The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-04
THE M1LL1oNA1RE's REVENGE.
Extraordinary Tale of a Modern Pot
ipshar' Wife and a Modern Timon.
From the London telegraph.

Extraordinary Tale of a Modern Pot
ipshar' Wife and a Modern Timon.
From the London telegraph.
A plain wooden coffin writes the St'
Petersburg correspondent was lately
conveyed, in shaky old hearse, to the
poor peoples section of the Volkova
cemetery, in this city, There was no
priest to reclte the last prayers, no
mourners to shed a tear over the relative
or friend who had passed away; the
grave diggers lowered the wooden box,
hurriedly shoveled in the earth, stamped
on the grave and all was over. A dog or
a rabbit might have been thus
put out of sight. And yet all St. Peters
burg is now talking about the lifeless in
mate of that plain, frail coffin. For he
was once well-known manufacturer, a
millionaire, a power in the capital of
Russia who scattered money to the right
and TO the left, doing many a generous
deed never known or long since for
gotten, ana now there is none so poor TO
do him reverence. His poverty and
misery were of his own choosing; in
gratitude drove him to initiate 1imon
of Athens, and to turn his back upon
mankind.
In the very hight of his prosperity he
fell ILL., and his recovery was despaired of
He made will in favor of his wife, who
was then no longer young, and of his chill
dren, whom he adored He survived the
crisis of his malady and was able TO move
about, but his death was believed 10 be
only matter of months. The doctors
sent him to watering place for the sum
mer season, not expecting him to return
alive, and his wife and children shared
the conviction of the physicians APP
pointing young man. who was bound to
him by the strongest ties of gratitude, to
be director of the works, he left St.
Petersburg alone.
At first he became much worse, as every
body expected then he rapidly improved,
in consequence of which he stayed on
longer than had been his intention At
the end of six months he returned home
as hale and hearty as ever, eager to enjoy
life with his family. But he found no
family there. His wife had played the
role of POtiphars spouse in his absence,
but the young director proved no Joseph
The guilty pair lived together openly, and
succeeded in turning the children against
their father At first the woman had ex-
pected his death, and merely anticipated
as she thought-the course OF action she
would in that case pursue.
Then, finding she HAD gone
too far to retreat she simply de-
handed large yearly allowance for her
self, her paramour and the children.
1t was terrible blow for s, but he
acted with prompt decision, and, without
uttering a word of complaint or reproach,
first of all he dismissed the director.
Then, calling the bookkeeper into his
room, he said Now, look here. You
know what has taken place, but you don't
know how it has affected me. The pair
| counted on my death and were disap-
| pointed. They now reckon on my riches,
and | wish them to be disappointed still
more. AS long as | possess anything |
must make them an allowance. There
| fore, | want to possess nothing. If |
squander my money they will apply
! TO the courts to have me declared
non compos mentls, and trustees will
| be appointed to look after every
thing, and that, of course, is not what
want Now listen. am the sole owner
of the works, etc, and | can do what |
! like with my own, and | want you TO cX-
ert yourself to bring everything TO rack
| and ruin so that suddenly the whole con
Germ will burst and leave nothing but dust
behind Mind now, nothing must be left.
Enrich yourself, let the cashiers enrich
themselves, don't forget the workmen.
Do Just what you like will second you
but let the end be as / desire" And the
bookkeeper went and carried out his en-
| ployer's instructions conscienuously
The manufacturer, seeing how things
]
light and paid his wife the cOvenanted al
lowance. At the end of two years came
| the crash-a complete crash, the very
/ fragments of which could not be gathered
up by his family. Before the matter be-
came public he called a meeting of his
cashiers, bookkeeper, foreman and his
wife and children. The latter were CON
viuced that his object was to hand over
the works to them, for he had more than
once given them to understand as much,
saying: Take everything, l want moth
| ing now
| He opened the meeting by asking his
cashiers for their reports. They declared
the works to be so heavily in debt that il
would be criminal to keep them going any
! longer on credit. Very well, go at once
TO the court, he said to his bookkeeper
and report my insolvency" His wife
and children protested loudly and indig-
nantlv. They would make things com
mercially right again if he would only
/ give them the works. But he was mex
; orable; the bookkeeper went, and six
months later everything was sold for a
song. Then, addressing his family, he
said: "Now the time is come for us to
separate. My dear wife can seek comfort
with her unofficial spouse; you
] a children can