The Penn's Grove record., 1883-04-21
Misers.
Some Interesting Facts Concerning
Them.

MfSCt d
Some Interesting Facts Concerning
Them.
Thomas Guy was at once a miser and
p~hilanthropist. He was a bookseller,
and began life in London with a capital
of GOO. BY sp%eculations in South sea
stock in the year 1929 he amassed an
immense fortune. Almost everyone else
was ruined by the memorable South
Sea Bubble" He was a pitiable miser,
denying himself the necessary comforts
of life. He always dined alone, with a
newspaper for a table cloth.
One winter evening he was sitting
alone without fire or light in order to
v the expense of both. A visitor was
announced, and Guy lighted a farthing
candle. The visitor was a Mr.. Hopkins,
another celebrated miser, who had
called in order to be taught a lesson in
frugality.
eff that is all you have come about, =
said Guy, Eve can as well talk in the
dark" and blew out the light.
Struck with this instance of econo-
my, Hopkins took his leave.
Strangely enough, while depriving
himself of all that makes life comfort
able, Guy was erecting and endowing
a hospital, since known as Guys Hos
.;+.I - A H,g Ioa4b no loft the
largest sum ever donated by a single in
diyidual for charitable purposes. He
founded several other charitable institu-
tions beside Guys, principally hospitals,
nor did he leave his relatives ~unprOvided
for. Altogether Thomas Guy was n
of the most singular compounds of
and b%enevolence that ever
eA sted in the human form.
Before London had any bridge over
tle Thames the conveyance was by
ferry, the ferriage privileges belonging
exclusively to one John Overs.
Although penurious to the last degree,
Overs educated his only child, a daugh-
ter, with the utmost hberality, but
when she grew to ~womanhood he would
not suffer a man to speak to her, if he
could help it. However, a young and
venturesome gentleman managed to
make her acquaintance while the old
man was raking in his penny fares.
They determined to elope, and were
awaiting a favorable opportunity, when
Overs, in order to save a days expenses,
hit upon the eXpedient of feigning
death. His half-starved apprentices,
hearing the good news, and %supposing
him really dead, began to skip about the
corpse aad ransack the c%upboards for
eatables, loudly rejoicing over his death.
Unable to contain his rage, Overs
rose up in his winding sheet and started
forth like a ghost. One of the appren-
tees, thinking it was the devil in his
employers likeness, caught up a broken
oar and with one blow struck out
Overs brains. Thus the old miser
actually lost his life through counter
feiting death. The law acquitted the
= c w.
Whi16the old a was thus initiating
death the daughters lover was in such
haste to run off with the girl that his
horsethrew him and broke his neck.
For his penuriousness Overs had been
communicated by the church and was
refused Christian burial. The body was,
therefore, placed upon an ass and turned
adrift. 1t wandered until it came to the
place of execution-hangman's ground,
where is shook off its burden.
The body was tumbled into the
ground at the foot of the gallows. So
many misfortunes coming together I'M
hinged for a time the daughters reason
On her recovery she determined to dedi-
cate her fathers fortune to charity, by
way of expiration. She founded a
famous church called st. Mary Overs,
which title it still bears.
The church was afterward converted
into a college for priests, some of whom
built London Bridge, the first bridge
across the Thames.
Another tragic death was that of Mr..
FoScue, a French miser Of the eigh-
teenth century. He had amassed fabu-
lous wealth by grinding the poor. He.
was ordered by government to raise a
large sum of money, and to evade this
he pleaded poverty, and hid his wealth
in "a cave, which he made himself in his
wine cellar. He used to descend into
this cave by ladder, the door fastening
by a spring lock. One day Foscue was
missing, and all search for him proved
unavailing. AT last his house was sold,
and the new purchaser discovered a lit
tie locked door in the cellar, which he
ordered to be opened. There, in the
midst of almost countless gold and piles
of treasure, lay the skeleton of the
miser. He had died of hunger, after
gnawing the flesh off both arms. The
door had accidentlly closed and shut
him in, to die slow death in sight of
his precious boards of treasure.