Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-11-14

Were Worth Large Fortunes but
Lived Like EseggaTs.
There is every reason to believe that
the boards of money and other valuabes
one so often reads of as having been dis
covered by workmen while engaged in
pulling down old houses have been
secreted by misers; the result is that, in
many cases. property thus found is taken
possession of by persons whom the
misers never intended to benefit, namely,
their heirs-at-law and next of kin.
1t is pretty certain that misers of both
sexes existed years ago, as they do in our
own day, and the following notes con-
corning some notable examples of this
class of monomaniacs may not be unin-
terestins.. OF these who made it rule
OF their lives to "gather gear by every
wilc," the case of NJ. OsterwaId, VINO
died at Paris in l791, is remarkable as
showing that the richest man in a city
may also be the most miserable one.
He was the son of poor minister, and
began life as q clerk in banking house
at Hamburg. where he acquired small
sum, which he augmented by his specu-
lations into business and his economical
mode of living. He afterward came to
| Paris, where he accumulated his
enormous fortune. He was bach
elor-the expenses of wife and
children being incompatible with
his frugal mode of living. He had for
a servant a poor wretch whom he
never permitted to enter his apartment.
He had always promised that at his
death he should be handsomely recon-
pensed, and accordingly he left him a
pittance of six months wages and a
suit of clothes, but, as he expressly
stated, 'not the most new" A few
days before his death some of his &C
quaintances, who saw that he was re-
duced to the last extremity by want oi
nourishment, proposed to him to have
some soup, eyes, yes" he replied, 'it
is easy to talk of soup-but what is tC
become of the mcat?" Thus died one
who was reported to be the richest mar
in Paris, more from want Of care anc
proper nourishment than from disease
He is stated to have left to relations
whom he had probably never seen, th
sum OF $4,000, 900. Under his pillow
,, was found 800, 900 livres in paper money
The neighborhood where Mary Lu
horne died seems to be still famous fo
its misers. In 1877 there died at Wool
wich, England, Mr.. John Clark, age'
eighty-six. He is described as having
been a man of education, but yer
singular character. Although repute'
to be immensely wealthy, he was yer
miserly in his habits, and lived t
;, the last in squalid hovel in tn
. poorest part of Woolwich p; tn
greater portion of his life wa
! spent in the accumulation OF books, c
= which he left large store. 1t was II
: ported that the front shutters of h
! house had not been opened for ovC
- thirty years. he never took a regulG
=, meal, nor did he know the taste {
!, wines or spirits. Yet, notwithstandin
! that he lived in such den and suffere
" such privalions, he reached an octog
- marian age, and died worth $500, 1000 (
! thereabouts.
n. An instance of miserly habits in Il
% great and noble is to be found in tt
re case of that renowned Captain, the Dul
x. of Marlborough, of whom it is chron
ID cled that, when in the last stage of il
/. and very infrm, he would walk fro
the public room in Bath to his lod
n. ings on cold, dark night to save 81
"a pence in chair hire. He died wor
D, $7,5O0,000.
IS 1t is recorded of Sir James Lowth
il that, after changing q piece of silver
I'M Georges coffee house, and paying tw
Is pence for his dish of coffee, he W
es helped into his chariot Che was then We
he lame and infrm), and went home. Sor
ri time after he returned to the same cofc
rv. house on purpose to acqualnt t
I've woman who kept it that she had giv'
,ut him bad half-penny, and demanded
ire other in exchange for it. Sir james
he stated to have then had about 5000, 0
per annum coming il, and was at
es loss whom to appoint his heir.
lty Sir Thomas Colby, an official high
ia office, shortened his existence by his p
oil sion for this worlds goods, as appe
ID by the following anecdote: "He rose
the the middle of the night, when he was
Of very profuse perspiration, and walk
oil uOWu SIdllS W lOOh iOl IAiN MY VI
90 cellar, which he had inadvertently
nal on table in parlor; he was appreh
sive that his servants might seize
key and rob him of bottle of port wi
instead of which he himself was sell
40. with chill and died intestate, leav
% ~ over 81, 900, 900 in the funds, which v
.om shared by five or six day laborers, v
! ID q were his next of kin" Marvellous g
nan luck for his poor relations!
,na , At Northfeet, England, there died
ont ,n 1872 Mr.. Page, dealer in limestone {
0i' IN gun fiints, by which occupation, and
Mic most penurious way of living, he had
nm us cumuiated a fortune of some $780, g
1tss +s He lived alone in large house for
,so W. eral years, no one coming near him
me- me- an old woman of the village, who @
hio liz a day went to make his bed. His dc
'ia was occasioned by his running k
ont into the palm of his hand while oper
uch an oyster.
mer Some years since a chiffonnier (or
ause and refuse gathGreD died intestatt
,nts France, having literally ''scraped"
ash. gether 400, 900 francs, the whole of VI
e is went to the heir at w.-Ne0 York s