St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-06
Stewards Twenty-Five MILL
ions Now in Judge Hill
tons Pocket.
Strange Transfer Of the Gil
gantic Fortune to an Am
bilious Lawyer
The Millionaire Merchants
Queer Family Relations,
a and Hilton's Grip,
A Thrifty Executor Who Has
Broken All Past Rec
=, oPdS.

=, ordS.
Special New York Letter.
The town is agog again over Stewart.
The story of the life, death and misfor-
tunes of the most remarkable buyer and
seller the world ever knew is once
more the talk of the town. The name
of Stewart has been obliterated from
his great dry goods houses and his ia
nous marble palace has been rented to
club. Even his hotels and benevolent
institutions are now bereft of the name
of Stewart, and absolutely nothing
bearing the great merchants name eX-
lists except a building on lower Broad
way. He left s25,00O,000 to his heirs.
Mrs. Stewart is dead. Judge Hilton is
one of the richest milli0naires in New
York. The humiliation of the name of
Stewart is complete.
The HlltOnS are very much in sight.
They are fond of the world and they en-
joy spending their money. There are
three sons. all of whom are remarkably
fat and bulky. They drive snowy
horses, occupy prominent boxes at the
theater, and wherever they go they are
followed by the chances of the crowd
and the remark. 'There are the Hilton
boys" They are rather popular men
and the oldest Is said to be endowed
with some mental power. When Judge
Hilton goes abroad he IS stared at and
Bowed to Eagerly.
He bustIes busiIy along and displays
eyenmore impetuosity, haste and beetle
browed thoughtfulness than he did
twenty years ago. He loves a fight.
For years and years he has been in the
thick of it and now that it has all started
up again he is ready for it all.
There has been so much loose and
rhapsOdic talk about the two principal
actors in the Stewart-Hi matter that
a simple and dramatic story has been
entirely lost in the vast and lengthy
ramifications of legal and COSBY YER
biage. Yet there is not so much myS-
terry about 1t as sometimes appears. The
public has its eye upon the main fact,
which is that Stewart made great
many million dollars and that Hilton
has them.
The two men were as utterly dissimi-
lar as any pair that can be found in the
length and breadth of the land. 1t was
conjunction of oppoSites. If it is true
that we are attracted TO our friends by
qualities which they possess and we
lack, then there was every reason
In the world why Stewart and Hill
ton should have joined hands and
hearts and remained the warmest
friends conceivable for thirty years.
Stewart was small, spare, shy, intensely
Self-cOnsclOuS and ayariclOuS. He had
all oyerweening ambition. and he
thought of his trade night and day. His
brbw had a settled frown. His manner
was testy. The faculty which he pos
sesSed in an extreme degree was that of
thorough absorption in his own plans.
At all times he dreaded meeting people,
aud, though he was ambitious, he never
felt able to go out in the world and
push his way socially. In one corner of
his big palace on Fifth avenue dwelt
his mother, an ignorant, common
Little Irish Woman,
who had formerly kept a small shop
down III Franklin street. In another
corner lived the great merchants wife.
She, too, was of humble manner and
birth and of shrinking disposition. They
were little people. Amid the gorgeous
surroundings of the big house they were
cowed. The mother had a brogue. The
wife was not woman of much educa-
ton. They were awed by it all.
A relative of Mrs. Stewards once
told me of a little incident which was
Indicative of the home life of the Stew
arts. The relative ill question was then
a girl of nineteen and rather lmpulsive
and thoughtless. A little ward of hers,
in whom Mrs. Stewart was also inter-
ested, died one night in a hospital. and
the girl ran direct to the Stewart house
to tell the story. She hurried past the
servant at the door and, turning to
little door OF the left of the vestibule,
ran UP the short staircase that led to
the small apartment occupied by the
old mother Of the dry goods prince.
She had not been announced and as
she reached the top of the staircase she
girl heard roar of laughter such as she
had never heard in that house before.
lnvoluntarily she paused for moment,
and then the voice of Stewards mother
rose above the laughter, telling an Irish
story in the thickest brogue in the
world. The girl glanced through
door that stood ajar and was amazed.
In the middle of the small room stood
the little old mother of Americas great
CSt iiSl ohtltS up
inch OF two from the floor and giving
an imitation of County Kerry woman
talking to her pig, while on the foot
stool by the fire sat Mrs. Stewart with
her hair down, tittering and wagging
her head. Perched Oh the arm of a
chair, hugging his knees, was the great
millionaire himself. He wore neither
coat nor waistcoat. and his braces hung
down at his side. He had taken off his
collar and his thin hair was toulsed.
Both his arms were clasped around his
knee, and he rocked back and forth,
while his laughter rose above the other
two voices.
The girl was aghast. She had beenat
the house constantly all her life, but
never before had she seen the trio ex-
cept under their masks of half-fright-
eped hauteur. For all instant she stood
staring at the unusual spectacle. Then
her skirt was pulled gently and the
frightened old servant, who had admit
ted her, led the way down stairs. She
followed noiselessly.
The Great Salons
and lofty marble passageways, with
their crystal chandeliers and statuary,
stretched out on either side in the dim
light. The servant whispered in great
agitation that if Mr.. Stewart suspected
that any one had seen him while with
out his cloak of dignity his anger would
know no bounds. The girl stole away.
sit was the only glimpse I ever had,"
she said, "of the family as it really was,
though l continued to frequent the
house till the end"
No visitor was ever admitted to such
scenes as these save one-Henry Hilton.
No relative found welcome at the
home such as Hilton always received.
He was one of the family in earnest.
One reason was because Hilton was in
the beginning protege Of Mrs. Stew
arts. and it was on her account that the
husband first took the young lawyer up.
do not think the causes which led to
the intimacy between the HiltOnS and
the Stewards have ever received public
ity. 1t occurred in this wise: Mrs. A.
L. Stewart had a male cousin of whose
daughter she was very fond. This
daughter married Henry Hilton.
1t was the custom Of the great
merchant to talk over his bus
mess affairs very often with his
wife, and when he spoke of fresh
legal ENHANCEMENT which came up one
day, Mrs. Stewart prevailed upon him