Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-02-19
p 7. BARNuM's WILL.
The.t'oSe'ave % Phvatrians--.N sthtRg
e. s-~tarias lastitsttess-. Dssasies
70 Bridgeport.

INV ""sie - U NV Ssss1"S.s.S WI ~ ~ ]
t. s-~tarias lastitutiens-. Dssaeiss
70 Bridgeport.
New York SUM-
"Whv, when you made your will re.
Gently, dill YOU take the trouble to call
a con lave OF physicians to certify "a
your conlit:onY'
"Beca lse o. what had seen OF con.
tests over wills, in the case Of Frank
Leslie and dozen others. Why, we
have had one right here. that over the
will Of Capt. John brooks, who died in
full possession oil his faculties. but
pref Y old, and left most of his money
to the church, and now relations lac
scarcely ever heard Of are coutesting
his VII. They had me on the w.t.
ness q ID and ASKED me what. in my
opinion, was Capt. Brooks mental con.
dition. | replied that l thought his
mind was - sound ~ that Of any rich
man who has poor relations. They
dropped me pretty quickly. I don't
Suppose there il anything in my will
that anybody will contest, bit do II
propose to leave any ground for legal
trouble over it. prov d. that any
lepatee who makes contest sha.l AZ q
penalty for 80 doing, forfeit what
ever 10 be iueithei to him in
the will. and 1 have left 0 fund Of
sl00OOo in reserve in the hands Of the
executors until the will is pro-
bated. expressly to tight any c,ntestant
who may arise. And il Tat is not
enough. they can then 10 on AID apply
the estate TO make the fight. As q
measure Of precantion, I cal oil in nv
personal physician, who is an allopath,
u prominent homeopathic physician,
and the treasurer OF the Bridgeport
hospital, who is l-ading doctor, and
hal them not only witness my will, but
make oath that they believed me to he
of sound mind
Have YOU made any requests to purely
sectar an Institutions
NO. sir. Not dollar. I have hith.
erto given many thousands Of dollars to
the building Of evangelical churches,
hut have made no i,eluests for aly.
thing of that sort. But have given to
what I believe the most practical Chris.
tian institution in America--and don't
know man belonging to it-that mag.
nificent Childrsa's Aid society. have
not only given them certain consider.
abe sum Of money, in my will, but left
to them an interest in my share of the
large profits of the Barnum.London
show ~ long ~ il shall be In existence.
/ have done that for several other in.
situations, but not for any on sectarian
grounds"
"How much more have you made and
either given away or retained until
nowg'
"Oh, I don't know. Millions upon
millions. am amazed myself when !
think over what I have expended and
given away. l have made . good deal
outside Of my show businesses, in real
estate, much Of il here In Bridgeport.
l built up East Bridgeport, which, not
many years ago, was all farms. In or.
der TO induce the erection Of large
manufactures there, / gave away many
thousands of dollars worth Of valu.
able land, with the excellent result OF
causing the building up Of hundreds Of
homes ell about them, and the perlns.
nent establishment Of Q hourishing and
contn.ed population
Independent OF the donations you
have made in that way, to advance you
own laaded interests, YOU have given
largely solely for the public good. have
Won not 2"
For the first time in the course of The
interview, Mr.. Barnum spoke with
manifest reluctance. II think, he said
that il 10 not becoming thing in me
to recapitulats what my good fortune
has enabled me to do for nv friends and
neighbors. for % I deem eli Bridgeport
There are doubtless many among then
Who, had they been equally sucoessfu
in having the means 10 disposs Of
would have been ct least - liberal q
have been. I bad been lucky, AND
naturally wished those about me 4
have some share in my luck. twill al
he told when ] am gone. In this mat
Ter ] should prefer i0r 0nss 10 drop th<
Snowman and not seem 70 b blowing
my own horn."
Let me speak for him" interpolated
q friend who was present, "as ] believe
can correctly, 20 far, ct least, a. ths
main things deserving Of mention
Many years ego be and bib then asso
cate, Gen. Noble, donated 10 the city
Of Bridgeport, Washington park, . bssu
tilul grove surrounded by churches and
line residences, which the city would
not sell now for hundreds Of thousands
of dollars. Then he. individually. gave
the city s70,0OO worth more OF land foI
park purposes, on the condition that
the city is bound 10 forever maintain Il
~ Q park, and always 70 have Q free
bathing ground on its front. In the
city GENE cry he gave several thousand
dollars w,rih Of lots for . burial plot
for the Grand Army Of the Republic; a.
much more for the fiss department Of
Bridgeport; 5000 single graves for
poor people, on condition that they
should bs scat cred all over the GENE.
xapv mot lo,atod IA, anv ona nlaco In.