Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-09-09
MOSES
Her One Remarkable Whim of Extrava-
Rance DiagnOsed by a CorrcspOndept.

Her One Remarkable whim of Extrava.
gance Diagnosed by "A Correspondents
There is a wealthy New orB widow who
has church and a chaplain Of her own,
writes q New York correspondent She is
Mrs. Moses Taylor Tue church was built
by her at Long BranC at cost of about
$4,000. It is Presbytei .an, and there is a
nominal board of trustees, but Mrs Taylor
paid every dollar of the cost and is the
owner outright. 1t is an ornate edifice and
one Of its 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 ra. her loose and
luxurious in his earthly metho,'s of blessed
ness, but he professed Christianity little
while before he died, and so the witness of
the window is not TO be impeacued. Mrs
Taylor's chaplain is Rev. j. II. Young, who
conducts the services in the chui ch during
the summer months, but it is az her COM
mand the year round, for she pay. his sal
airy Of $500 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
amount
Of fortune left to her. One Of the execu-
tors of the will has just been telling .ne
about it, The document did not enumerate
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 an ap-
pointed day the widow and the executors
opened the doors Of the particularly soliG
vault which the old man had built into mis-
Office. This structure was bank-like in vul-
nerablity, 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 in
nermost compartment was large enough to
hold certificates of stock and the like Sc
c'Irites without folding. There was high
stack of these papers, lying nearly top Of
one another, unwTinkled and Increased.
They represented Taylor's 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
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 more 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
innate friends AS to the widow and
heircss, 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-
travagance.