Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-04-08
@EEEsEa5lQN e s.
S--'s-y-< -. - -
rich WIDOWS.


The marriages of Mrs. Marshall o.
Roberts and Mime. de Barrios remove
Ei. 'ha very short period two promi-
heui names from the list Of rich widows
Of the country. At the same time there
are many of them left. A gentleman
who makes a study of widows. as il
were. informs me that he can name
shirty-eight widows whose combined
fortunes represent more wealth than
that. Of any thirty-eight men in the
United States, barring the Astors.
Rockefclers. Vanderbilts. Jay Gould
John w. BIackay. Senator Stanford and
ar. Carnegie.
This lump sum of the value Of the
country's widows is of course measur-
l,bly increased by the widows in the
Astor and Vanderbilt families. Like
Sallie uargous that was, and a few other
people prominent in society, some of the
very rich ladies of New York and else
where have been so much exploited in
the newspapers that the public has
grown signify blase on the subject. We
are falling upan sad times when the
mention of a ten-millionairess creates
no more Of thrill than the news that a
member of congress has come to town.
And yet such is the melancholy fact.
Take the reporters old standby, Mrs.
Hetty Green. She is worth $4,000, 900,
or if she isn't. she has been told 50 often
that she is that she believes it herself.
She has been written up hundred times,
and the last reporter to write her up does
not scale down her fortune a single dol
lar. SO there it stands like IN unhinch-
ing and financial Gibraltar at $4,000.
900 The tax man might tell different
story, but that is neither here nor there.
Mrs. Paran Stevens is another W 3althy
widow whom age cannot wither nor
many write-ups stale. Her fortune is
usually placed, for convenience in writ
ing, at $5,000,000. | understand. how
ever, that Mrs. Stevens would sell out
ut less figure, even if she lost money
by it, It isn't matter of much conse-
quence, but the late Mr.. Stevens left his
wife, by will, the use of his New York
and Newport houses, 100000 in cash to
be paid as soon as possible after his
DEATH and trust fund of 81 600, 900.
Recent litigation before Judge lngra-
ham developed that these bequests had
been paid, with the exception of bal
ance OF $265, 900 of the trust fund, and
that Mrs. Stevens was indebted to the
estate to the amount of $93,611. Still,
Mrs. Stevens is very rich woman, and
the impression is that she is shrewd
enough to keep right on getting richer.
There is quite long list of these ex-
cessively rich widows.
Some of the richest widows in the
country the world knows the least Of
And among these are some who do the
world great deal of good too, Every
city has its wealthy widows, and if you
look over the glittering galaxy they will
in most cases be found to be women OF
rare good sense, managing their affairs
with Judgment and bearing themselves
in very proper way before the world.
The fact that woman is rich mans
widow is always something to her credit
Men who do not have good wives to
help them in the worlds strife rarely
have the chance to leave rich widows.
How often do the people of New York
hear of Mrs. Schenley, of Pittsburg?
let she is worth SEQ 900, 900, according
to the estimates of those who know
where her property is and the value of it.
Mrs. Thomas A. Scott, of Philadelphia,
Is modest woman, Notwithstanding her
IS, ,000, 900 or more. Our neighboring
city of Hartford has two or three rich
women, and one of them, Mrs. Leonard
Church, worth 81 100000, is not above
taking her outing in turnout worth at
the outside figure about sixty y-tive dol
lars. used to hear occasionally, through
some clever business turn she had made,
of Sarah Gates, of Kansas City. She is
widow, and away from her home is
reputed to be worth $4,000, 900, all re-
allied from real estate investment OF
less than $4,000, have not heard lately
of Mrs. Gates, but | presume she is still
accumulating money.
The world hears nothing OF Mrs.
Rachael Gaff, of Cincinnati, nor Mrs.
Oliver Perrin, of the same place, and
yet each Of those ladies is worth from
k9, 100000 to $3,O00,000 Mrs. Joseph
Harrison, whose husband built the first
tdiiipdd III ANuHnii, 10 WOiLu Tf,VOV,uoO,
but her name is rarely in the newspa-
pers. In striking contrast with these
women just named, in the matter of
avoiding the public gaze, is Americas
own Mrs. Josephine M. Aver, the patent
medicine widow, who continues to daz-
zle Paris with her diamonds, swell
equipages and princely entertainments,
Mrs. Aver is our best example of a
lady who is away from home, very rich,
and doesn't care who knows it. A re-
oeption which Mrs. Aver gave last win
ter-it was but one of several-is said
10 have been marvel of expenditure
even for Paris. II is not unlikely that
her future efforts in this direction may
eclipse the greatest of her past achieve
ments. am glad TO hear that Mrs
Ayers bank account shows no signs of
impairment. John A. Cockerill in New
York Advertiser