The morning call., 1894-10-21
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

lie that her money had bought various
articles of the lady's attire. A time came
when the stree tcar-driver feigned not to
see her when she applied for passage. and
formal notification was served upon her
that If she persisted in harrassing passen-
gers she would not be permitted to travel
along the line. Not harsh Judgment
when 1t is considered that she had ample
means to take an airing in her own convey
ance and often rode in a carriage.
She became the terror of the town,
Women feared to encounter her, men
shrunk from her on the streets; the very
children were afraid of her. All of her
money, together with her attainments, for
She was, queerly enough. woman of edu-
cation and intelligence, could not bribe
any one to share her society after one trial.
On Friday, October 8. she fell upon her
bed when seized with stroke of apUplexy,
and when both her daughter and the China
man were in the house. She was found
by them lying helpless and speeches.. and
medical aid was summoned.
She never spoke again. Strange and
forbidding as the later years of her life
have been. her death was even stranger
and more forbidding. Her daughter, when
bed, came to the house and secured certain
valuables and drew the costly rings from
her fingers, but she declined to stay in the
house with her, even to lend a faithful
nurse company in the last mournful hours.
She explained that she was troubled with
nausea and that Teddy" cher dog had
cold"
The sick woman was beyond help, and
10 0tn oa1o 70 ehrf
door and leave her alone, as no good could
be served by breathing the vitiated atmos-
phere of the sickroom. Had it not been
for the Christian charity of a neighbor.
which was greater than her natural and
justifiable repugnance. the old woman
would have drawn her last breath alone.
When the end came the Chinese servant
was the only one who seemed to have any
feeling of grief. He was shocked at Chris
tian usages.
when mudder die in China" he said.
mo one eab her. All be round in room
fadder, brodder. sister. Why her daugh-
ter no stay 2"
He it was who, against the doctors or
ders, insisted upon summoning the daugh-
ter when life was extinct. Miss Griffin
was apparently unmoved. She expressed
terests. which seemed to occupy her mind.
She spoke of valuable diamonds belonging
to her mother. and which lie in the vaults
of the National Bank. She told of twelve
boxes of costly clothing and pictures and
silver, which are somewhere stored, and
announced that she should sell these as
soon as they came into her possession.
She spoke with interest of her mothers
,,.;J
| to her. Before the body was scarcely cold,
| unwashed and undressed it was hurried 10
public undertaker's.
| There IS unexplained mystery in the
| lives of these two wealthy cultured women.
| What series of harsh wrongs or lifetime of
heartless neglect embittered the daughter
and destroyed all natural feeling toward
| the mother may never be wholly known.
1t is said that the mother once, without due
cause. procured the daughters incarcera-
ton in an insane asylum, whence she only
obtained her release after two years pain
full Imprisonment. When the old lady was
lying speechless but not insensible, ana
still able to signify her meaning, the
Episcopal minister, Mr.. Ramsay, came.
He said 10 her:
"Mrs. Griffin, you once told me that
your mind carried heavy burdens. Is
there anything yon would like to relieve
yourself of now?" Her answer was a
| distinct negative.
| This much is known of the history of
the queer, self-wiled woman. Her maiden
name was Pastora Jacoba de Forest, and
her father was United States Minister to
the Argentine Republic, where she was
born December 81, 1916. When Minister
de Forest completed long term of office
he came to New Haven, Conn. where be
bought house which to this day is one of
the most stately of the old Nav Haven
mansions. Pastora was in her girlhood
called the belle of New Haven, the popu-
lar name for her being ''Shepherdess Of the
Forest" play on her own name. She
was beautiful and accomplished. She
made brilliant marriage on October %,
1886, 10 Charles Alexander Griffin, a mem
Der of an aristocratic and wealthy New
York family. They removed to New
York. where four children were born, all
of whom are now dead with the exception
of this daughter. Mr.. Griffin died in
1854 and was buried at Greenwood. The
family vault was closed fifteen years
ago, and for this reason the old lady will
be buried among her own relatives in the
| new haven L WO ul6u
in youth, and her last surviving son,
George, civil engineer. said to have pos
sessed distinguished ability. and who
was we'll known in San Francisco when he
was the head of a party conducting the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad survey, died
lin Los Angeles two years ago. His bust,
modelled by his daughter Eva, is in the
rooms of the California Historical Society.
Geurge Griffin's wife was the daughter of
the Governor of Medellin and of Catholic
family, whence it comes that his daughter
Eva, the promising young sculptress, has
since taken the veil in the Dominican Con-
vent, San Francisco. In New York city
and in New Haven men of wealth and
nigh standing and nearly related to the
dead woman still uphold the old name of
De Forest.
The story of the last forty years of Mrs.
Grifin's life has never been told, but that
it holds much of interest no one can doubt.
What were the influences that changed the
handsome, witty girl. with recognized
position in society, to the coarse, angry
old woman who was a terror 10 the COM
munity in which she lived we may not
know. When it is considered that that
I