Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-06-26
A Miser Millionaire.

In a shabby wooden house, two stories
in height, standing on Eighth avenue,
half mile below Central Park, lives one
of the millionaires of New York. He
is the owner of rows of brick teu ements
and of half dozen brown-stone fronts,
but he prefers to be sheltered by the
humblest of the roofs that are his. The
house that he inhabits is dilapidated and
bears not even the pretense of decayed
gentility. Its sides, from which the paint
has been worn by sun and storm, and it's
windows, patched with paper deity
pasted on the glass, show willful neglect
on the part of the occupant Young
folks who ride past the house on their way
to Central Park to dream of their future
home pray that it may never be their lot
to come to such shelter They may
well say SO, since the interior of the house
is even less inviting than it's outside Yet
none of them would believe, except On
irrefutable testimony that the spot tb 3y
despise is the home of one of the wealthy
men OF the great metropolis. Visitors
never find admission to the house. A
termagant woman drives beggars, spies
and interviewers from the door They
can only get glimpses OF a dirty, dark
entry without carpet and of pair of
stairs that seem to go up into region of
unbroken cObwebs. Only those who come
on business can get sight of the owner
Thus it happened that a few days since
stenographer was sent to take the oc-
cupants testimony in a lawsuit
The latter had become involved in
litigation, and as he was understood to
be confined to his bed the man of hero
glypics was sent to wait upon him. Ar
rived ab the right number the stenog-
rapher could not believe that he was
right, and that the client lived in such a
mole. But having knocked on the panel
frowsy woman in a worn calico dress
assured him that it was all right, and led
the way up stairs. The visitor followed
with careful tread, and with an impress
sion that he was wading through a
shower of dirt. The door of the front
room ON the second floor admitted him
10 as strange panorama as he had ever
Witnessed. Upon cheap, stained bed
Stead lay man OF about sixty years
bis hair and long beard were gray al
most to whiteness, and his frame was
stalWart. His was not a bad face, but
rather patrlarchal-set off like the Patri-
arch Casbys by his abundant locks. The
man was bed-ridden. All his wealth
could -ns8tt'1md for MIN the power to bid
INN arise and walk. But as if this were
not enough, it was evident that he denied
himself everything except the mere ne
cessities of existence. The only pleasure
lett was to gloat over his possessions and
remember that he was able to buy up
hundreds of those who lived in apparent
wealth and dressed luxuriously. This
pleasure seems to outlast all others. The
Gil n III IyNCrc IF f1a
The bed was covered with a cheap
spread, and a fragmentary carpet
strove to stretch itself over the
floor. AT the foot of the bed
was row of pigeon-holes and board
that closed up against them. When il
was necessary to refer to any of the pa.
pers in this receptacle the bed-ridden
millionaire raised himself up to sitting
position by pulling on rope fastened to
the bedpost. Then he let down the board
upon his knees and reached out for the
papers. When he needed to make calou
latlons he took piece of chalk out of 8
pigeon-hole, scratched away upon the
board, and rubbed the figures off wher
he had finished. Pencil and paper were
luxuries altogether too expensive for or
binary use. Board and chalk were cheap
tensive scale. Two or three chairs, q
table and piece of white muslin nailed
to the upper half of the windows were
its whole furniture But it had multi
tude OF decorations. Under the bed and
in the corners were baskets of crockerv
kitchen utensils, mantel ornaments, bun.
dies of clothing and other matters that
had evidently been taken in pledge from
tenants who had no money to pay rent
On the table was select assortment oil
clocks, stuffed birds, vanished fish, shells
and knickknacks that no doubt had beer
highly priced by their owners. Every
thing evidently was fish that had come
into this landlords net. The visitor took
his seat and began to take the testimony
But it was a more difficult Job than
he had imagined. The old man
protested against his taking down
every word that he said. II
was "robbery to charge fifty cents q
page" for what he said. He'd tell him
what to put down. The stenographel
quietly remarked that he knew his bust
ness Every WELL" said the sharp mill
ionaire, "I'll talk to this woman, and
then you can't write it." He was an.
sWered that the operation was quite as
easy In one case as in the other, and
finally the work proceeded amid many
eXpostulations and a great deal of pro
testation against the robbery. During
the session workingman came in to con.
suit the boss" Having received his
directions, and being admonished not tt
waste his time, his employer remarked
Some day when you have nothing else
to do for half an hour-mind, I say, wher
you have nothing else to dol want yor
to go to that house of mine on Blanl
street. In the back yard, under some
bricks in the upper corner, dig down
foot and you will come to some lead pipe
that's buried there. Dig it up and sell il
and bring the money to me. I know
what it's worth; it will bring a dollar anc
half. Mind, though, and do it wher
you've nothing else to do" The visitor
finished, folded up his papers, and lef
amid chorus of growls about "rob
berry" The last view of the old man re-
vealed him leaning over his board figur
ing away at his sums in chalk Gray
hairs have not taught him wisdom, and the
millions he has amassed have only
brought him a miser's miseries-NeI
YORK. Graphic.