Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-08
THE MISER MANIAC.
A viii Case in Court Unveils a
Character Stranger Than
Any in Fiction.
NEVER ERRED IN BUSINESS,
Yet the PenuriOus Man Was Unable
Even to Dress Himself.
SMITHS QUEER HALLUCINATiONS.
Some Fiendish DOggereI Written by the
hadman's own Hand,
NEVER ERRED IN BUSINESS,
SMITHS QUEER HALLUCINATIONS.
Some Fiendish Doggerel Written by tn
Madman's own Hand,
FILLED WITH INHUMAN SENTIMENTS
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THH D1sPLrcHh

VIII case, that mas JUST Deen DrouEhI 10 cou-
clusion in the Common Pleas Court here,
makes public the yagaries of most remark
able miser. No character creation of
novelist ever equaled the personality of this
man, and the statements which follow, and
which were all made upon the witness stand
under oath, are more wonderful than any
romance.
For wears Thomas Smith, whose will was
the subject of this suit, was notable person
among a wide circle of acquaintance, be-
cause OF his marked peculiarities, and his
career, which strangely mingled business
shrewdness with misery thrift and insane
cupIdity, ended in maniac rawlings in the
Northern Ohio Asylum for the Insane at
Newburg last year. Mr.. Smiths will was
made in 1876. and there were two codicils,
the first dated in April, 1877, and the second
in 1884.
PLACED UNDER RESTRAINT.
Three wears before his death Mr.. Smith
was taken to the insane asylum, where he
was confined until his decease- By the term
Of his will his children received only a 5000
annuity each, aud the remainder of the
estate, which amounts TO $50, 600, was tied
up in the hands of trustees until his grand
sons should reach the age OF % and his
GranddaughTers the age OF %, when the
property was TO be divided among them
equally.
All the heirs were in favor of an immedi-
ate equal distribution of the estate, and the
VIII was defended by the executor, Mr.
James VI ade, and Mr.. Thomas Hall, who
received q $1,000 legacy under it. The
children undertook TO prove that Smith was
monomaniaC on the subject of money and
! Il.
the will was made, two years before his con-
Laement in the asylum, his hobby had SO
mastered him as TO render him incapable of
properly directing the distribution OF his
estate.
The evidence produced in support of this
WAS voluninous and highly interesting. 1t
was shown that he believed he was certain
TO become the wealthieSt man in America
and that his wealth would bring him a lame
compared with which that of Washington
and Lincoln would sink into insignifcance
MISSED HIS SONS FUNERAL.
He was miserly in he extreme. On one
occasion he was on a trip to Iowa to make
an investment when one of his sons died
and he was summoned home by telegraph
he refused to return, but went on and made
the intended deal, giving as a reason for
such strange conduct the fact that he had
s. 600 with him and by coming back he
would have lost at least three days' interest
which would have been a serious matter.
His daughter, Mrs. Phoebe Harmon, with
whom Smith made his home after his wife's
death, testified that at the time of her
mothers funeral, Smith, after following her
body 10 the grave, hired a fiddler and
danced to the music oe the fiddle" all the
way home Some of his other strange ac-
lions may De given In his daughters own
words:
We lived about eight miles from Paines-
Vile, and the railroad are was 20 cents.
Ny father would never take the train to 20
there, but always insisted on my husband
hurDessing a horse and driving him over
He said 1t was a wicked waste of 20 cents
Tor a railroad ticket when he could get there
for nothing. One dav he told me that the
Government had sent for MS trunk and that
they wanted to give it to Jeff Davis, and
asked me to 90 10 his room and identity it,
W hen did so to humor MIN, he asked.
How do you know this is mine? Are you
sure Of it, l laughed, and told him it was
easy enough to be sure, as his name was on
it in large letters.
COULDN'T DRESS HIMSELF.
every well, then, be reioined, that
settles it,, and he gave me the trunk key
aud asked me to keep it for him.
He made frequent journeys to various
parts OF the West to look after his invest
ments. He was remarkably shrewd about
placing his money, but in everything else
be was queer. he lived at our house a
number OF years. and L always had to help
him dress. He never knew how to put his
shirt on properly. Often L have put the
studs and collar buttons in a shirt and left
II ready for him to put on, only to come
back in a few minutes and find him with it
on wrong side out or the bosom be-
hind. l always had to put him
TO bed. II L did not lie would
invariably either get both sheets under or
over him and then complain that there was
only one sheet on the bed. He never came
home from a trip properly dressed. Some
OF his shirts would either be lost and his
clothing all awry, or, more usually, he
would have on three or four shirts, one on
top OF the other
III would ten stand for half an hour at
a time and talk earnestly TO the bare wall,
believing it a crowd OF people At other
times he would imagine that someone was
trying to rob him and would beg in piteous
tones for the persons to kill him but leave
him his money"
THE OLD MANS BLASPHEMY.
The testimony of r. P. Harmon, an old
friend of Smiths and Mrs. Harmon's
tather-in-law, brought out another phase OF
DAHAtA ; IendFhdOle character. Ine mlSer
was very iond of the Bible and read it ire
quenuy, but seldom discussed it without
doing so IN way that seemed very bias
phemous to sane person. He would say
that Adam and Eve were turned out of the
Garden OF Eden because "they stole apples
which the Almighty had reserved for His
own cooking" judas Iscariot was, in the
mlser's opinion, ''the greatest tinancier
that ever lived, and the payment of the 80
pieces OF silver was the best investment ever
made, for II Judas had not BETRAYED his
Lord, Christ would not have been crucifed.
and the whole human race would have gone
to hell. Smith characterized the Tower of
Babel as gigantic speculation to steal into
heaven and rob the Almighty. He carried
a gold pen and holder with a pearl handle.
which he declared was the property of the
recording angel, and frequently spoke of
his intention Of making trip to heaven in
a car hitched to the tail of a comet.
The favorite theme of the pitiable old
miser, however, was the pavements of pure
gold in the New Jerusalem, and he would
pore over the descriptions in Revelations
for hours and figure the number of gold
pieces that could be made from those nave
ments, and how much he could realize on
it by lending the gold out at 6 per cent in
Uerest.
HE VISITS PARLIAMENT
He rlr 10 Ia