Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-01
STORIES OF MIsERs.
CHESTS OF eoLD-MIssEs ODD FANcIEs-
STR NGE CHARITIES.
Curious characteristics of Some Famous
Misers. and Miracles of Mean
ness-Love of Money.

| have objected to they were very seldom
stirred to the slightest degree of benev-
olence, and they nearly always disappointed
the expectations of their heirs.
Bat there are some exceptions to these
general rules. Barrow, in his travels, men,
tons having seen Dutch miser near the
Cape of Good Hope. He was a tall, old
man, with a thin, sallow visage, and a
beard of dingy black, that, extending to
the eyes, where it met the struggling hair
of the forehead, obscured the face like
visor Living with him as his wife was an
old Hottentot woman, nearly one hundred
years old. Avarice seemed to run in the
family, for he had brother and sister who
lived several miles off among the noun
tains who were equally parsimonious.
In the beginning Of this century there
was an old man named w. Fuller, who
lived with his son in hut, consisting of
| two chambers and sitting room, Their
allowance was mutton chop piece, and
pint of porter between the two. for the
day-this last being luxury they could
not 90 without, proving that appetite was
stronger than will. They went to bed in
the dark. Old Fuller was banker and
retained his clerks on low salaries by prom
Using them legacies when he died. But the
promises were not fulfilled he wrote his
| will on the back of an old letter and left
all his property, worth 100000 to his
son.
That the boarding of money has given
| actual pleasure to these poor wretches there
can be no doubt 1t stands to reason it
must be so, or they would hardly throw
up their interest in both worlds
First starved in this then damn'd in that to come.
CHESTS OF GOLD.
Jeremy Taylor, famous mser, used to
say if his successors had as much pleasure
in spending his property as ne had in
boarding it up, they need not complain OF
their hard lot in the world. Mention is
made of miser in Venice whose pulse
uuickened as in fever on hearing large
sum of money mentioned. He was a
Catholic, and made the sign of the cross
with gold coin. He had chests full of
gold, each named after some saint, and
decorated them on saints days. When
dying, he requested the spectators to with
draw from the room few moments. They
did so. Onreturning they found the Oldham
lying dead on large bag, both his hands
clutching a piece Of gold. This calls to
mind the case of Henry Beaufort, Cardinal
of Winchester, who cried out on his death
bed ''Fie, will not death be hired, and
will money do nothing? Must die that
have such great riches? If the whole
realm of England would save my life, l
am able either by policy to get it or by
riches to buy it.
The death the miser Roscoe, who
amassed an immense fortune by usury and
taking every advantage he could of the
! of tha mfr 70 Uo dra.
matically appropriate. For reasons of
safety he dug hole in the ground and
secreted his treasure there. He made trap
door with spring lock, and would go
down daily to gloat over his savings.
He lived solitary life, but one day his
neighbors remarked that he had not been
seen for an unusually long time. They
made search for him through the house,
the woods and in the ponds, but failed
to find him. Years afterward, when work
men were repairing the house, they came
across the secret cave in the cellar. On
opening it they found Foscoe's remains
amid heavy bags of untold treasure. He
had died with the object of his devotion.
MIsERs' METHODS.
The methods by which misers have accu-
mulated their huge fortunes are much the
same it was by saving, rather than by
making money, that they became rich.
Daniel Dancer dried on two or three boiled
eggs and warmed up his cold pancakes that
were left over by carrying them in his
pocket. Elves, who was worth nearly
million dollars, carried old bones in his
pocket, taking them out to his farm to be
used as fertilizers. Another miser used to
boil piece of beef and fourteen hard
dumplings on Sunday; that would be the
allowance of food for himself and sister for
the week. Dancer saved on soap, never
using it or towels he washed himself in
the river and dried himself in the sun. He
used to beg pinch of snuff, putting it in
a box he carried with him. This he ex-
changed for a farthing candle, which lasted
until the box was again filled. He used an
| old meal sack for shirt and a bundle of
straw for pillow. But he was singularly
generous to his dog, to whom he allowed
/ pint of milk day. He died worth
| $500, 200.
There was a celebrated miser named
Audley, who lived in the time of the Stu
arts and whose keenness as a business man
was remarkable. He was originally EN-.
ployed as a clerk at six shillings week,
and in the course of few years, by dint
of the economical practices that come nat
ural to persons of his his ilk, had accumu-
lated sufficient to engage in speculation.
| His habit was to buy bad debts for triae,
and afterward compound with the insol-
vent. An anecdote will illustrate his
methods.
AN ANECDoTE.
| A tradesman, Miller, owed merchant
named White f200, and seeing no other
chance to obtain it MILLER being insolvent)
sued for the amount. Audley goes to
White and offers him fl0 for the debt and
| the merchant accepts. Then the miser
goes to Miller and obtains his quittance of
the debt for ESQ, upon the condition that
he pays for the accommodation. The in
solvent signed the contract, which he
| thought was offered in benevolent spirit.
! The contract was that he should pay to
Audley, twenty years from that time, one
penny consecutively doubled on the first
day of twenty consecutive months fail
| ing, to pay fine of $500. Miller, ac-
quilted of his debt, arranged with his
| creditors and commenced business. Two
or three years afterwards the miser began
to call for his installments, and Miller
| found on calculating that the first of the
twentieth month he would have to pay
co, 500; so he refused the payment of
his bond and gave Audley the $500 forfeit.
Vandille, q remarkable French miser,
was at one time the Mayor of Boulogne,
and while in that position partly main
tanned himself by being milk faster general
at the market. While munching a scrap
of bread he would partake of these gratuit-
Gus draughts. He always travelled to Paris
on foot, and fearful lest he should be
robbed, took good care never to have more
than threepence in his pocket; if he need
ed more money he begged on the road. By
such methods, and lending money to the
French Government, he made fortune of
ESQ.,, 900. sprung from single shilling.
During the very cold winter of 1874 he
found II necessary to purchase some extra
fuel, and endeavored to beat down the wood
merchant in his price. The man drove off