Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-05-01
A Cure for a Heart.Ache.
From the New York Times.l

From the New 1Ork Ilmes.l
Some ten days ago there died in San
Francisco one Of the most singular resi-
dents of the Pacific slope. His name
was William Hewer, and he was English
by birth, and surgeon by profession.
The Golden City has long been known
as kind Of Mecca for eccentric people,
but Of all the oddities who have ever
found their way thither DR.. Hewer was,
perhaps, the most remarkable. He was
Timon, and Shylock sand Kotzebue' s
Stranger rolled into one. For fourteen
years no living soul had been allowed to
enter the room he occupied. In it he
apparently lived life Of abject poverty;
and in it were found, after his death,
cash and securities to the extent of
thousands, besides a rich store of pre-
cious gems. lg aH ~
This strange man was born at Exeter,
England, in 1888. He studied medicine,
aud got his degree from the Royal College
Of Surgery, Edinburgh, in 1910. Soon
after he obtained a commission in an
artillery regiment. He was a man of
fine powers, delicate Imagination, warm
sympathies, and keen sensitiveness en-
dowed him with the susceptibility both
to pleasure and pain, common to the
possessors of such qualities, and which
makes the issue Of their lives so criti-
cally doubtful. Hewer fell in love with
a beautiful girl who at first returned his
passion, but who seems to have been as
capricious as she was fair. A few years
of happiness followed, and then came
bitter sorrow. Mrs. Hewer went off
with 'frieRd' of her husbands, an
officer in the same regiment, and the
husband was never thereafter the same
man. He became misanthrope and
wanderer on the face Of the earth
Withdrawing from society he lived for
the most part in gloomy seclusion,
enlivened at times by outbreaks of furi-
rious revelry. One thing besides drink
alone appeared to have charms for him;
and that was to ship as surgeon on YES
sells bound for long passages. 1t was in
this way that he came to San Francisco.
He arrived here in the Agincourt just
after the time of Captain Suffers mem
orable discovery, and when the whole
Western world was aglow with the rage
of gold. Sos
The current passion of the hour took
possession of Hewer, and thenceforth
never left him The vacant place in his
heart was ever after filled by an almost
insane avarice. He began to lend
money for usury on diamonds, watches,
and other yaluables, and he boarded up
his treasures with the jealous cunning
of magpie. Virtually he became
pawnbroker, although he disdained the
appellation, and would haughtily resent
its being applied. When stray English
men of education turned up in San
Francisco, the recluse would sometimes
emerge from his den, and embark with
them in frantic orgies that neither age
nor shame ever restrained. When thus
excited he would occasionally exhibit
huge diamonds and pearls, Yerba river
gold of the finest quality, and strange,
old fashioned jewels. In these accu
mutations he took the greatest pride,
and although il was notorious that he |
possessed them, oddly enough he was
never robbed. Probably he took unus-
ual precautions to guard his property, |
and in truth quite magazine Of arms |
was found in his room at the last.
The scene in that room when Hewer's
body was discovered would make ter
rible andimpressive subject for painter.
The old mans body, clothed in quaint,
parti-colored rags, was found bent back
ward over an old chair, the white hair
sweeping the ground. He had been
sloating over box of trinkets, and there
vas burnt-out lamp by its side. All
around was strange medley Of filth and
inery. Broken spittoons and rich bits
If carpets, dried herrings and diamonds;
pieces of old brass and iron, and silver
,late emblazoned with armorial bear
ngs of onions and of pearls, beer bot
les and Etruscan vases, pawn-tickets,
uniforms, and foul platters
we're all mingled in wild confusion. Be-
ides all these, there was one oil-picture
that of young and lovely woman
he, no doubt, who was the original cause
# all this wreck and waste-the sign and
oxen of perverted nature, crushed
cart. and a broken life.