A SIMPLE MILLIONAIRE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8764, 15 March 1907, Page 4

A SIMPLE MILLIONAIRE.

Mexico City, December 23.

Alvarado, the richest man in Mexico, who began life- ■■ as a working miner, and lias accumulated in less than a decade a fortune estimated at j from £10,000,000 to £30,000,000, is probably the most remarkable millionaire in the world. He is still an unspoilt child of nature, who retains the simple habits and manners of the Mexican people. He lives in a gorgeous Italian palace which lias a piano in every room, but his favourite apartment is a rough cellar in which he spends most of his time. There he gave an interview, sitting on a case of the finest champagne, and drinking cheap Mexican beer. He has never yet visited the*capital and with the exception of a few brief trips to the State town has never been beyond his native Parral, where he knows by name every man, woman and child. A long string of beggar.? lines the approach to his mansion every day, and he walks down the row and gives alms to each. His servants and advisers are the wise old Mexicans of the town, and his greatest friend is|the aged priest who sings weekly mass in his private chapel. Alvarado knows little of civiilsation, and cares less. Money is to him only a toy. He has no conception of its potentialities, and his only idea of spending it is in charity.' His gorgeous palace is furnished in execrable fashion, and thousands of canaries fly about the palace. The dining room is decorated with native fixtures built on the general design of Gothic churches. The great oak table is covered with well-worn oilcloth. 2 The chapel is filled with ga,udy church fittings ornamented with gold aud tinsel. The drawing-room contains a dozen large mirrors, with mantel-pieces before each of them, and an onormous quantity of ornate gilt furniture. Cheap and gaudy trinkets sold by wily travellers to the simple millionaire are scattered about in confusion. Alvarado confessed that he hated it all, and only maintained it because his friends had urged him to live in a manner befitting the dignity of his great wealth. These friends are the miners and peons with whom ho associated a few years ago. There is no story in all the annals of mining romance that reads like the rise of Pedro Alvarado. His father owned the mine, and thero he spent his youth in penury, daily working, and always animated by the hope that he would strike a rich vein. In 1901 he struck the groat bonanza that has made the La Palmilla mine one of the .most famous in the world as a a producer of gold and silver. His mine is now equipped with electric light and hoists fed from generators opor; t;d by water power from a ueigiil ouriug stream. Alvarado is oiily S 3, with the traces of camp life [till clinging to him, and overawed by the civilisatiolm which has left him far behind. Did you ever stop to think that Chamberlain's Pain Balm lias in many instances cured a sprained ankle in less than a week by simply being applied before the parts become inflamed or swollen ? For sale by T. H. Brodin, Marfcon; Ellis Bros., Hunter ville, and W. B. Clark, Bulls.