The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-09-22
4 Million a Year.

e Emerson says all the world loves a.
lover, and it is as true that all the world
q loves everything that relates to the sud-,
sden acquisition of great riches, Whetherj
Gin romance or in reality, whether it be-
athe splendid fortune of Monte CristoI
For Tittlebat Titmouse, or the imperial
/. estate of a Westminster or a Vanderbilt,
ssociety finds in the contemplation of
:. vast piles of money an interest more;
: keen than perhaps attaches to any other
Sublunary object. The newest instanceI
Z Of the sort is at this moment engrossing|
the attention of half England; and there
lis not the slightest doubt, if the expect!
/ ant beneficiary in what is called the;
4 seldom case carries his point, that peo-I
4. pie would flock to see him and give their;
8 guineas for the privilege as readily asI
,9last year they would have lavished their
.Scoin for a close view of the "Jerseyl
& Lily" or the 'sWelsh Rose.''
u The story of the Seddon case is just
s. like a novel, only that it has the delici-
!; Gus merit of being true. Nearly thirty
ayears ago there lived in q village called
q tHaslingden a very rich and very lonely
4 man. He had in truth neither chick nor
g child, not a soul to claim kinshir, how
& ever remote, with him; and he lived on
Z to venerable age, aecumulating and stor-
E ing away, until, when he was called
q hence at last, he left behind him the
q seqUivalent of some three millions of dol
81 Ears. The name Of this solitary Crnsus
4. was Taylor; and when he died no will
q could be found. Presently document
81 was produced that purported to be a
1; copy of his will; but this being neither
II executed nor witnessed was Of course
n worthless. The intent of Taylor, as
& shown by the paper, was clear and sim
6 pie. Half his property was to 90 to two
e sisters named sherwood, who lived in
= Haslingden, and the other half to one
/ John Seldom. But whatever the rich
mans purpose, it could not, on this evil
dence, be carried out; and the sisters
/ sherwood and John Seddon all died at
s last in circumstances as humble as those
i, in which they had always lived.
II Nor was this all. For although the
b lsherwoods, while straitened, contrived
n to maintain themselves independently
Y to the end, luckless John Seddon died
in the workhouse. A generation has
! rolled around, and now it is claimed
that the copy was that of a genuine will,
(. that the latter still exists and that the
: heir of John Seddon-the Isherwoods
b having left nOne-iS rightly the owner
y Of the Taylor fortune. That fortune has,
{ however, grown prodigiously since Tay-
/ lor's death; and the London Journals
x rate it ut no less than four millions of
u pounds sterling, Or twenty millions of
e. dollars. The clew which has led to the
II recovery of the will was fragment OF
z paper in an old rotten pocketbook. This
s showed memorandum made by Sed-
don himself to the effect that he, by di-
= recti IL of Taylor, had taken a sealed
packet to the office of q London solic-
itor. But >edd IN either forgot this or
did not know that the packet contained
raylor's will; and Seddon died in alb
iect poverty accordingly. No more cruel
instance occurs to us, in actual life at
4 least, of the irony of fate.
u In the Seldom case, unlike some 9TH
Il er celebrated cases of supposed accumu-
Il lation--that of the Thelluson estate, for
< example-there is no doubt of the solid
nature of the property. Most of it is In
lands in the London suburbs; and it is
Z. easy to Judge what enhanced value
Z realty OF this sort must have over the
rating of thirty years ago. If John Sed-
don's heir gets the fortune at all he will
get large one; and the world will have
a fresh and remarkable opportunity to
see the effect ON character Of the sudden
and utterly unexpected requirement OF
enormous riches. At the rate of five
per centum, the heir will receive clear
million of dollars year; and he will
thus have twice as good an opportunity
to make an ass of himself as Warren's
famous hero, even though his power to
work good or harm will be more limited
than the dazzling and colossal power of
4 the not less famous hero of Dumas.
Y What will he do with itP There will
be wide curiosity to know what is to be
the answer to the question; and, be that
answer what it may, it is likely to be
II sufficiently instructive as to make 1t for
tunate for the world that the mo.
Z mentous scrap of paper should have
been found, and that, although poor
John Seddon himself was fated to die in
work house, his heir will come in OF
= last for the millions his lonely patron
meant John Seddon to enjoy.-N. Y
Post.