Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-07-23
sfifsfellanenns.
His Hard Cash.
THE WEALTH OF AN ECCENTRIC CoNNEc-
TICUT MAN.

Squire Aaron White, the most eccentric
man 10 eastern Connecticut, says Nor
WITCH dispatch in the New York Sun, died
few days ago at Thompson. aged 80
years. He was LAWYER, and everybody
in his neighborhood knew him, because
he had level head. His many eccen-
tricities gained him even greater fame.
He was born in Rhode Island. When
Gov Dorr was the executive head OF that
state, Aaron was the encouragement. He
was a man after that queer politicians
own heart, and he took part in the great
Dorr rebellion. Squire White had to fee
after the instruction had been suppressed,
and he came into Connecticut and settled
in Thompson. in the little village of New
Boston, a few rods from the Quinnebaug
depot on the Norwich & Worcester rail-
road. He practised in that place until his
death After few years he married
New Boston woman. who died many years
ago, and after her death he lived in mel
ancholy enjoyment of his solitude, think
ing over the famous events in his early
career, and brooding over his cherished
doctrine that the United States govern
ment is bound to be failure.
The incident of the Dorr rebellion had
turned his head. He had no faith in I'm
Gle Sans printed promises on paper mon
ey, and all the greenbacks and bank notes
he received he at once changed into solid
metal. Gold, silver, nickle and copper
were acceptable to him, and as fast as he
got it he put it into cigar boxes. and Sc
erected the boxes couple of feet under
ground in his modest dollhouse, or under
the floors in his queer old attic. His
house was stuffed with queer things. old
fashioned trumphery OF every kind, and
only himself and the spiders and the mice
and flies, knew all there was in it. Some
of the rooms at the time of his death had
not been opened for years, and their walls
were festooDed with spiders webs and
whitened with dust. The floors creaked
and the walls shook as a person moved
about. and the country people said
that ghosts at night fitted by the
sealed and abandoned chambers. Squire
White did not care much for his
neighbors' opinion of his habits. and
when they talked ghosts to him he laughed
in their faces; vet everyone liked him be-
cause he was conscientious and honorable,
and his personal peculiarities were not of
much account except to talk about on the
-
The squire took great pains to make his
dwelling look well externally. 1t is like
most other country houses. 1t is a story
and half high. white painted, with green
blinds, which were almost always closed,
and it is topped by squat chimney. The
front yard was carefully kept. A white
paled face enclosed it. No weeds grew
among the white gravel in the walk. Al
most every evening in the summer the
old man was seen in the yard car
ing tor his rose bushes, which grew splen-
did big white and red roses, before other
rose bushes in the neighborhood had
thought of opening their buds. But the
dearest place to the squire among all his
possessions in real estate. was his hot
house. and he never entered it except he
looked furtively behind him to see wheth-
or any one was watching him, and he al
ways closed the door with bang, hastily
He was very sly about this business, and
the people often wondered why he was so
very particular in his visits to the hot
house. They did not know that
he had tons of United States coin buried
in the ground in the dollhouse. The build
ing was small, with low glass roof and
the old man had to bend his crooked fig.
ure when he walked about in it. He kept
"A few plants on the shelves in it, and
small grapevine tried to grow, having too
much sunlight and not enough moisture,
under the glass roof; but Aaron White
paid very little attention to the flowers or
the struggling grapevine when he went
into the building. and his Indifference to
them was what mystfied the neighbor-
hood. He never spoke to his friends and
acquaintance about the conservatory
AT last he lay down to die of old age,
and then. although his mind was clear,
and q lawyer and several neighbors asked
him about his estate, ne kept mum about
the dollhouse. He ''dida't care to talk
about money" he said. "but he had will
properly made out, in the bureau drawer.
that would explain things" He died
peacefully, and not many DAYS
after his burial, his executors and
other persons gathered at his farm,
house to see how much money he had
left. and what to do with it. BY the terms
of the will. all his property had been left
to brother who lives in Hackensack. n
j.. and has a business in New York CITY :;
but the document said nothing about the
conservatory or any other property except
the dwelling and the land The execu-
tors were puzzled. They felt sure that
Squire White must have had deposit of
coin somewhere, because he had been
collecting it for many years. but there
was nothing to indicate that it was in a
bank. and visits to banks in eastern Con-
necticut helped them not at all. Where
was it then they asked themselves. At
last bright idea popped into the head of
one.
Perhaps its buried in the dollhouse or
secreted under the floor in the garrett
The idea was acted on at once. The
men began to dig. They dug down into
the earth for several feet in the conserva-
tory. and the spade struck something
solid. They unearthed it. 1t was
mouldy and rottenng cigar box The
cover fell off and it was found to be
packed solid full of pennies. of all dates
of the last thirty or forty years Again
they dug, and everywhere in the dollhouse
at depth OF about two feet, they upturned
a cigar box packed either with pennies or
nickels. or silver or gold pieces. Over
the whole ground they went digging with
their spade, sometimes turning up gold
and sometimes silver pieces or pennies.
The search was continued for several
days. aud after all the ground had been
dug up and the cigar boxes stacked, it
was found that over four tons of coin had
been taken out of the earth in the hot