Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-09
GENEROUS VANDERBILT.
THE MILLIONAIRE NOT WITH
OUT A HEART.

A Crippled Boy the Sight Which Caused
Him to Give the Hair Million to the
SurgeOns-His Kindness to his Rela-
tives-New YOrk's Nobility.
Correspondence or the Aor-sing Neaos.
NEW YORK, Nov. 7.-Everybody knows
by this time that VIM. II. Vanderbilt
has just put bis hand down into his
pocket and given the College of Physi-
clans and Surgeons, in this city, S50o, 900.
Politics have been s1ch an all absorbing
topic Of late, however, that the munifi-
cent gift has attracted much less atten-
ton than it would have done at almost
any other season of the year. While the
circumstances which prompted the mil
Ionaire to make the gift are not particu-
larly romantic, they serve to show that
VIM. II. has considerable Of a heart in his
body, despite his oft-repeated expression
OF emphatic contempt for the public. Not
over couple of months ago he had his
flyers hitched to the pole OF his newest
brewster and went speeding along the
road for drive. On his return home
ward he stopped at Barry's. an uptown
inn. which is a favorIte stopping place
with the millionaire when he wants a
A4SIAC w me ne SLNOU WlID
his back to the bar, his elbows on it and
a glass of grOg-two fingers OF Holland
gin, two of hot water, and spoonful of
sugaF-a pitiable cripple entered. The
object was little boy with misshapen
legs, and a back with a hump like a
camePs. William FL. was touched by the
sight, and, calling the lad to him, asked
him how he came to be so badly deformed.
He explained that he had been run over.
A N accident on tho had SoI IN.
terest for the old gentleman. and he
questioned the little fellow until he got
the particulars. The boy had been
knocked down and trampled on by fast
horse. He was too poor to be doctored at
home, and yet his mother had foolishly
objected to his removal to a hospital,
where he might have received proper
treatment, but he had been taken TO the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, where
applicants get inadequate attention, or
only such rs will serve as Illustrations
to the lessons which the students are
learning, the facilities being so limited as
to preclude anything farther. 1t CHANGED
that Prof. Doremus, the specialist in
chemistry, dropped into the bar
room at this time. In answer
to Mr.. Nanderbilt's questions
he said it was a pity that his college,
with the most skillful of surgeons IN its
faculty, and the incentive to utilize in
jured persons at once to their own benefit
and the teaching of students, was prevent
ed from doing SO by limited quarters and
scant facilities. He said that big build
ing would serve as gOOe purpose as he
knew of in the whole range of New York
charity. From that directly came the I'M
expected gift of 100000. Nothing was
said by Mr.. Vanderbilt at the time indi-
eating that the subject impressed him
particularly, but in less than a month the
check was signed. This gift to the col
lege is followed by the announcement that
the gener0us-hearted magnate has deter
mined to distribute the greater portion of
his estates on Staten Island among his
poor relations. Among the pieces of pro-
perty owned by Mr.. Vanderbilt was the
famous Sim0ns0n homestead in Clifton,
S. l. The place, which has quite a histo-
ry, was once owned by Commodore Van
derbil's sister-in-law. The lady parted
with it at foreclosure sale, and the Conn
m0dOre b0ugbtit. When he died it reverted
to his faVorite son, William H.. who has
just decided it back to its original owner.
During the campaign of 1856 Gen. John
9. Fremont, the Republican candidate for
President, made his headquarters in the
Simonson homestead. On Bay street,
StapletOn. S. l., there stands an old house
which is known as the birthplace of w.
II. Vanderbilt. There he passed his
lulduCN anu bOluOOu udNss anu III was
there be first met the young maiden who
is now the happy wife of the richest man
in the world. This venerable house is
now occupied by Capt. William White,
en- old seaman, who married member of
the late CommodOre's family. The Cap
tain has lived there for several years
without paying rent. This, too. has been
decided to a relative of Mr.. Vanderbilt.
He has also given away considerable
ntHor RI hiG
value of the property so decided is said to
be $4,000. The rumOr that Cornelius
Vanderbilt has offered to dispose of his
$2000,000 palace on Fifth avenue for just
half its value is not generally credited by
those who ought to know something about
the matter. 1t is doubtful, to
say the least, whether he would
find life at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel pleasant, even though it proved
profitable, financially speaking. Cor
nelius has been high liver, and he would
not find it easy to come down to the in
evitable sameness which is a worldwide
characteristic of hotel tables. All the
Vanderbilts are reported to feel pretty
poor, and 1t Is generally believed that
many OF their recent investments have
not proved particularly profitable. As it
costs a fortune TO run it, Cornelius
palace has proved an iinNssss<n, eXtrays-
gance. Previous to his death his grand
father gave him $50, GOO residence on the
corner of Fourth avenue and Thirty-third
street, which ought to have satisfied his
ambition; but when he got hold of that
two millions, he bought two houses on
Fifth avenue, giving $4,000 for one and
$4,000 for the other. They had been be-
gun only two years before, and one was
not yet finished, but he leYelled them to
the ground, every brick, and built his own
personal palace there.
LILLIAN RUssELL's HUSBANDS,
A forgetful public and a divorce suit
await the return OF the once fair singer.
Lillian Russell. She threw away fame
and fortune for an insignificant adventu-
rer, at time, too, when the jeunneSse
dOree of Gotham was at her feet. Her de-
termination is to offer no defense to the
suit which will be brought against her by
her husband, Harry Braham, a musician
of some tame, as it is said she is DESTROYS
of being able to marry Eddie Solomon.
the composer, with whom she skipped to
Europe about two years ago. One point
of Miss RusSelPs career that has never
been fully explained and that NAV serve
as somewhat of an excuse for many of the
strange things she has done in the past,
has been the singular manner in which
she was brought up. 1t is not generally
known that Miss Russell is the daughter
Va q SOAbAOAAdn nducQ ICOudTus VINO Is
one OF the largest printers in Chicago. He
is man varIously estimated to be worth
from $150,000 to $250,0O0. His wife was
the now well-known Cynthia Leonard,
who aspired to the lecture stage, and her
peculiar principles of life have I'M
doubleday had great deal of
effect on her daughter, Miss Lii
liam. When first Lillian married Har-
ry Braham she made a most devoted wife,
and subsequently loving mother to her
two children, who are now in the care of
their father. She was then seized with a
desire to go on the stage and her husband
was largely responsible for placing her
there. 1t is only two years since that sew
eral papers were full of an alleged elope-
ment of Lillian with young man named
ROwell Osborne. This statement was
vigorously denied, but was never satIsfac-
tOrily explained. 1t is to be remembered,
also, that in proportion to the amount of
talk that was INDUCED IN regarding her