Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-06-03
STORY ORA RAG-PIU1ER.
( Curious TaTc Of Sudden Riches, of Con-
ceGInteRt. Of Eccnt"icjty and Insanity.
joaquin Miller in n. Y. Star.

I Curious TaTe Of Sudden Riches, Of Con-
ceG'meIat. OF Eccnt"icity and Insanity.
joaquin Miller in n. Y. Star.
A curious Psychological story was whis-
pered in my ear last night at the Windsor
hotel by one of the wealthy habitues of
that home of American aristocrats.
During the war, or short time after
wards, man, who it is positively asserted
had been rag picker and actually went
about with bag on his back and hook
III his hand, from barrel to barrel, and
from day to day, week IN and week out,
suddenly became rich. No one knew how
he got rich. But he bought block of
property and built a house On Fifth ave-
nue.. He sent his children abroad, to be
educated, kept carriage, had crest and
coat of arms, and of course denied vehe-
mently all knowledge of the rag -picker.
1t is safe to say that if any man had made
that charge against him the man making
it would have had to pay heavily in dam
ages.
Well, the years swept by, the children
returned from abroad, cultured, proud,
beautiful with youth and hope and prom
Use; and, trust, good enough at heart and
| SLrOuR III ACdIG w AOS1 LIZ cLdIIO LII
any revelations that may follow.
But now the fathers concern and anx-
iety to keep his low calling concealed was
redoubled. He began to tell all sorts of
curious stories of travel, life in strange
lands, boyhood spent in Paris, familiar
ity with great men in foreign lands during
these dreadful days of rag -picking in New
York city.
This preyed upon his mind SO, says my
informant, who knew him intimately, that
he became crazed. His children began to
observe that he would get up silently and
go out of night. He would come home
stealthily at dawn, and they would hear
strange noises up in the garnet. He grew
thin as g. ghost. One highland only a
few nights ago--a policeman saw q man
with white shirt, and diamond studs that
glittered in the gaslight, poking in an ash
barrel with a rag-picke1's hook in his hand
and great well-flled bag on his back,
these he dropped and ran as the officer
looked at him suspiciously. But being
pursued and captured he gave his name
and address, was taken home, and is now
in private asylum for the insane.
Theory? I have no theory about it. l
have been trying to dismiss the whole
thing from my mind, BUTT haunts me; and
so have written it down and divided 1t up
by piecemeal with my readers to get rid of
it. But is it not only just possible that
this poor man found his money in an ash
barrel, where it had been hidden, stolen or
lost by some government officer, perhaps
during the flush times toward the close of
the war, and so was unable to get his mind
away from the trash of the streets. 1 do
not know. The garnet of the fine house, it
is said, was found packed full of old rags.
PITTsFoRD, Mass, Sept. %, 1878.
SIRs-I have taken Hop Bitters and recon-
mend them to others, as 1 found them very
| beneficial.
MRS. J. W. FULLER,
| Sec Women's Christian Temperance Union.
| Minnesota does not alone have cold
backward season. The Wilmington, North
Carolina, Star, says: No one living can
perhaps remember so late spring. Fire;
and blankets are still needed.