Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-11-21
MRS. TOODLES" DEAD.
A QUARTER CENTURY OF BARGAINS.
The History OF n Philadelphia woman's
Long and Lonely Life-Buying
Curios for Which She Had
No Earthly Use.
IPhnade phia Times

Alter eighty-one years OF active life
MIS- Sarah Simpson is dad. She sue.
cumbed last week, no. to any disease. but
to cd age. Sarah Simpsons bent figure
and hoary locks have been familiar to the
habi;uss Of Ito mas and Birch's auction
rooms t"r more than a quarter Of a CEN
fury, AMI Tor nearly q score of years she
oeen known among the furniture car
drivers and others about the auction rooms
as Mrs. Toodles"
During all the years that she has lis.
tened To the knoVk ny down to the highest
bidder OF everything from a fla.-iron to a
magnificent wardrobe, she has bsen daily
ViSi or To the auction rooms and has prob
aoiy vi messed the selling out OF more
families OF high and low degree than any
person In the city or probably in America.
Every article offered at auction made her
acquaintance before sale day came. Hun
dreds OF old easy chairs have been tried
by her experienced mode OF testing an ar
tcle's worth. Countless mirrors with
chalk-mark numbers on them have re-
hected the pinched features aud the snow
white curls OF Sarah Simpson, spins ter.
IL was because she bid in so many bits
OF odd furniture and what not that sho
gained the nickname of "Mrs. Toodles.o
l. ke the original OF that name, so we'll
known and so intimately associated In the
minds of theater-goers o! a dozen years
with John Sleeper Clark and Mrs. Chap
man, who played food e." a Thousand
times or more, Sarah Simpson bought
whatever she considered a bargain.
whether or not she had any use for the ar
ticle. Indeed. as q lone spinster, a female
hermit in big city, she had little use for
very little aside from the furniture and
knicknacks which grsced her M dest II; tie
home on Clifton street, where for fifty-one
years with her own hands she turned the
key In the lock on the door that shut out
FROM her the noisy, busy world.
She was az peace with all persons She
seldom SIN led. When her face grew sun.
ny 1t was after she had DO Ight some quaint
old heirloom for song. Day in and day
out she was to be seen walking with feeble
step toward the auction rooms. Once
there nothing escaped her eye. Every
yard of carpet had to stand the test Of val
uation through her fingers. Wardrobe
doors swung open that she might inspect
the interior. Bed springs were borne
down by her bonc hands to test their du.
rebiliy. Everything passed under her
sharp scrutiny. She seldom spoke to any
one and she was seldom spoken to.
A little over half a century ago Sarah
Simpson and her only sis or left thsir home
at No. IL Napier Road, Kensing on, West
London, En- land, and came to America.
Her sister met an American i'm London.
After a short acquaintance they were mar
ried and the three started for this country,
The sisters had been we'll blessed in this
worlds goods ly the death Of their father.
who was a prominent Eat India mer-
chant. When they arrived in this coun-
try they came directly to this city. MSS
Sarah Simpson insisted on living alone.
Two years after her arr val T. 9th her sis er
and her broEher-in-law had died. Size in
heritei her sisters little fortune, which,
coupled with her own legacy, left her in
comfortable circuIns' ance>.
Miss Simpson would bid ON an EXPENSIVE
suite Of furniture without any thought OF
what she would do with il il it WIS
knocked down to her. The auctioneers,
knowing her weakness, llom paid any
attention to her bids, unless they were
made on some trifle that was sure to 20
for mere song. Once she bought in two
suites of parlor furniture in one morning.
and when she was asked whore she want
ed it sent she had forgotten that she had
become the purchaser. Size pa for the
furni' uTe, however, and had it resold at
the next auction sale.
Sarah Simpson has relatives living in
London, who will in all probability inherit
her little fortune, which is supposed to
amount to nearly fiji thousand dollars.
She bad a Few friends in this city, who
kept watchful eye upon her, although
they seldom :ntruded upon the secluded
life she led.
Her little museum will be removed to
one OF tie auction stores she freq1ented
for so many years, where the odds and
ends OF a quarter OF a century's accumula-
ton in the auction rooms of this city will
be sold in the course of month. The
body will be embalmed aud sent by steam
er 10 London AMI thence to Working Gem
etery, ten miles out OF London, on the
Southwestern Railway.