A LIFE OF ADVENTURE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3, 1 May 1912, Page 7

A LIFE OF ADVENTURE.

Seldom outside the pages of romance docs one encounter a career so crowded with adventure as that of a debtor whose history -was detailed in London to a meeting of creditors. Donald Francis Stuart-Seton, of Mallroad, Hammersmith, was trained for the army, but he failed in his examination. 'He read for the Bar in Canada, and was never called. Finally he went cattle and horse ranching in Montana, U.S.A. That, the chairman explained, was all fifteen or sixteen years ago. He had come of age a few years before, and then fortune smiled. His guardian handed him £25,000. The money had been left in trust, for him. After about a year in London the debtor had ran through the greater part, of the, fortune. He went to Canada, taking with him about £7ooo—all that was /left of his fortune. 1 He bought a £oooo share m\a ranch, but eighteen months to two rears later he sold out at a loss, receiving £I2OO. About the same time he purchased a share in the Green River Valley mining claim, and out of that he made a profit of some £BOO. In addition, he received as his. share of the sale a sum of £IOOO. He next ranched again—for eleven months—at El Paso, Now Mexico. More than once in his life the debtor has lost all his money in some aring'venture. One of the most romantic'of these was the fitting out of an expodit : on for a, treasure hunt at Yucatan. Central America. The expedition lasted for live months. At the end of that time he drifted to New Orleans with no means whatever. He then tried pearl fishing. He sailed to Australia, 'and was engaged for two months, jointly with another person, iu pearl fishing and dredging on some islands north of the Caroline Islands. He afterwads made his vav to San Francisco, and received the sum of £OOOO as his share of the sale of the pearls found. k further stroke of fortune came. hr way "With that money he acquired shares in the •■ -,Ued, Star Mining Company, and cleared in a few days £11,000.' "Hi. ■'.,. k Then he turned to revolution. lie went to New York, andhput £OOOO into. •an expedition bavm.gr for its objective. a revolution in Hondumifu lln that venture, however, he lost his money. In 1896, he further stated, he was in Matabeleland, and cleared about £7OOO in trading. .There he joined the Belawayo field force. He afterwards went to Angola, where he was again engaged in trade, m'ako'ngi about £looo< but in 1393 he wasfcompelled to rch turn to England in consequence of illHe was, however, in the same year able to go to Canada, again. He bought for £2OOO some land at Vancouver, but in the following year was back in England again with a batch of options, which he sold more or less at 1 in .the vears 1901-190-!- he was backwards and forwards between England and Canada with one or two visits to Australia thrown in, making money out Of further deals in options. In 1901 after another deal in land- in Vancouver, the debtor took to the writing of short stories, and afterwards worked a betting svstein on which lie lost £ISOO. " , . In February. 1909, he began to dovelcn bis land at Vancouver, which was becoming of value by reason of its timber. The debtor had roughly estimated his liabilities at £4200, and disclosed no assets of any value. One of the misfortunes which befel him was the destruction of timber and sawmills in Vancouver, and to tins he attributed his failure. He did not appear in Court, and :\ resolution for the appointment of a trustee was declared'not carried. The matter was thus left in the hands of the Official Receiver.