The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-01-20
FRIDAY. JANUARY 20. 1854.
cReeLEY.s ESTATE.
a Card From Colonel Nicholas Smith, -
Great Edltur's Son-in.LaW.

Card From Colonel Nicholas Smith, The
Great Edltor's son-in-Law.
No man knows better than you that
Horace Greeley left no fortune. His
insolvency at the time of his death was
SD well understood that, if l mistake
not. you yourself proposed to raise .
fund for the endowment of his daugh.
tiers. His daughter. afterward my wife.
with grace and delicacy that charmed
me away off in the West, published .
card declining to be thus enriched.
At the time of our marriagc-and !
blush to be forced to tell these things
she had Just 5000 paid to her by tho
late Commodore Vanderbilt as slight
Reorganization of his obligation to Mr..
Greeley for his great kindness to his
unfortunate son. The money she used
in buying a trousseau and in defraying
the expenses of her wedding.
At that time Mr.. Greeley had been
dead three years and she had never re-
ceived one dollar from the executors.
The only money they had succeeded in
collecting was 5000 which they. at
her request. paid to Mrs. Cleveland as
a legacy. Three years later the assets
were turned over to me. but not one
dollar in money. The absolute man
agemcnt of what appeared to be q
worthless property was generously
conceded to me. The rock which
Alexander Hamilton struck was not
dryer or promising. A little while
before Mrs. Smiths death she and her
sister published card in answer to .
similar calumny. and added: ''Our
estates have more than doubled under
his (my) management"
made some good collections and
some better investments After q
while the panic came and the value Of
our property ran down, some of it to
zero; but whose did not? NY sister,
in-law reposcd absolute confidence in
me, and l never consciously abused
it. The estate was managed a.
one property. 1 am sure you will be
glad to know that your statement con-
corning her financial condition is not
true. Her portion of the sixty thou
sand dollars collected from the younger
Vanderbilt she still has. Chappaqua
is hers. and if all the propitious signs
do not fail she will soon have, from the
property 1 invested some of her money
in and much more of my own, q hand
some return.
With John F. Cleveland's estate had
nothing whatever to do. The only
money 1 ever touched belonging to
Mrs. Cleveland which 1 did not give
her myself was 5000 presented
by Miss Greeley. after advising and
consulting with me, and invested
by me at her NIrs. Cleveland's) urgent
request The five per cent bonds I
first purchased for her were not salts.
factory. As l was getting larger prof
its from my own money she naturally
expected more for hers. knew it was
risky, but after consulting with nv
broker 1 took the responsibility of
guaranteeing seven per cent. interest
to her. The property soon ceased to
pay dividends. 1t could not have been
sold in the market for one dollar. Mrs.
Cleveland needed $1,000, the price of
one of her old bonds, and I paid her
the money out Of my own pocket But,
as said. guaranteed her interest.
When Chappaqua was sold I gave her
my portion of the money outright
sum more than sufficient to pay all the
accrued interest upon her $1,000 up to
this hour.-Lctter tn n. Y. Sum