Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-08-10
:, historic MIsER.
cf Moncy, Tet Suffering Ecery-
'''' Rather than Part ,cith 1t.

A'' Eo,her thai, Part ,cith 1t.
- hans the most famous miser ever
GAYS the Pittsburgh Dispatch,
'f" 1obn Elves, an Englishman, who
a. al from neglect because he refused to
s~ ..re the expense of physicians and
H'. .~s though worth not less than
100000. In the case of Jonn ELVES,
:: sordid character was not the result
torrance, for he was graduate of
,';.. university, and later in Life was a
an,ber of Parliament. His greed Of
IA was a hereditary sin. He was the
~ # London brewer, who died when
sabov was only years old. His mother
nr,iyed, but to such an extent did her
s,s;on for money gain hold upon her
.t though she had 100000 in her
nn ueht she actually starved herself
1.ath. An uncle, Sir Harvey Elves,
ros also miser, and the example of
nosa two blood relatives exercised such
N influence upon John Elves that he
come the most famous miser of three
or.,,ries. After his return to England
rom Geneva, Elves moved in fashion
obe London society, where his pros
noctiye wealth entitled him to recogni-
ton.
When he visited his uncle in Suffolk,
where the latter lived in the most abject
renurv, his hopeful nephew would play
double part. He would wear his fash
iouable garments as far as little inn in
chelmsford, where he exchanged them
for a patched pair Of trousers, a worn
ont coat, darned stockings, and clod-
bopper shoes with iron buckles. In this
attire he would call upon his uncle.
The latter would not permit fire on
coll March days on the score of its be-
inc extravagant, and the two would sit
with crust OF 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 expense of cam
/ dies. When this uncle died he left his
nephew fortune of 100000.
As he grew older, John Elves de
yecped the terrible avarice that marked
his life by passion for cards. He would
sit in his threadbare clothes with the
|Duke of Northumberland and play with
ieyerish eye and trembling hand with
| thousands at stake, and then, after hav
ling lost or won, as the case might be, he
would walk to his miserable lodgings,
three miles distant, in a pelting rain,
rather than pay for cab.
Elves owned magnificent country
seat 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, mountin a
horse, would ride over fields and through
lanes, going miles out of his way to
avoid roads where he would have to pay
a few pennies toll. A more than faith
tlll biographer says Of him:
He would eat his provisions in the
last stage Of putrefaction rather than
have fresh joint from the butcher, and
al one time he wore wig about fort
night which he picked out Of a rut in a
lane, and which had apparently been
thrown away by a beggar."
AT his country seat he allowed of nc
repair save a little brown paper OF a bit
CT broken glass. During the harvest he
would amrse himself with going into
the fields to CLEAN the corn on the
grounds of his own tenants, and they
used to leave IL little more than common
to please the old gentleman, who was as
eager after it as any pauper in the
parish. To save bed-covering before
his death he would go to sleep com
rletely dressed, with boots and hat on
He died miserably, his mind weakened
by worry and privation. The value O
ms fortune, which went to two sons, wa
not less than $5,0OO,000.