The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-03-31

Astor the great American millionaire, has ct length
Joined his kindred dust, and fulfilled his destiny. His
funeral we believe, will take place tomorrow He has
bsen extraordinary man. and the press Of this and
other cities will 10 eager to publish everything connect
cd with him. Yesterday We published an outline
Of his life but It Q mere outline. volume
or two could be written on tho subject indeed,
We understand that full account Of his life, from the
of Me- Washington Irving and probably dictated by
Mr.. Aston in his lifetime is in press and will be issued
In few days. His early life and subsequent career
have been remarkable and curious In the year 1893
Mr. Aston had accumulated fortune Of two hundred
and fifty or three hundred thousand dollars, and
i-s-.-s--. So .-Li-s ~~>sy 70 mako hinaelf
still more wealthy At this time the bank directors
In discounting his notes. always predicted his failure
at an early day and made their calculations according
~ About this period. too. he conceived the purpose
ofbuilding ship called the Beaver and frsighting her
with goods suited the taste of the Indians In Oregon
He accordingly loaded her with trnkes the valus
fifteen thousand dollars and the vessel sailed for the
Columbia river where they bsrered to the In dams
Tor fur Of all kinds especially the skin the blue fox
which highly priced. From the proceeds Of the trim
ksts he received full cargo Of furs these were deg
patched to the Canton Market and again battered for
tea Whom the Beaver left tina. port her cargo ex
chspgefor the furs valued ct two hundred thou
sand dollars and whsn it disposed Of in New York.
speculation amounted to much as to make Mr. Aston
worth the immense Of six hundred thousand dol.
lars.
II Mr. Aston was industrious in the accumulation of
riches he lk wise very penurious and niggardy in
money matters What he saved he kept and locked up
to the day Of his death. He would however, never OBJ
jeot tn subscribing for charitable objects when solicited
to do so but would almost invariably insist upon hav
ing others subscribe FIRST He led immensely to his
riches by purchases Of State stocks bonds and mort
cages 60 in the financial crisis of 1885 and 'a7 He
was willing purchaser Of mortgages from their needy
holders at less than thor ce and when they became
due hs forccossd them and purchased the mortgsg sd
property at the ruinous prices which ranged at that
time. few weeks before his death, he sent q
undrtd thousand dollars each to Mrs. Lang
ON and Mrs Coles, for ths purpose, as is sup
cssd, Of economy, and to keep them from troubling
his executors. When the idea first occurred to him Of
bsqueathing funds to establish extensive public IL
brsry in New York, which was suggested, we under
stand by playful paragraph in of the newspapers
hs sent for mon, sud requested him draw up spsei-
1caons of the probable cost Of the building In few
days the specifications forthcoming and seemed to
Plesoe Mr.. Astor very much. After looking at thsm
for while, he enquirsd what the outlay for tho nrst
year would DO, and informed that would be pro.
badly sixty.hvs thousand dollars That will do" said
Mr. Aston, rising from bis chair and placing the speci
Hostons in q largo trunk where they have remained
<rnn hat av IN hsn