Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-13
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
corHAWs NEWS AND GOSSIP.

the DOdy OF Nilllam He 'auucioit nas
been lying surrounded by his. mourning
family. and the press has teemed with
tales Of the dead millionaire's life, his
financial career, his friendships and
enmities, his charities, and his wealth.
Like most men who have made money
through stock manipulation and the
industrious shearing Of the public,
Mr.. Vanderbilt had some bitter enc
mics on Wall street, who did not hesi-
tate when the news of his death came
to savagely criticise him. His asso-
ciates were brainy men, unpublished,
but with their bumps Of inventiyeness
and executive ability abnormally de-
veloped. His father, the old Commo-
dore. discovered and advanced them,
and they were loyal to his son, as they
will be loyal to his sons son.
Mr.. Vanderbilt shrank from publicity
and loved the quiet of his home or of
his coal-box buggy with some famous
flyer hitched to it. He was friendly
with any one who could get up along
side of him on the road with speedy
horse, and on the porch Of the club
house in the Gentlemen's Driving-Park
would discuss with Tom, Dick, or
Harry the merits or dement's Of all the
famous trotters. On any other subject
he was dumb as an oyster. The pre-
sumption is that his son Cornelius will
inherit about 90 per cent. Of the enor-
nous fortune left. William II. almost
doubled the sum old Cornelius left him,
and people are wondering where, if
Young Cornelius inherits the family as
tuteness as we'll as the family wealth,
the increase is going to stop. He is a
bright, handsome fellow, happily mar
ried, and is socially inclined.
As is the custom nowadays when
an abnormally wealthy or very IA
nous man dies, steps have been taken to
prevent the theft of the body from the
tomb by wretches who hope to extort
a great ransom for the return Of it.
Not more than half dozen people to-
dav know whether the magnificent
tomb erected to his memory in the Ca
thedral at Garden City contains all that
is mortal of A. 7. Stewart. 1t has
been asserted that it does and denied,
but the people who know won't talk,
although every once in a while some
cock-and-bull story about the men who
robbed the tomb in St. Marks yard is
teleeraphed from the West only to be
sneered at here. The name and the
wealth OF Stewart are mere memories
now. The firm-name and the business
are gone. and we never hear of his
widow, shut up with her priceless pic
lures in the marble mausoleum, whose
building | watched from the architect
plans, daily modified in some detail by
the millionaire, to its final completion.
JOHN f.. OWENS.
Death has been so busy of late among
the mighty ones of the earth that the
public is likely to overlook some of the
lesser lights when they are extinguish-
ed. One whose lamp of life is almost
burned out is John +. Owens, better
known to the passing generation
as "SOlOn Single" He was a Pc
culiar light of the dramatic profess
sion, not alone because of his infinite
detail in versatility, but chiefly because
he managed to have business discretion
enough to hold on to what he got with
out being subjected to the charge Of Pc
nuIiousness.
HIS HOME.
When about fifty years Of age Mr..
Owens invested in lovely home at
Towsontown. near Baltimore, and here
during the off season he would play
northumberland and entertain his
friends with the most royal hospitality.
His house was full Of choice works of
art, and he has the only painting ever
made of Edmund Kean. His wife ut
was a runaway match is lady Of SUI
perior attainments and lovable dOmes.
tic traits. They have no children. but
have taken care of nieces and nephews
for many years. lie owns, among other
properties, the opera-house at Charles
ton, S. c., and John Mackey tells me
he is worth certainly quarter Of a
million. His trouble is cancer of the
! liver.
The Nineteenth Century Club, having
outgrown the spacious parlorS of it,
president. Mr.. Courtlandt Palmer, ha:
been compelled TO hire the American
Art Galleries for its meetings. Thurs
day night was the second time the club
met in its new quarters. and although
it is as exclusive now as it ever was
hundreds Of people were unable to get
in and other hundreds were unable tc
hear word Of the debate. At least
2,000 people, all in full dress, jammed
the rooms. The topic was Wagner,
and the disputants were the Rev. Mr.
Haweis, funny combination OF Toolt
and Talmage, and the pompous Colonel
Mapleson, who is pretending Just now
to be giving New York Italian opera
The disciples Of Wagner were very
much disappointed in their champion
because his discourse was nothing but
vigorous threshing Of old straw. Ma.
pleson, Of course, was ridiculous. lie
denounced Wagner as an operate char.
latan, and launched out into jeremiad
about his private troubles with the
swell dictators Of the Academy.
The next meeting of the Club will bt
devoted to Socialism. Professor Thoma;
Davidson, an eminent scholar, one of the
greatest living archgologists, and famous
also as a Socialist and Radical, will dis
cuss the Missing Social Link with
Henry George, the well.known author
of " Progress and Poverty" They arr
expected to show the difference between
people who are in what is known as so
ciety and people who are not in tn,
charmed circle, and as they are master,
in their science, many unpleasant truth
will be told the cultivated members o
the Club, which will undoubtedly cal
up heated discussion. A brother o
Professor Davidson is the author o
1.-The New Book Of Kings" a scorch