Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-08-08
A QUEER CASE,
The Seven Years Wonder Of q New
England County.
A Man With No Business Spending. Money
E Like Prilee-ffom Posefyto 3
Wealth h-Dr. Wilson and His
Great Mystery. ! ,s.s-.
HIS EscApAoEs BRING HIM TO COURT.

for breach of promise and the third for Sc
duction under promise of marriage, all
within single week, rarely fail to the lot
of the average mortal. Those who have
watched the course of the defendant for
some years past say they are not surprised
at these wholesale legal proceedings.
Whatever their result may be, they have
already had the effect of bringing into sud.
den newspaper notoriety man OF wealth
whose affairs are so shrouded in mystery
that he has acquired among his neighbors
the sobriques 'The UIbridge Conundrum."
Ordinarily, man who keeps his own coun-
sci, pays his debts, and leaves his neigh
bors alone attracts little attention, even in
a country community. "Dr." Levi Will
son, whose amours have made him so con-
spicuous figure of late, does all these
things, and yet for
Seven Long Years
he has been mystery to his( Dwnsmen, and,
it must be confessed, not without good rea-
fon. Worcester County has been all ago9
over him for half that period. People have
dreamed about the mans sudden rise from
sxtreme poverty to great wealth, and in
their waking hours have wondered at the
prodigality of his financial ventures.
'Driye which way you will, north, east,
south or west; haul up in front Of the first
man you meet, mention Wilson's name, and
he he peddlar or farmer, doctor or divine,
rich or poor, down will go his reins!, away
his tongue will wag and he will talk with
YOU on the subject .for hours" So said q
native of Worcester county. He added Its
the all-fredest mystery / ever heard on"
"Dr." Levi.Wilson has pr obably expend-
ed in Uxbridge, in the way Of improve
ments, &c, within the last seven years
Sl5O, 900 in hard cash. Until q week ago he
was the owner of hotel, of cottages, and
other real estate. He still owns horses,
carriages, jewelry, and diamonds which
fairly blind the eyes of the rural residents
of Worcester county. Whatever he takes
fancy to,and he is man OF many whims.
he buys and pays for outright. No credi-
tors ever darken his doorway and with bill
in hand dun him for their lawful
dues. He has been seen on many
occasions with $4,000 in bills in his
pockets. His bank deposits have been
known to be as large as 5000 He has
never inherited money. He never had
money until it began suddenly to pour in
upon him seven years ago. He is only %
wears of age. He is not to-day engaged in
any known business which yields an in.
come, yet his wealth is yariously estimated
al from $3.50 900 to $500, 900. Where, then.
ask his neighbors, do his riches come from?
The pertinacity of the people themselves in
putting this question is somewhat amusing.
Even the local newspapers have taken up
the subject from time to time, and with
cheerful and accustomed impudence have
demanded to know all about it. Tittlebat
Titmouse on his fl0,0 900 year never crea-
ted more stir than has "Dr." Wilson in the
past few years.
His Early Life.
Those who have long lived in the neigh
borhood say that 'Dr." Wilson first became
known in Uxbridge township when he was
a youth of 10. He was born near East
Thompson, Conn.,, about 20 miles distant.
His family was so poor that he went to
school only a very short time, and was COM
PEELED to shift for himself and earn from
his youngest years the best livelihood that
he could There are numberless small
manufacturing towns in this portion OF
New England, and as they afford better OPP
portunities for eking out an existence than
ing surprising in the fact that young Will
son should drift into Whitinsville, Mass,
which has some small mills. For
time he served as sta
BILE boy on one Of the side
streets, and then, when his employer, a
Mr. George W. Smith, died, he entered the
little cotton factory which gives the chief
employment to the residents Of North Tx
bridge, a small hamlet between Whitins.
Vile and this village. There he worked
few months as a cotton spinner, and was
finally promoted to be second hand, )"
receiving wages amounting to 81. IS per day
There are operatives in the mill now who
remember when he was
One OF Their Number.
They can recall nothing about him that
was at al, remarkable. He had no aptitude
for business and took no special interest in
and the factory boarding house. He was,
in the language Of his peers, "as ignorant
OF book larnin' as a hoss.n One OF the
owners of the Uxbridye cotton mill
happens to remember him from
the fact that he took charge OF
the mill in 1873, and, being in want Of
somebody to nurse some fever-stricken op
eratiyes, employed the irst person who
would accept the Office. So young Wilson
left the management OF the loom TO others
and took his position in the sick chamber.
It so happened that he never returned 70
the mill again, but after the patients had
recovered he left the settlement to better
his fortunes. His departure was not alto
Sether unregretted, i2r he left behind q
number of unpaid bills, among them, II is
said, one for board due Mr. D. b. b2gley,
the same man who now sues him for $780,
900 damages for the seduction of his
daughter. Up to this time there certainly
was nothing about Wilson's history or his
everyday life that was not remarkably
commonplace.
The TrausfOrmatfOn.
Within two years from the date of his
young Wilson one day sud-
denly visited North Uxbridge. This was
in 1875. He wore clothing that none but
finished tailor could have fitted, heavy
gold ring and an expensive watch. He
was in appearance remarkably well-todo
young man. He had indeed prospered, he
admitted, ss he displayed wad OF bank
bills. To his credit, he hunted up those to
whom he owed money. and paid them in
full. To the questions of his acquaintances
he gave a variety Of answers, such a vari-
ETY., in fact, that his statements about the
source Of his wealth came to be regarded
man he had acquired his money
by speculation. To another he had
been West, and from hermit,
whom he found dying in wilderness, he
had received as gift the patent for .
barbed wire fence. The royalty from this
patent was bringing him an income, he
said, which would increase ~ the years
rolled around If the speculation story
bred doubt, that in regard to the barbed
wire fence and the hermit turned misgiy-
ing into
Positive Rfdieule.
There were other stories put into circula.
ton from time 10 time which Wilson him
self did not originate. 1t was declared that
be entertained suspicious visitors at his
house at hours when his honest neighbors
were abed and, Of course, asleep. SO it
happened when the Northampton Bank
was robbed that his name was mentioned
by some in connection with that crime. He
was never arrested. however, fact which
in itself is regarded as q sufficient refuta-
ton of base cal 1mny- Other stories about
the man linked bis name with the manu-
facture of counterfeit coin, and it is
even asserted, on what seems TO
be good authority, that the ..fycops"
Of the Government were placed upon his
tracks and dogged his steps for weeks and
even months. IL the Secret Service men
ever did discover anything to his discredit