Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-05
SUICIDE OF C. VANDERBILT.
Particulars OF His Life.

Dc
Cornelius J. vanderbilt's peculiar figure was
weil-knOwn to most New Workers. He was tall,
very slender and bent from weakness and
habitual STOPPING. His face was very thin, and
his features were sharp and irregular. He wore
a beard and mustache which were slightly gray,
and of late he dressed very carefully and in
costly clothing.
Coroner Brady had not returned to his home
at an early hour this morning E. o. Perrin
said that the coroner desired all the witnesses
to keep quiet and not talk about the case: that
the coroner knew nothing of the details, and
did not wish to know until the inquest; that
tine coroner could not say at present whether
the death was suicide or an accident.
A reporter called at the residence Of DR.. Rob
ert +: Weir. who expressed unwillingness to talk
about Mr.. Vanderbilt and his relations with him
as family physician. He said he visited Mr..
Vanderbilt on Saturday, but noticed nothing in
his conduct to indicate temporary alteration.
He had been treating Mr.. Vanderbilt for epilepsy
for several years. Tie was summoned to the
Glenham hotel at 6 o'clock last evening, and
found Mr.. Vanderbilt dead. He believed him to
be out of his mind when he shot himself. The
Doctor refused to say anything further about
the affair.
Cornelius jeremiah Vanderbilt, as his father
called him, or Cornelius Vanderbilt. jr, as he
insisted he should rightly be called. resenting
the be stowal of that title upon his nephew. the
eldest son Of William H. Vanderbilt, was the
third son of Commodore Vanderbilt, and the
second who survived him. Mother always
told me-" he once. said, ''that was Cornelius
Vanderbilt, jr." Born in $780, he lived with his
from childhood with epilepsy. He did not get
on well with his father, who in 1S4S told him
tn at he was not wanted any longer about the
house, and would do well to find boarding
house. The Commodore allowed his son 500 a
month for his support at this time. An idle
In,,h
full acquaintance, and became gambler with
cards.
In 1849 his father sent him off to California
before the mast In a three-masted schooner. He
did not stay long with the Argonauts, and,
returning, was ill for a while at his fathers
Ouse, and then went to Washington. Here he
drew q draft on the Commodore, which was dis
Onored, and presently he was arrested and
sent to an insa ne asylum. He was taken out
the next day on habeas corpus and released.
Twice afterward he sOjOurned for brief periods
in insane asylums, the last time at Northampton
in 1865.
He was at one time clerk in Clark &
Rapallo's law Office, and again in the house of
VIM. B. Miller d Co.. q Gold street leather firm.
His allowance from his father remained at 800
month until his maria ge at Is years of age,
in 1856 Then his father bou ght for him ten
acre fruit farm in West Hartford and increased
his allowance to $3.50 month, and afterward,
at the solicitation of his dau ghter-in-law, to
5000. The income from the farm was small,
and young Vanderbilt was not an enthusiastic
farmer. He lived at the rate OF $5, 600 or Sc 900
year. His wife aye,him her jewelry to pawn,
ly into debt. Horace Greeley lent him q good
deal of money, and very vigorously resented an
intimatiOn from the Commodore that he need
not look to the Commodore for repayment.
Cornelius at one time left his fruit trees to look
after themselves came to New York, and was
superintendent of bonded warehouse under
Collector Bailey at SITS month. Hisgamblng
habits continued. though he used to say that he
had never lost $40, 900 altogether by gambling
He went through bankruptcy. Horace Greeley
sent him ali his notes as present, and he made
new notes and sent them back. The amount of
his liabilities was $50, 600. He justified his ex-
pendjture on the ground that he had position
to maintain, and that it was absurd that his
fathers son and namesake should be limited to
two or three hundred month. His house at
West Hartford was always full of visitors. His
wife died in March, 1872. and he came to this
city, and has since lived here.
He was not received at his fathers house dur
ing the COmmOdOrp's last illness in 1867, and
the will left him only the income OF $500, OO0 in
United States bonds. This was not satisfactory
to him, or to his sister, Mrs: La Bau. The two
joined in cOntesting the will before Surrogate
Calvin, and Cornelius J. sued his brother in the
supreme court for 81 COO O0 The will contest
was one Of the most bitter and protracted that
ever took place in the surrogate court. Mr.. Scott
Lord and Judge jeremiah S. Black we're retain
ed for the contestants, and Henry l.. Clinton and
ex-Judge Comstock were the counsel for William
II. Vanderbilt to sustain the will. The contest
ants claimed that the Commodore was physically
and mentally incapable Of making will. They
called cloud of witnesses to prove the COmmo-
d0res belief in spiritualism his communication
with the spirit world through J. V. Mansfield
and other mediums, the number Of spritualists
who were in the habit OF calling upon him at
his office and his payment of money to them.
The contestants produced also volume Oftesti-
mony to show undue influence on the part of
William H. Vanderbilt against his brother and
his efforts to procure his disnheritance
Through all the trial the brothers and their
sisters sat in court and listening to the evidence
that only intense bitterness of feeling could
have made public. The proponents introduced
dore had been greatly displeased with his son
Cornelius for his dissOlute and extravagant
habits; that he had paid his debts so often and
so often threatened to disOwn and disinherit
him that there was nothing remarkable in the
provisions Of the will; that Cornelius J. had
financial affairs that it was mark Of great good
sense for the Commodore to put his allowance in
the hands of his more prudent brother.
Finally the surrogate refused to hear any more
witnesses for the contestants, and then Judge
Black announced that the contestants closed
tanned the will. After the admission to probate
of the Commodore's will, there remained Corne-
Illus J. Vanderbit's suit in the supreme court
against his brother William H. for 81. 600 900,
which he claimed had been promised to him by
his brother.
In April, 1879, it was announced that the suit
had been withdrawn, and that William H. Van
derbilt had paid to his brother what common re-
port said was million of dollars. At the same
time Mr.. C. J. Vanderbilt invited Mr.. Greeley's
daughters, Mrs. Ida Greeley Smith and Miss
Gabrielle Greeley. to meet him at the Coleman
house, and paid to them the principal and inter-
est of his debt to the estate of their father,
which was $6l 600, exclusive of the SO 600 paid
to them by Commodore Vanderbilt few months
after Mr.. Greeley's death.
At the same time Mr.. Vanderbilt paid offother
debts amounting to $4,000, aud he had been
engaged up to the time of his death in settling
or litigating claims against him. He had visited
Europe, and it is said was contemplating another
visit.
Recently he purchased the ten-acre fruit farm
at West Hartford, on which he had lived fifteen
years with his wife, and he was building fine
house there, upon which his expenditure was in
every way lavish. Since he came into his for
tune, indeed he has been apparently enjoying
and making the most Of his life, and has given
rein to his tastes for handsomely entertaining
his friends. Mention was made recently in the
Sttn of an exquisite dinner given by him at
Pnard'S Round Table, at which nothing that
taste and art have contributed to the eleganciea