wine cellar bearing trays tras glasses and champagne cham Play PIa mumbled Isodoro the Magnificent Magnificent Magnificent cent who did what he liked and would be gay to the end and the jazz musicians played Dance he be whispered to the girl and she swayed into a dance that pulsated with life and youth routh and love even there thero therein in the chamber of death To your health laughed Isodoro the theMa Ma dragging himself up on one elbow and nd trying to lift the glass to his lips But the gesture never was com com- The glass crashed to the floor Falling Palling back he mumbled It It has been a goo goo Wife a very ver good life and to the end end The entertainers who did what they did because they knew they'd be paid escaped in hi a hurry from the luxurious room The old body servant sniffled milled as ashe ashe asbe he be arranged the hands and closed the piercing eyes and went out to summon the embalmers By the side of the bed the girl still prayed Artist to his tips finger Isodoro the Magnificent died as he had lived follow follow- following following following ing pleasures pleasure's golden trail to the very cry end So closed the career of a man who surely was a n throw back a survival from the days of the Conquistadores Certainly there are few like him now in sleepy conventional old Spain Born in Barcelona about seventy years ago Isodoro Pedraza had only good goodblood goodblood goodblood blood for a birthright and adopted the tho army as a career lIe He became an ensign and then a military and in that capacity he went to Cuba where adventure imme immediately imme- imme immediately immediately claimed him for tor her own The first thing he did was fall all in love Jove with a girl of the cabarets The next was to discover that t at another man had r. r corner of her heart He lie invited the other man manto manto manto to a supper and in m her presence prel ence they r I s 4 a Propped up in 1 bed the dying millionaire poured himself a 1 glass of cham cham- champagne chamI H the physicians i 5 u I t y Tw ciana had strictly strict Y 1 forbidden Play he murmured to theco the jazz musicians who had come at his co com j r E y mand Dance he whispered to beautiful Felicia and she swayed c f K K Into a dance that pulsated with life fife and youth and love The doomed ti 2 use A aS man mans man's s lovely daughter tea tearfully rf u Il y praying p rat y ng at his bedside was the only r si sign n that this room filled with music of death and gayety was really a chamber i N f for exceptional service seni service e but never less a D The initial visit of the Magnificent 4 L. L p. p One to England will till not soon suon be for for- Jk h f t z 1 gotten J Staid old England had not seen r j 1 anything quite like him since ine the days daya of the Armada Isodoro bought or i v hf a estates notably ft f Q rented several country j w Hall Norfolk and he settled b w dow dew with his wife and babies on the F latter otter 1 estate and tried to turn country squire r a There is a vast difference though beThere be- be t twell a squire ire and a grandee gr andee and the country people did not know how to take him His bursts of Oriental generosity w astonished them and his love of display disturbed them The squires let him a x x a alone after they found telling him a athing athing r I i a t D thing being done by really nice N r people had no effect at all t e w F Ff l Wishing to show the peasants and yeo ye- yel yeomen f men on his estate his concern for them r he invited them all to a holiday feast on sa aa his Blickling Hall property and they Z 4 4 went w t. t f Probably they expected a heavy sub substantial s dinner a little talk by the Master l 1 r. r a pint or so of bitter ale and a f kindly good a r i I Isodoro the Magnificent didn't do l. l r things that way He a had oxen roasted tea ate lS ry q whole on his lawn Senorita Maria de Caballe who owes her title of Dancer to the Court of Spain to the dead millionaires millionaire's influence duelled and de Pe Pedraza's raza's opponent was killed Somehow or other he faced down the Cuban authorities and escaped from that dilemma arriving back in Spain without a Q dollar in his pocket A little bit later late he bobbed up as the favored suitor of a gently born relative of the Duke of Seville and after an ardent courtship he married her The very next day a relative in Barcelona died and left him all his money The exact size of that fortune never has been established Certainly it was well over Isodoro the Mag Mag- Magnificent Magnificent Magnificent spent magnificently but he had bad the golden touch too and in later years promoted many ventures that added millions mil mil- millions millions lions to his coffers When he became a multi-millionaire multi he lost no time building up that reputation reputation reputation tion for Oriental splendor almost bar bar- barbaric barbaric barbaric baric generosity and profligate spending that attended him until he died The boulevards of Paris and the streets of London Vienna and Rome came soon to o know him He was friendly first and last with many women par par- particularly particularly particularly of the theater yet his wife never objected nor is f there proof that he wronged her in liking a pretty young face or delighting to spend a small for tor- fortune fortune tune tunc to entertain a charming actress or adventuress The Thu Sonora Senora often traveled with him r t t Isodoro the Magnificent was a great admirer of Spindly Spinally the French stage beauty and was the first to pronounce her back the most beautiful in inthe inthe inthe the world and he showered her with the symbols of affection and respect He ne persuaded her to spend money on a regal scale and her jewels were the envy of the ladies ladies- waiting in-waiting in- in at the wealthy Spanish court It was was simply that as he grew ew older he longed for gayety and apparently she wanted him to have what he wanted soboth so soboth soboth both were satisfied La Belle Otero was wa one one of the women he once delighted delight d to honor honor and and that gifted crazy dancer is only a name to toe the e young men of to He ne gave champagne parties for f for r Cleo de Merode before she was made world- world famous by King Leopold of Belgium When Clara Ward was trying to get rid of her husband the Prince de deChimay deChimay deChimay Chimay de Pedraza liked to be seen in her carriage and to have her at table with him and minded the discomfiture of his brother aristocrats not at all It was he be who first said Spinally had the most beautiful back in the world and the most beautiful legs and got the Ue latter to Insure her limbs It was he be who bet Delysia French comic opera star she did dare to appear in tight skin-tight at the Covent Co Co- Covent vent Garden Ball in London and almost got the poor girl arrested Shortly after coming into his fortune C UT tj 17 Jo ra Isodoro the Mag Magnificent paid Pier Pier- Pierpont Pierpont ier- ier pont Morgan for a steam yacht acht and began to cruise up J and down the Mediterranean Mediterranean Mediterranean like a sea ea king Occasionally he would land to give the Continent a anew anew anew new thrill as when he lost Jost in seven minutes in a quiet little game of baccarat at the t e Sporting Club at Monte Carlo In Vienna Na Naples pIes ples Madrid and Rome people fol tot of or barrels a n a of ale propped up j fl under the hedges j and enough wines i a and liquors to make several sevE-ral shiploads of hard bitten n pirates s 6 Si 0 merry d F z s t The The good people t r r f x of the t e estate got drunk and fought F on the way home homes t d s l y over the pound five-pound notes he ho gave to o I. I h each h ho and every oer ry de de- departing deh departing y r parting guest But Isodoro or o was the tZ the Y Y Magnificent still He lie paid all the t fines tines He lIe sold the tho r estate shortly af af- afterward afterward but b t the theold theold theold old hall hail hasn't 4 I looked the same sames s place since In London de dePedraza dePedraza Pedraza blazed a aThe aThe The late Senor Isodoro de Pe Pe- Pedraza trail by his profligate draza as he looked at the height gate spending lie He of the career that amazed Europe entertained nightly in the West End in the sweet street s et some of the ignorant actually imagining there was golden magic in the touch of or- his garments The day he became rich Senor Iso Iso- Isodoro Isodoro Isodoro doro made a rule never to tip a waiter less Jess than 25 and never ne to hand a porter less than 5 for opening his hi carriage door lie He observed that rule to the dy he died Often he gave more on ice ec Once he picked up whole omnibus loans loa s of paper sellers street walkers waifs and strays and bought them a supper in m ma ina a swagger restaurant It cost him 1000 In another West End restaurant he ordered that a special range be set up in the room dining-room and his dinner cooked before his eyes That whim cost him 1250 50 Cab drivers and waiters pointed d him out with awe Cafes fought for his patronage Hotels Hot ls he he stopped at were Senor de Pedraza was an ultra fas dresser dreser and his h 3 bills for for suits suits and linens were enormous He had his handkerchiefs specially made for him in in Belfast at a cost of each His shirts had to be embroidered by hand and id cost him in proportion The case in which he carried his toilet articles was made of solid gold As the years flew he acquired a fleet of yachts yachts three three to be exact and exact and his automobiles always were the best ob ob- tamable At the table dinner-table he knew what he h wanted and insisted on getting it He lIe was an authority on wines particularly particularly particularly champagne and carried his own when he went abroad During the war Isodoro the Magnificent Magnificent cent made one of his most magnificent and characteristic gestures Early in inthe inthe inthe the war he tried to help the men in the prison camps of both the Allies and the Central Powers He lie put up nearly of his own to purchase com com- comforts comforts forts for them In French and English camps he had no difficulty In Germany however a bureaucrat ordered him to leave and the hot-blooded hot hidalgo did n H Hnot not forget M The most profligate spender of his generation Senor de Pedraza's fortune never dwindled appreciably for the swashbuckling di g grandee had a good busi busi- business business business ness head on his shoulders and was a successful promoter when he wanted to dabble in m trade It was he who planned to light the whole of London by hydraulic he lie power generated by the e Thames tide It was he who authored the scheme for electrified railway lines all over Spain and later Europe On his last last trip to Paris Isodoro seemed to feel that death was about to put put a finger on his shoulder and call him home from rom play for he outdid himself All those lovely ladies he had de- de def delighted delighted lighted f n to wine ne and dine on prior visits visits visits- the Dolly Sisters and Delysia Del sia Gaby Mor- Mor Morey Morley ley and Jean ey Nash the worlds world's most roost extravagant woman-were woman entertained again Sometimes his wife wiCe or his charm charm- charming charming ing daughters would be present They They usually traveled with him himA A short time before he dIed he at- at attended attended t tended f the show at the Moulin Rou Rouge and asked all the ladies and of the cast to be gentlemen his after guests at t an alter after theater supper In addition he invited d other friends including Delysia and the Do Dolly DoIly ly Sisters The supper upper was at the Cafe des Anglais and the table was cov cov- covered ered covered not no with linen but with franc 1000 notes notes hundreds hundreds of them l lAfter After the repast the dishes were re- re removed removed moved and Delysia danced Then Isodoro the Magnificent and Mischievous in- in invited invited his guests to take the money Frocks ks were torn and feelings fractured in the scramble that ensued and some of the ladies haven't ha f nt spoken n. n to one another since |