The Lincoln County leader. [volume] (White Oaks, Lincoln County, N.M.) 1882-189?, 1885-02-21
POVERTY
Few f our Executives who have left
Fortunes Behind Them

Washington Letter to Cleveland Leader
John Adams, at the age of &c,
after twenty six years of %centinu-
Gus public service, retired to his
little estate near Quincy, Mass,
with barely enough property TO
give him the needs of lite on Il
farm, and the only thing he got
from the United States during the
latter years of his life was the priv
lege Of receiving and sending his
letters without postage.
Thomas Jefferson had to borrow
something less than 80, 1000 Of a
Richmond bank to pay his debts
before he left the White House,
and the history Of the last seven
teen years OF his life is one Of al
most continuous financial embar-
assment. During the forty-four
years which he devoted to the SER
vice of his country his property
dwindled and his estates became
involved. In asking for the above
loan he said MY nights will be
almost sleepleSs, as nothing could
be more distressing to me than to
have debts here Tin Washington)
unpaid, if, indeed, | should be per-
mitted to depart with them unpaid,
of which ! am by no means certain.
ale obtained the loan, but he
went from Washington still owing
500, 600, and a lew years later he
was forced to sell his library,
which he had been sixty years in
gathering, to relieve his necessi-
ties. Congress, parsimonious then
as now, valued it at half its cost,
$4,000 for what was worth $50, 600.
In 1919 and 1928 there were hard
times in this country, and Jetfer-
son now an old man of Il, lost
S25, 900 by indorsing for a friend,
and he tried to relieve himself by
selling some of his lands. But
times were bad and there were no
purchasers. Land would not bring
more than One-third OF its value
and at the request OF the old *
President, the Virginia Legislature
passed an act permitting him to
dispose OF Monticello by a lottery.
This fact was nNised about over the
country, and so many subscriptions
came to his assistance that the idea
was given up. New York raised
$500, PHILADELPHIA sent 5000,
Baltimore $4,000, and Jefferson,
it is said, received these moneys
proudly, saying mo cent Of this
is wrung from the tax payer, it is
the pure, unsolicited offering of
love" He died at SO, believing
that his estate would support his
children. lie was mistaken. Con.
tinued hard times caused increased
depression, and the mansion and
estate merely paid the debts which
hung over them. Martha Jeffsr-
son, his daughter, lost her home,
and prepared to teach school, but
the Legislature of South Carolina
and Louisiana each voted her $40
900, and this enabled her to die in
comfort. Jetferson's only surviv-
ing granddaughter, Mrs. Mickle-
ham, lives in poverty IN George
town, and Congress las refused to
aid her.
have before me an old news
paper of 1926, published just one
month after JeffersOn's death
1t contains an advertisement otthe
sale of Monticello by lottery in
1920 and represents it as valued al
$4,000. Shadwill Mills, another
estate OF Jefferson, is valued al
100000, and the Albemsrle estate
at S11, 500. The tickets are SIC
each, and there are II, AT blanks.
President Madison left some
property at tho time of his death,
but his widow the peerless Dolly,
was for a time dependent on the