Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1906)
- in A r VvyTi t vv - .., . . i... if :... . - . ijiin ' 9 Tjr J? V u 1 rf l ijrr ,,sa .7va ir ;ib,.- . ., ... i t' - b W Millionaires Encourago ll z- v . .r " ' ; Their Sons . '. ; ikMl::. -vi' V.':";- ' M' . f-p;C; ' i: VSil Fitness.- i1:,' ' ...... Jl I v V I I Ur-J.;i iX I " - C- T. .y .-i. -V, , If. f V s, At 7V J&SiA& ZZZ&SJ BY DEXTER MARSHALL ORE than ever before the rich man- his country strives nowadays "iterest his son In athletics to give him a sound body, that he may have the physical strength and the courage that KOes with It to He-ht the hntfle whatever It may be, that is surely his lo fight. For the -rich man has his battle to wapc in this repuhlic as certainly as the toor man. and if he doesn't fiRht it well he may lose all his wealth. Leaving out those which are .invested in city real es ,tate, a surprising proportion of the great American fortunes are of the sort that ivum nus e iinHV ran n v I nipKS Ynnn- Bged by master hands, and It is being understood today, as never before, that Derfect nhvsical health is a. rvrime rpnuU -eite to any one who would maintain the Jay Gould, himself a physical weakling, 'who died comparatively young because lie wasn't strong enough to stand the strain, understood the situation and Bhowed it by encouraging his son George In ajl sorts of athletic sports. George Gould, therefore, is bringing up his boys to the athletic life. Result he is al most always in a condition of nearly perfect health, while his sons are all ath letic; Kingrton is a famous tennis ex- pert and champion of America, .lacking only one of being world's champion. Without his extraordinary physical fit ness, George Gould never could have picked up and extonded the threads of his father's plans as he has, and un doubtedly Kingdon Gould will find his flne physical constitution, developed un der the direct care of his father a greater esset even than his millions. The August Belmonts furnish another Instance of devotion to physical training. Like Jay Gould, the first August Bel mont was little of an athlete, but he en couraged his sons to be athletic, and two of them at least followed his advice. Perry Belmont was a member of one of the lirst polo teams that ever played in this country. The present August has been a famous cross-country rider as well as polo player, a hunter and a yachtsman, while his sons play a better game today than their father. It has taken the Vanderbilts four gen erations to learn the lesson, and they have only half learned it at that. The old Commodore got his physical develop ment and splendid bodily . health sailing a boat to earn a living more than 100 years ago. but William H. was much less robust, and died years younger than the Commodore. Cornelius, the second, died earlier than William H.' of overwork. Had his body been toned up properly by lively physical training he might be alive and efficient today. None of his broth ers is, or ever was. especially athletic, though William K. devotes a good deal of money to the support of the turf in France and Frederick drives trotting horses. The late Russell Sage, a con temporary of William H. Vanderbilt, was physically efficient away past 80. He had the severe bodily training' in youth that Rives endurance, though, to be sure, it came because he had to earn his living Dy wnat was virtually manual ianor. . Of the fourth Vanderbilt generation William K., Jr., is the most active; his AUIU OI1U UVOl IIUVIII IllCtJ I1UL properly be termed athletic exercise per haps, but the sport has given him a de gree of bodily health that will enable him to take successfully the business reins now hold by his father, the real Vander bilt head, if he ever chooses to do so. The chief obstacle to the success in af fairs which otherwise might be his is the lack or abounding nealtn .on the part of . the present Cornelius Vanderbilt. Alfred Gwynne is a stronger man, because of his fondness for four-in-hand driving, . but neither he nor his brother Reginald, whose polo-playing is rather a Joke, has the robust health that vigorous physical exercise would give. ; lanious Millionaires' Gymnasium. ' It is because of their conviction that a vigorous physical regimen is necessary to the preservation of their fortunes, as well a the enjoyment of life, that so many modern American millionaires are laying lj in this country strives nowadays ' f , ' - j - 'fZff. J' J f?SS17LE &yyVXJZCSSl lAtVZXMO? OT SZArJ- - - I , asj )$ .- - - if v.y. - -- . mi m i i ---. ..-.,.-.-- -w . v i i ...... T , I ' r-; x tffary t - - C-r , ill out a good deal of money upon exercise plants of one sort and another. You have read about their private golf links, their private racecourses and their polo fields for years; their private gym nasiums are less exploited, but in many a multi-millionaire's establishment these days the private gymnasium is a feature as carefully provided for as any of the others. It is comparatively a new thing, however. The first cost of a reasonably complete gymnasium ie something for even a Croesus to consider. Wkhout the private gymnasium, however, to be ath letic the rich man must mingle with a more or less common crowd, as William Waldorf Astor and Hermann Oelrichs used to, at the New York Athletic Club, no that the private gymnasium has come to stay. ' George Gould's gymnasium is included in his famous Casino at Lakewood. John Jacob Astor' s, by no means so complefy is at hie up-the-Hudson estate, Ferncliffe. Senator Clark's is mostly a swimming bath, but the principle is the same. One of the most costly and complete private gymnasiums in the country Js maintained by the various Pratt families in Brooklyn. Considering their great wealth and po tent influence in many great business en terprises, the Pratts are hidden from the ken of the general public to a remark able degree. They are big factors in Standard Oil, their holdings in the Long Island Railroad, which the Pennsylvania purposes to exploit to the tune of mil lions, are heavy, and, their combined wealth must be such as to place the Pratt fortune among the two dozen great est in the whole country. . Charles Pratt, the founder of the fam ily, was a big man in oil while yet John D. Rockefeller was wondering whether he could make good with his gigantic trust or not. When the Standard was formed it wae Pratt, and not the Rockefellers, who had the whip hand, and he mlghtj ntve kept It nad he been so minded. The Pratt Institute, a trade school and.' more, founded in Brooklyn nearly 20 yearg ago. has served as a model for most of the institutions of a similar nature founded since then, including the Car negie Institute in Pittsburg and the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia. The Pratt gymnasium located near the institute and near the Pratt resi dences. It, is a two-story red brick building, and, including the apparatus must have cost fully J50.000. Its larg est room is about 75x50 feet In dimen sions; it contains about every facility for physical exercise to be found In any college, athletic club or profes sional gymnasium, except a running track and a swimming" tank, and there' are seven or eight smaller rooms for tennis courts, etc., besides a kitchen and a dining-room. In that building you may bowL THE SUNDAY shoot, play pool or billiards, box in a room reserved for boxing and punch-ing-bag exercise swing on the trap eze, pull weights and go through the entire list of stunts that are supposed to be physically beneficial that is, if you are a Pratt or a friend'of a Pratt, under the supervision of a paid expert in gymnastic exercises, the same as If the gymnasium were a public' one or belonged to some institution or' athlet ic club. It is used by all the Pratt families, of which there are three or four, and I am told that each family has the freedom of the building on cer tain days only. Fox Hunting for Physical Develop ment. It has been a tradition among the British for generations that no other sport or exercise whatever would go so far to implant physical courage in the human breast as cross-country rid ing following the hounds on horse back. In this the dashing cavaliers of the Southern States have always coincided, but it wasn't until some years after the Civil War's close that it became a standard sport for the multi-millionaires of the East. Theodore Roose velt -ras one of the most enthusiastic fox hunters in America, until he was made President. On one of his hunts over the famous Meadowbrook course he was thrown and had his arm broken without being feazed enough, to make him tell anyone but the doctor about it. Had the latter kept still no one would ever have known of the acci dent, for Roosevelt withdrew quietly and rode home, stopping to telephone on the way for a surgeon to go to Oyster Bay and set the fractured bones. The most enthusiastic cross-country rider in the United States and prob ably the one with the most endurance, despite his 60-odd years, is peter Fen elon Collier, the millionaire publisher, who is now master of the Meadow brook. Hunt. He plays polo with much skill ami enthusiasm, too, but fox hunt ing is his chief sport He began to ride to the hounds in Ireland when only 12 years old, and by the time he was ready to come to America, four years later, had added to his original stock of the sort of physical courage men call nerve whatever was needed to make him one of the most fearless riders that ever bestrode a horse. He didn't do much cross-country rid ing the first few years he was in Amer ica, for two reasons: First, there was then practically no fox hunting at all around New York, where he located, and, second, he was too poor to Indulge if there had been. By the time the sport was beginning- to develop Itself OltEGONIAN, PORTLAND, H . jrt&f. ill I I MM In America, p. F. Collier had enough money to join in, however, and for more than 20 years he has done as much cross-country riding as anybody on this side of the water; perhaps he holds the record. At all events he holds the record for one day's exercise of that variety ac complished last year; when, between sun rise and sun set, he led three sep arate hunts on Long Island, and cov ered almost 30 miles. This distance is nothing extraordin ary in straight riding for a hardened horseman, but it is very much out of the common following the hounds, espe cially for a man of his age. Meadow brook has never had another M. F. H. who has done as much, and it is doubtful if any of his predecessors of any age could have endured it. P. F. Collier is described by experts as a "nervy" but cool and level-headed rider, never afraid, but never running rashly into danger; always able to gauge distances to a nicety, so that he rarely suffers an accident. He had a very nasty fall six or seven years ago, which laid him up for some time. His country home is near Red Bank, N. J., and Is known as the Kennels. He has AUGUST 26, 1906. 60 couples tf. hounds at the Kennels and at Wickitunk.N. J., and his horses, including hunters, polo ponies and driv ing animals, number threestore. Whenever he is M. F. H. at Meadow brook, as now, he leases a house near the course and transfers some of his horses, and dogs to Long Island, from which it is easy to infer that the sport as he enjoys It costs him a few dollars every season. He is not quite so busy at his business nowadays as formerly, but there used to be stories of his leav ing the office at midday, after having done a full day's work. Just in time to get a train, on the baggage car of which his horses had already beeri loaded. During the run to Hempstead he would eat luncheon, change from business clothes to hunting costume and arrive on the minute for the begln- ning of a run. After it was over he would again seek a baggage ear, and, while rolling homeward over the rails, would Indulge in a sponge bath and a rubdown, after which he would don his evening clothes, timing his arrival ex actly to meet a dinner engagement. Mr. Collier studied for the priesthood when young. He admires this country, but he says the best horses for cross country riding come from Ireland, be cause they are better trained there. He admits that American dogs may be best for following the fox in America, but at least half of his dogs are imported from Ireland. When he has neither a hunt nor a polo match on, he likes to get to work at his office by S o'clock in the morning. He is so busy he hasn't time to go out to be shaved, and so has Installed a barber in a little shop on the roof of, his publishing house. "Best All-Ilound Sportsman." Foxhall Keene,' who preceded P. F. Collier as M. F. H. at Meadowbrook, and Ig the son of James R. Keene. has fol lowed hi father's footsteps In some de gree in racing, though not in much else. His best-known business venture was made as a special partner of the firm of Talhot J. Taylor & Co., and his suc cess was not conspicuous. The firm failed and Keene lost heavily, though he said he was out of pocket "only $io0,000, a mere bagatelle." But in athletics the story of Foxhall Keene Is different. He was for years the best-known American "gentleman sports man." He has made records in almost every variety of sport both at home and abroad. For more than ten years he was a member of every International polo team visiting fcngland, and he has been" the star player at no end of tourna ments. As a horseman he was the ablest in the "gentlemen's set" In his twenties. He was his father's racing partner for years and he has seen their "polka-dot" colors carried to the front In many a hard-fought race. Then he shot pigeons and all the other crack pigeon shooters took to the woods.- In tennis he won a high place. He took .up golf, and though he didn't get the championship, he missed it by the skin of his teeth only. He was long one of the chief figures In the Meadowbrook hunts, and for years was master of the foxhounds. He has dabbled in automoblling aleo. He came in second in the first auto race ever held at Newport, and he represented the Ger man Automobile Club In the great race of 1903 in Ireland. He has participated In many other important races both in this country and abroad, figuring in sev eral smash-ups. One of Foxhall Keene's most prominent characteristic is his fearlessness. He seems posittwly without the sense of physical danger. In one or another of the various sports" in which he delights he has broken an arm. a leg and a collar bone, but every time he has been ready to risk fractured bones again as soon as ever the surgeons could patch him up. He has quite as many enemies as friends among those who know him well, but enemies as well as friends agree that his physical nerve is the ultimate thing in that line. , Foxhall Keene is now in middle life and it is hardly likely that he will win many more laurels In the sporting arena. His, Christian name is identical with the name of his father's racehorse Foxhall, famoua years ago. Whether the man was named for the horse or the horse for the man is unknown to this writer. . Although the movement toward athlet ics Is comparatively a new one among rich Americans, it was not initiated yes terday.. During the 20 years following 1876 Her mann 3elrlch. now a Californlan. but then a New Yorker, of German descent, was the best all-round athlete among the rich men of this country. He didn't es pecially fancy such gentlemanly sports as lawn tennis, however, and golf was then practically unknown in America. Swimming was his greatest delight, but he was a famous boxer, too, and both he and his friends used to think him quite able " to t whip John L. Sullivan In the days of that champion pugilist's prime. Oelrichs once proposed a match with Sullivan for a good-sized purse, atipulat lng. however, that the meeting should be strictly private. Sullivan declined, as he said, because "there wouldn't be anything in It" for him to fight unless the public were to know about it and have a chance to swell the gate receipts to the proper proportions. Oelrichs was exceptionally anxious to prove himself a better man with his fists than "the big 'un," but he coulrtn't bring himself to the point of making a public exhibition as a prize fighter. Sullivan professed to be as thor oughly disappointed as Oelrichs was at the failure of the match, but both men had friends who. familiar with the pow ers of both, said that in his heart Sulli van was thankful they rouldn't meet. As a swimmer Oelrichs easily led the amateurs of his day. Ten-mile swims were easy for him, und one Summer he usd to swim out to the fishing banks from Seahright. N. J., a -distance of three miles, and back every morning to the great worrlment of some of his friends. They bombarded the newspapers with communiaetlons protesting against his recklessness as likely to encourage other and wesker men to try to follow suit at the peril of their lives, not to mention the danger he ran for himself. These communications used to amuse Oelrichs hugely, for in those days his confidence in his own personal powers was nothing less than sublime. It has been said that he could swim hours at a stretch. U was in those days that he got his name into the newspapers from ocean to ocean, and from the cold northern Canad ian shores to the balmy waters of Florida by his scornful disbelief of all stories that sharks were man-eaters. He main tained that no shark would eat a man and offered $i"i00 to sny one who would prove that one of these uig fish had ever attacked a human being. The proof never was forthcoming, and, therefore. Oelrichs held that he had made his point. All the same, there arc many today who are willing to believe the most ultra shark Btories. Though swimming and boxing were his favorite sports, Hermann Oelrichs was a true all-around athlete In his prime. He was a runner, a fencer of unusual ability, an oarsman of great power and an expert horseman. He would walk 20 miles with out resting. He made a scientific study of all forms of exercise and wrote many ar ticles for the newspapers and magazines about them. He was such an enthusiasts member of the New York Athletic Club that when it moved into a new clubhouse, some 15 or 20 years ago, he insisted on meeting all the bills for the jollieation attendant upon the opening. They amounted to about 15000. which he could easily afford, but some members of the club resented his action as "presumptuous"; the club, they said, could afford to pay its own bills Oelrichs heard about this talk and withdrew from Its membership. He never replied to the criticisms, neither has he ever crossed Its threshold since they were made. Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs, you will remem ber, was Miss Tessie Fair. Born on the Pacific Slope, she lives In the East most of the time. Born East, Oelrichs lives West most of his time. He was in San Francisco when the earthquake toppled the city over. He must be not far from 50 now. He has performed no athletic prodigies so far as the publicknows for a number of years. . Some- Young Millionaire Athletes. Some of the younger members of 1h famous Cutting family are pretty fair athletes James de Wolfe Cutting, in par ticular, being rather a notable swimmer and boxer. He has engaged in some un usual swimming matches between Bailey's Beach and the lighthouse at Newport with Charles M. Oelrichs, the brother of Hermann. But James de Wolfe Cutting Is well outclassed by W. Bayard Cutting. Jr., In the eye of the world, because he W. Bay ard, Jr. is not only a fine specimen of all around athleticism, but has the added distinction of being one of the few full bred Americans ever to marry an Eng lish woman of title, despite the amazing number of American - women who had married British noblemen. The marriage took place a little more than five years ago. the bride being Lady Sybil Cuffe, the really beautitul daughter (Concluded on Page 46.)
