Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-29
MOSES rAYLoR's WIDOW.
fer One Remarkable Whim of Extrava- sance Diagnosed by n Correspondent.

fer One Remarkable whim of Extrava-,
 sance Diagnosed by a Correspondents.
 There is a wealthy New York widow who has a church and chaplain of her own, writes a New York correspondent. She iS Mrs. Moses Taylor. The church was built by her at Long Branch at q cost Of about $70,0 ,000. It is Presbyterian, and there is q nominal board of trustees, but Mrs Taylor. paid every dollar of the cost and Is the owner outright. It is an ornate editice, and one of it's features IS memorial stained glass window inscribed to her dead hus- band. Blessed are they that die in the Lord," it says. The sinner might add that they are considerably blest who live possess ors of the enormous wealth accumulated by Moses Taylor. He was rather loose and luxurious in his earthly methods of blessed ness, but he professed Christianity little while before he dled, and so the witness of the window is not to be impeached. Mrs. Taylor's chaplain is Rev. J. H. Young, who conducts the services in the church during the summer months, but it is at her com mand the year round, for she pays his sal ary of S35OO out of her own pocket. This religious, benevolent and amiable lady does not put on airs over being the richest widow in America. The fact is, she and every, body elso were astonshed by the amount of fortune left to her. One of the eXecu- tors of the will has just been telling me about it. The document did not cnumerate the testator's possessions, but merely Jumped the personal property, consisting of bonds, stocks and other securities" The general impression had been that Taylor was worth fifteen to twenty millions. He had made great property by i'm porting foreign goods in his own ships, but as to his investments he had never been communicative. On ap- pointed day the widow and the executors opened the doors of the particularly solid vault which the old man had built into his office. This structure was bank-Ilie in vul- nerability, and the investigators expected to find the proofs of ownership to the ex- tent of many millions in it. But they were not prepared for what they found. The m- nermost compartment was large enough to hold certificates of stock and the like se- curities without folding. There was high, stack of these papers, lying nearly top of one another, unWrinklcd and uncreased.I They represented Taylors investments in hundreds of railroads, banks, insurance companies and all manner of the soundest financial ventures. The amazed finders of this store of wealth handled them over in a half-dazed way for an hour or two Then they set about making an inventory. When they came to add the totals it was seen that the market value of the lot was about thirty, millions, and when other property was added to this the aggregate reached forty millions, or moro than double the current estimate. Taylor had disliked to figure as superlatively rich man, and, therefore, without any of the miser's instinct had concealed the facts from even his most in timate friends. As to the widow and heiress, she denies herself nothing that her fancy demands, but she is as unostenta- tious as her late husband, and her indul- gence in church and chaplain of her own constitutes her one remarkable whim of ex. trSyaCanCc.