Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-07-15
cRocKER'S EYE.soRE.
Inc rehce Built by the California Mi,
loaaire Around a Neirbbor,

Inc renee Built by the California Hs;,,-
hooaire Around a Neighbours Lot.
Inc stranger in San Francisco who
goes about to view the dwellings of the
rich is struck with wonder at sinunlar
monument which rears its unsightlv
shape on Sacramento street, between
Taylor and Jones, On all sides but one
/" looks Ike an overgrown ice-house,
and as it stands within the broad shadow
OF the palatial home of Charles Croker.
the observer who does not look beyond
appearances is disposed to view eternal
admiration of love for cooling beyer-
ages which manifests itself by the keep
ing OF sheltered iceberg so near to
one door This conclusion, however.
Is erroneous. The other side of the
mysterious structure tells the story. 1t
is entirely open to the street, and as the
eye plunges into genuine cul-de-soc If
also reflects the SURPRISING fact tbat
there is no roof overhead. The inclo-
sure is no ice-house, but a mere non
minus gate; it is formed by a heavy
Ieaden-colored fence about twenty foot
nigh, with a level and continuous con
ing on top, and strongly braced at short
intervals on the outside. 1t incloses. in
TACT, building lot, thirty-six feet wide
by ninety long, in which a variety of
exuberant weeds hold riotous SWAY the
year round -
-, ABOUT nine years ago a house stood
there, the property of wealthy under
taker named Yung. When Charles
Croker had secured the whole of the
square plot which his residence occupies.
excepting this parallelogram, he was
willing to pay dearly for it. Mr.. Yunp
knew that the lot was worth a great
deal more to his aff1uent and powerful
neighbor than to any one else. When
MI. Crocker made him an offer he de-
manded much higher sum. After
awhile the would-be purchaser resolved
TO pay the price, when he found that it
had again been raised. This experience
was repeated several times. Mr..
Crocker's final offer was $4,000, but
1ung wanted S25, 900. Then the mill
1onalre found himself at the end of his
patience, and he registered a solemn
vow never to buy the lot from its then
owner. Furthermore, as the presence
OF dwelling so near his own mansion,
into whose ample windows it looked,
was cause of hourly annoyance, he
gave orders to have a tall fence erected
around the lot, shutting out all view on
three sides of it. The lot was then a
good deal lower than the grounds sur
rounding the Croker mansion. The
fence was built almost thirty feet high,
and it intercepted every ray of sunshine
that did not descend almost vertically.
MIR. 1ung may have repented of his OBJ
duracy, but he made no sign. The
vengeance of Mr.. Croker was compare
lively complete. The enemy beyond
the fence did not venture into l;ti-
;gation, and after a year or two the
house, which had been put in binders,
as it We're, was removed and the lot was
left vacant 1t was subsequently leveled
up to the grade of the Croker grounds.
The fence was blown down, but new
one was erected score of feet high.
1t is still there. Charles Croker pro-
fesses the greatest Indifference as to
whether the lot ever becomes his or not.
Intimate friends, however, confess that
it has been a sort of hated thorn in his
side, and it will probably, therefore, be
good news to him to learn that there is
at last prospect of its being plucked
ont, and without it being necessary for
him TO break his vow. Mr.. Yung, the
undertaken, is dead, and his widow is
we'll enough to do to disdain the consid-
Grafton of few thousand dollars as
hopeful incentive to the keeping of a
persistent clutch upon a property that is
to her useless. People on California
street hill were astonished about two
weeks ago to see the ign For sale'
posted up in lofty conspicuousness on
Mr.. Crocker's dismal fence. The agents
are well-known firm on Montgomery
street. Inquiry at their Office revealed
the fact that Mrs. r. Yung, the relict of
the deceased undertaken, is far less eX-
orbitant in her expectations than he
was She asks S12, 800 for the lot, which
is equal to 1868 foot front. 1t is I'M
derstood, however. that these figures
are far from being her ultimatum.-San
francisco Chronicle.