The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-06-13
HISTORIC MISERS.
STARVING RATHER THAN PART
WITH THEIR MONEY.
ELVES, the Millionaire. Whose Moth,
er Starved to Death-A Mi
ser Who Was Also a
Philanthropist.

man, who died from neglect because he.
refused to incur the expense of physi-
clans and nurses, though worth not less
than 81, 100000 In the case of John
ELVES, his sordid character was not the
result of ignorance, for he was gradu-
ate of Swiss university, and later in
life was a member of Parliament. His
greed of gold was an hereditary sin. He
was the son of a. London brewer, who
died when the boy was only four years
old. His mother survived, but to such
an extent did her passion for money gain
a hold upon her that, though she had
$500, 00O in her own right, she actually
starved herself to death. An uncle, Sir
Harvey Elves, was also miser, and the
example of these two blood relatives
exercised such an influence upon John
ELVES, that lie became the most famous
miser of three centuries. After his re.
turn to England from Geneva, ELVES
moved in fashionable London society,
where his prospective wealth entitled
him to recognition.
When he visited his uncle in Suffolk,
where the latter lived in the most abject
penury, his hopeful nephew would play
double part. He would wear his
fashionable garments as far as little
inn in Chelmsford, where he exchanged
them for a patched pair of trousers, a
worn out coat, darned stockings, and
clodchopper shoes with iron buckles.
In this attire he would call upon his
uncle. The latter would not permit a
fire on cold March days on the score of
its being eytravagant, and the. two
would sit with q crusteof bread and one
glass of wine between them until it was
too dark to see each others faces, and
then they would retire to save the ex-
peuse of the candles. When this uncle
died he left his nephew a fortune of
$1,O0O,OO
As he grew older. John ELVES de-
veloped the terrible avarice that marked
his life by passion for cards. He would
sit in his thread-bare clothes with the
Duke of Northum berland and play with
feverish eye and trembling hand with
thousands at stake, and then. after hav-
ing lost or won, as the case may be, he
would walk to his miserable lodgings,
three miles distant, in pelting rain,
rather than pay cab.
ELVES owned magnificent country
scat IN Berkshire. When he would
leave London to visit it he would put
three hard boiled eggs and some crusts of
bread in his pockets, then, mounting a
horse, would ride over fields and through
lanes, going miles out of his way to
avoid roads where he would have to pay
few pennies toll. A more than faith
full biographer says of him:
"He would eat his provisions in the
last stage of putrefaction rather than
have fresh joint from the butcher, and
at one time he wore a wig about fort
night which he picked out of a rut in q
lane, and which had apparently been
thrown away by beggar."
At his country seat he allowed of no
repair save little brown paper or bit
of broken glass During the harvest he
would amuse himself with going into the
fields to CLEAN the corn on the grounds of
his own tenants; and they used to leave
little more than common to please the
old gentleman, who was as eager after it
as any pauper in the parish. To save
bed coverings, before his death, he
would 60 to sleep completely dressed
with boots and hat on. He died miser-
ably, his mined weakened by worry and
privation. The value of his fortune,
which went to two sons, was not less
than $5,0OO,0O0.
Another celebrated miser was Ephraim
Lapes Pereira, Baron d'Aguilar, formerly
cashier to the Empress Maria Theresa of
Austria. Strange to say, the early years
of his life at the Austrian court were
years of splendor. Then he moved to
England, married wealthy lady, and
settled down. He lived in sumptuous
style; kept several carriages and twenty
servants. He was married twice, and,
after his second marriage he left his fam
lily and friends and withdrew himself
from the fashionable world. He turned
farmer. At this time hewas worth ST.
900, 900. After year in the country his
place began to be known as "Starvation
Farmyard." His cattle and poultry
were mass of skin and bones, and peas
ants began to hoot at the Baron when
ever he appeared for his mean treatment
ofhis animals. He always insisted on
being present when the stock was being
fed, so that he might see that there was
nothing stolen or wasted. He went
about his farm clad in mean and dirty
clothes, and refused to spend money to
buy new ones. After life ofselishness
and meanness he died in March, 1902,
leaving property estimated at 81, 100,-
900. His diamonds alone were worth
$500 while his solid silver plate
weighed over 700 pounds.
That man who expended during his
life and bequeathed to public institu-
tions on his death over 81, 900, 900, should
be called miser, seems a paradox, ard
yet such was Thomas Guy, the founder
of the famous Guys Hospital, London,
and man whose memory will be cher
ishcd for hundreds of years to come.
Thomas Guy, was the son of coal
dealer in Horsely ydown. He began life
with capital of E1OO as a bookseller.
By fortunate investments in the year
1920 he amassed an immense fortune,
mainly through what was known as
South Sea stock. His whole life was
marked by u peruriousncss that strangely
comportcd with his lavish public gifts.
He invariably ate his meals alone, using
an old newspaper as table cloth. On
winter nights he would burn the half of
one candle and shiver over few sticks
of wood in brick stove. 1t was of Guy
that the famous story is told how one
Hopkins called upon him to get a lesson
on the art of saving. 1t was night, and
Guy was seated at plain deal table with
q half-penny candle.