WHY SWOPE NEVER MARRIED.
John C. Gage Talks of the Younger
Days of Kansas City's Benefactor.
When John C. Gage came to Kansas City in 1859 Colonel Swope had been here two years. From about 1862 to 1866 they had offices together in Colonel Swope's building on the east side of Main street between Third and Fourth streets. The building, with others in the block, has recently been torn down to make room for a city market.
"Although Colonel Swope was a lawyer and a graduate of Yale," said Mr. Gage yesterday, "he never practiced law. Even as a young man he was often depressed in spirits and used to go for days at a time and never speak to his nearest friends. When it was over, however, he was the most affable of men. He suffered greatly from indigestion and stomach trouble as a young man, and we used to attribute his depression to illness.
"Many persons have wondered why Tom Swope never married. I always attributed it to his physical infirmity at a time of life when men most consider matrimony. He was very restless and irritable at times and he knew it.
"Tom Swope was the most farsighted man I ever knew. He seemed determined to get rich when a young man, and showed great ability in picking his investments, not all of which were in this city, by any means. He had investments in St. Louis, Chicago, Kentucky, Tennessee and in the mountains. He made few that did not bring him great gain.
"Many persons thought the habit he had of talking to himself came with old age. As a young man I have heard him talk to himself time and again. He had a habit, which he carried to his old age, of arguing with himself after he had made an investment. At such times he was very severe in his critical arraignment of himself."
