The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-12-20
Our Br0adbrim Letters.
Death of a Misery Millionaire Criminal
Nismanagement Of Lunatic Asylums
The Great Railroad Ring Thanks
giving.

| giving.
New York, Nov. %, 1879.
EDITOR CHIEF:
The good die young;
| While they whose hearts are dry as summer
dust,
| Burn to the socket"
| On Monday last, all that was mortal
| of Peter Goelet was returned to the dust
| from which he sprang. OF the fifteen pi
twenty millions that it cost him over
three quarters of I, century of },ei,irious
;'ire takes nothing with him but a very
plain suit Of clothes, a rosewood casi.. t.,
and a solid silrcr plate. which some Of our
clever resnrrectionists will get possession
OF before SIX months have passed away,
If they find the silver plate Of more value
than his bones. Living i'll this city near
ly eighty years, accommodating in his long
and cherries life, a fortune yariously
estimated from fifteen to twenty millions
OF doiiars-when he died, 10 charitable
bequest was left behind to make him re-
membered of the poor. 1t is another
ending Of those worthless lives of which.
If no positive evil can be remembered,
no good remains to make his memory
honored or beloved of his kind. He was
SIMPLY rich man and nothing more
with the modi fed habits of a miscr and
the natural tastes Of a beggar. He saw
this city rise from about two hundred
thousand to over million of inhabit-
ants; he bought, but he never sold he
accumulated, but he never distributed:
ne pied up wealth, and each s,,cceedinn
million only made him hungry for more,
TIL at last he died, in his old age, of ab-
soi"te starvation, for money which he
vas unable to manage or to grasp. Those
who had dealings with him, remember
him as hard and pitilcss man. who
rolling ~ millions, wrung from them the
last penny they possessed, without com
puncslon and without remorse. 1t is re-
lated OF him that he tore off the ends If
letters, and carefully saved all little stray
scraps of paper, OH which he wrote ont
receipts tor rent, aud little notes to h;s
acquaintance ; his clothes we're old and
patched, and nothing was ever wasted
by INN which could possibly be saved.
lie lived on tie East side Of Broadv,,-
ABOUT halfway between Union and Mad
's"n Squares, refusing to leave his resi-
aehce long after all his former neirbhors
mad dled or moved away; and there.
anna flle ceaseless roar Of that busy lif,
WHICH never .'anses for a moment niob+
or day Peter Goelet lived and died Il
may he.argued that lie made his money
lawfully, and had right to dis,ose oft
as he saw fit. No one questions that
Dght he bad the right absolute -
throw 1T in the sea if it pleased him Int |
admitting his right to "do what ba
would with his own" those who ren,;,,
behind also claim the right of disposipo
OF him. and of asking posterty to nr,f;t
by the warning Of his life. If, as tie |
>"eedenborsians declare, Heaven is =
place Where like meets like. PETER Co.,o+
IS now hobnobbing with Astor and yan-
ero'it and Stewart; and when .Ju]ge
clifton dies he may help to make ND the |
l'''1'eftr which now lacks one base voice
10 make 1t perfect. The four d..a,, n,en
whom have mentioned, represented in
"''''''' ''"t 'ess:fiian one hundred an ), !