The Man Who Spent Like a Lord—and Might Have Been Nobody

A stranger who arrived from San Francisco on April 27, aboard the steamer that brought him to Puget Sound, took quarters at the Northern Hotel and set the house guessing. He spent money “like a prince,” and the talk was that he was none other than Lord Sholto Douglas, son of the Marquis of Queensberry and brother of Lord Alfred Douglas.

“Why, he’s Lord Sholto Douglas,” whispered one guest, “and he spends his money as though it were water. But he will have to take care of himself. He is known under an assumed name.”

“That is only an assumed one,” said Mr. Day.

The stranger, whether lord or impostor, had an air of mystery. The real Lord Sholto, the report noted, was then in San Francisco recovering from imprisonment on a charge of insanity growing out of an infatuation for a young society girl, and would not be released until after the steamer had left. In Seattle, the man called Wyndham fell in with members of a company and was soon accepted by some as the marquis’s son. He was “a barrel of money,” and to the ladies he gave [gifts]. He took one of the best rooms at the Northern Hotel and one night startled the barkeeper by throwing down several hundred dollars in gold with the remark: “Look after that for me until morning.”

One day Day and Wyndham fell into conversation, and Wyndham said he had been a sailor. Later, when he thought Day was watching him, he would give his trousers a hitch “like sailors do, just so.” Day was not to be duped. Two days after Wyndham’s arrival the two had another talk.

“You’re Lord Sholto Douglas, aren’t you?” demanded Day.

Wyndham did not say yes, but returned Day’s smile with one of those you-can’t-catch-me expressions, and when Day asked how they knew him at Baker alley, Wyndham answered: “Why, they only had me behind the bars for a few minutes.”

He grew more confidential and said he had spent more than $500 in two weeks. He proved he had money by drawing on a San Francisco bank and receiving it promptly. After that he was at the bank several times for small amounts, and the cash came as fast as if he were an actor or a Willie Vanderbilt. He dressed well and was said to look very much like the published cuts of Lord Sholto. He drank considerably, but never got intoxicated. Day was positive the stranger was Lord Sholto, though he admitted he could not understand how that could be when the latter was elsewhere. A call at the hotel last night found that Mr. Wyndham had not yet returned.