New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-09-27
The rd,osynerae,es of New York Misers.
From the New York Citizen.

From the New York CitizeH.j
It is not generally known that New York at the |
present time contains a large number of mlsers. |
as nveterate and degraded as any on record, and |
if we had space we would give series OF por- |
traits of avarice and wealth which would make
the reader shudder. Many of these miserable old
business men who have Withdrawn from active |
life and still keep up their faded ana weather |
stained signs and beneath the garb of trade ply !
their money-saving habits. These men will be |
found sitting solitary in dingy Offices, filled with
cObWebS and thick with the dust OF years Money
borrowers know where to go, and here these pale
and thread-bare fossils receive their best secuIl-
ties for their daily loans. Some OF these half
starved wretchcs, whose trembling hands can
hardly sign check, can draw for sums that
| would shake bank One of the richest men i'll
| the city is now to be found in just such dmgy
hole as we have described, where he loans enor
NOUS sums daily. He was merchant once, ana
his old sign is still up; ana inside all things remain
as they were a half century ago. He suffers daily
for the comforts of life, butai this is compensated
| for by the pleasure Of accumulation. They
come to me to beg" said the old man to an
acquaintance, "and there's not beggar in New
| York that does not live as l do "a statement
which was quite true.
A specimen Of the better class of this genus
was given in the late Exchange Place robbery
where Rufus Lord, man upward of four score,
was the solitary occupant OF an office which con
tanned between 81 900 900 and S2O00,000 in stocks
and SeCurties-all his own Here this old man
sat, day after day, accumulating at the rate of
$1,000 per week, no doubt hoping in due time to
q
the Job was one of the neatest and most success
E full ever done in New York.
The late Stephen Whitney was a striking in
stance of the commercial miser. When we knew
him he had made about SO 900 900, and at the age
of seventy-fige was trying hard to get rich, The
person and counteuance of this wretched man
; was a study. The tremulOus form, the sharpened
features and the soliCtous eye, told Of the one
idea which mastered the soul. Mr. Whitney was
in his day to be seen habituaIly in Wall street,
+ picking his way along among the brokers and
k buying notes, of which he was good judge. He
bought none but the best, and seldom made bad
purchase.
a His son.in-law was in a heavy business, but his
paper was not considered tirst-rate; the only
chance of his successes being that the old man
would keep him up. This chance we used to heal
often discussed, and on its probabilities his paper
| found market. But the old man did not keep
him up and he showed himself too sharp TO be
gulled by so relative. Mr.. Whitney wa:
l. something Of politician, and occasion the
leaders OF his party came with an application fol
funds for electioneering purposes. Gentlemen
was the reply, 4" / am with you heart and body
AS for money, have none; but to help along
A will come and sit up all night and fold ballots
\. Some of these New York msers are utterly re
f cluse, while others are Social and often meet t.
,e discuss methods of money-making. The groul
le occasionally seen in certain old r0okery, wher
m few millions are represented in hungry form
l. and seedy fament, would be study for an artist
a The great complaint with this class is that " in
If terest is down money is cheap and the country
is going to ruin. Only five per cent on good paper
1t and six on bond and mortgage; and as for sever
n thirties, they pay well enough, but one may &c
at his throat cut taking care Of them. The world
" made up OF thieves and beggars, and there's Il
t. use of trying to get along.''