The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-09-04
THE WEALTH OF A RECLUSE.

THE WEALTH OF A RECLUSE.
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS TO BE
DISTRIBUTED.
The story was told by the New York
papers, last Spring, of the remarkable
death of John S. Clarke, an Episcopal
minister of Ashland, near Catskill. The
old clergyman went to Ashland in the
Spring of 1875, and was installed pastor of
Trinity Church. He was native of Nova
Scotia, where it is said his father had been
Chief Justice. He had graduated with
high honors at St. Johns College, Halifax,
and was in his latter days an accomplished
scholar and eloquent preacher. He was
supposed to be very poor, not seeming to
have any other income than $3.50 year
allowed by the Diocesan Board of Mis-
sons and an annual salary voted him by
his Pensioners, who also helped him with
small presents occasionally. He shared
his house with a Mr.. Thompkins and his
wife, and with this little addition to his
income contrived to live in tolerable COM
fort. He was very reticent, seldom speak
ing, even to his most intimate friends, of
his past life; but from the few words he
occasionally permitted to escape him it was
inferred that he had not lived happily with
his wife, but whether he had obtained a
divorce or was a widower was not learned.
He was very popular in Ashland, and after
he had the pastorate of Trinity Church for
year and his health had begun to fail,
and it had become evident that he had not
long to live, the grief was not confined to
members of his own church merely, but
was felt by everybody in the village.
DEAD AND BURIED.
On the 18th of last April he died, and
question arose as to how and where the
remains should be buried. 1t was not
supposed that he had left any money to
defray his funeral expenses, for few
months before his death, when he was pre-
sented with $50 by some of his Pensioners
he said it came just in time to enable him
to pay a note about to fall due. Sufficient
money was subscribed to cover the cost of
the most unassuming kind of funeral, and
the remains of the old minister were inter-
red, not in the new and handsome cemetery
recently opened in Ashland, but in the old
burying ground in which only the very
poorest bury their dead. 1t was virtually
pauper's burial, but it was attended by
probably half the residents of Ashland.
Not long after the funeral Mrs. Temp
kins remembered that Mr.. Clarke, day
or two before his death, spoke to her about
some papers Of Importance in his trunk.
She mentioned the circumstance to the
ministers who had conducted the funeral
service, and five gentlemen were deputed
to examine the documents. There was
large bundle of them, and the first was
found to be will drawn up by the clergy
man, bequeathing legacies ranging from
S., 900 to $25, 900 to churches, asylums and
relatives. Among the ether papers were
railroad and Government bonds and other
securities representing in the aggregate
nearly 100000. In a separate package
it was supposed had been set apart by the
dying to defray the expenses of his funeral.
Most of the money was bequeathed to
churches and charitable institutions in
England and Canada, and the few relatives
mentioned were by no means literally pro-
vided for.
How the old man accumulated the money
was problem that has not yet been solved.
1t was supposed that some of it was left
him by his father, and the rest obtained by
fortunate speculations in stocks. 1t was
all lodged in the Tanners National Bank
in Catskill, and letters were written to the
legatees informing them of their good for
tune.
CLAIMANTS FOR HIS MONEY.
But the old clergyman had more relatives
than he was probably aware of himself.
Some of them lived in New York, and were
very poor. Mr.. Clarke had lived in OBJ
security for SO many years that they had
entirely lost sight of him, and believed him
dead. When they read the story Of Ash
| lands Poor PASTOR in the San they
awoke to the consciousness that they had
lost the head of their house. They could
not advance any reasonable theory as to
how the old man had come by his money,
but they wanted some of it. There were
several nephews and nieces and one brother.
Mr.. James 7. Clarke, one of the nephews,
took the initiatory steps, and retained
Messrs. Field & Minor and Mr.. Erastus
Cook, Of New York, and his brothers and
sisters counsel, to contest his uncle's will.
They appeared before the Probate Court in
Catskill, and Mr.. Minor asked that the
will should be cancelled, on the ground,
first, that it had not been duly executed;
and second, that the testator was insane.
Messrs. De Forest & Weeks, of New York,
and Mr.. Varney, of Saratoga Springs. ap
peared in support of the will. The two
witnesses were examined. They testified