The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-01 00:00:00

MISFORTUNES OF A MISER.—Much gossip has been
indulged in for some days past in this city, arising
out of a serious loss that has befallen an old
woman named Anne Woodward, an inmate of St.
Bartholomew's Hospital. This individual has been
a recipient of the benefits of the above cha-
ritable institution for a period of about thirteen
years, and at the time of her election some of her disap-
pointed competitors stated to she Committee of Trustees
that she was possessed of wealth. This, however, she so-
lemnly denied, and on being elected into this most com-
fortable and benevolentasylum, she fell on her knees, and
implored the blessing of the Almighty upon the trustees
for having saved her from perishing of starvation. It now
appears that the old creature acted the part of a shameless
hypocrite and a fradulent impostor on a most praise-
worthy institution ; fur it has just transpired that at
the time of her election, when she affected to be in a
state of abject misery, she possessed a fortune sufficient
to maintain her in decency and comfort to the end of her
days. Her wealth has, however, now taken to itself wings,
for by the default and embarrassments of a gentleman in
whom she placed trust, she has sustained the loss of her se-
cret hoard, to the extent, it is stated, of considerably more
than a thousand pounds. The history of the old woman,
as it has been told to us, is a somewhat curious one.
She is now about 80 years of age. Several years ago
she bestowed her affections upon a man named Wood-
ward, who accepted them rather reluctantly, she being, we
believe, considerably his senior; but as she was very
urgent in her courtship, and had, moreover, the reputa-
tion of possessing a well-stocked purse, Woodward
surrendered himself to the impetuosity of her wooing,
and married her at Newent. After the marriage she de-
clared she had not a shilling in the world; and in proof of
this she practised such a system of rigid economy in her
household arrangements, that she very nearly starved her
husband to death. They entered upon a lodging-house in
Cheltenham, but her husband, not relishing the idea of
being attenuated to a walking skeleton, determined to
seek his fortune elsewhere alone, and by mutual agree-
ment a separation took place, the husband wending
his way to London, in the hope of enjoying
once more the luxury of a full meal, and his
wife remaining behind as lodging-house-keeper at
Cheltenham. She, however, soon followed his ex-
ample, sold off her goods, and departed also, no one
knew whither, and for a number of years nothing more
was seen or heard of her. In process of time her hus-
band was gathered to his fat-hers, and then, as if she had
dropped from the clouds, his widow again made her
appearance on the scene, and succeeded in persuading
the dispensers of charity in Gloucester that she was a
fit and proper object for admission into the hospital of
St. Bartholomew. Here she became a recipient of
five shillings and sixpence per week, with
house-rent free, and other perquisites; but her parsi-
monious disposition accompanied her into this retreat,
and it is supposed that she contrived to save and hoard
up at least the one-halt of her weekly allowance. It
has now transpired that at the time of her admission into
the hospital, she had a large sum of money invested in
Government securities, but in a fictitious name; a step
which she is supposed to have resorted to, in order to pre-
vent her husband's heirs from laying claim to any part of it.
Lately, the state of her affairs was communicated in con-
fidence to a gentleman held in much esteem in this
city and neighbourhood, but whose pecuniary embarrass-
ments unfortunately caused him in this instance to fall a
victim to temptation. It was felt by some of the old woman's
nearest relatives, who expected to be benefited by her
will, and who well knew how her money was deposited,
that after her death some difficulty might be experienced
in obtaining payment of Government Stock standing in
a fictitious name ; and the gentleman above alluded to,
it is stated, advised that the Stock should be sold
out and re-invested. The selling-out was accom-
plished by him on her behalf, but the re-invest-
ment was postponed, and finally, the affairs of
the gentleman have become so involved that he has left
the country, and the old woman's long-cherished secret
store (of some 1,2001. it is said) has vanished. Still,
notwithstanding the magnitude of her loss, she receives,
and probably deserves, but little sympathy ; for, with
ample means to exist in independence, she has for thir-
teen years been eating the bread of charity, and by so
doing has for the whole of that period been perpetrating
a gross fraud, and has stood in the way of really de-
serving objects being benefited by benevolence which
was intended for the unfortunate and destitute.—Glou-
ceste7 Journal.