Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1894-09-19
September 10, 1894
DOES As HE LIKES.
millionaire ROuss Goes Right ahead
Eren II People DO CdU Him
Eccentric.

\ LCCCUtIiC.
Fon, Ncc York Commercial AdraaiSo.
The strong individuality and the frank
outspoken way of Charles Broadwa!
Rouss, the millionaire merchant, hav,
brought him into public notice grea
deal of late, especially when he went OIL
the bond of Erastus Wiman. He is orig
inal, Independent and eccentric, and is thC
sole architect of his own large fortune.-
The public knows him through the press
which has published many queer things
about him. His intimate friends love him
they say he is a diamond in the rough
and assert that he has been wofully mis-
represented. No novelist has ever drawn
character as strong, as original anC
unique as Mr.. Rouss.
He was born near Winchester, Va.
about ffty.seven years ago, and, during
the war, he served gallantly in the Con
federate army, in the same regiment with
Congressman William L. Wilson, of West
Virginia. He and Mr.. Wilson are init
mate friends now, and often correspond
J. Randolph Tucker, the noted iurist
Col. r. C. Wood, the grandson of Gen
eral Zach" Taylor, and many other no
ted Virginians are his most intimate
friends. He gave $4,000 to Winchester
to help build the water works for that
city, and his encouragement of artistic
talent from The Southern States by giving
several thousand francs yearly to the stu
dent from that section who stood highest
in point of excellence in the Ecole des
Beaux Arts, Paris, France, is well known
They are talking of erecting monument
in Winchester to the Louisiana soldiers
who died fighting in Virginia, and Mr.
Rouss has generously offered to pay hall
of it. 1t is said that his private charities
in Gotham have been larger than any one
could imagine He gave DR.. Parkhurst
$500 to carry on his crusade against vice
and help clean the Augean stables. His
philanthropy and his charity the outside
world knows nothing about, because his
eccentricities have appealed to the sensa-
tional press more than anything else he
has done,
He is constantly giving strangers false
impressions about himself. For instance,
some one hands him his card. He will
say he can't read, and his visitor goes
away fully convinced that Mr.. Rouss is
unlettered. His eyesight is failing him
somewhat, and that is why he says he
can't read.
1t is impossible to enumerate the queer
and misleading things that have been at
tributed to him. A Commercial Adver-
tiser man met him recently, and was sur
prised to find man so different from the
picture drawn by sensational papers. He
is of medium height, has small gray
moustache and pleasant democratic ways
that would be worth fortune to any pol
itician. The conversation drifted to writ
ers and their opinions. Mr.. Rouss eulo-
gized the late Ernest Renan, and showed
a decided familiarity with not only that
savants works, but those Of Herbert
Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, Draper and
other modern scientific writers. Finally
the conversation became personal and the
reporter said
"Mr. Rouss, if you wish to correct any
false impressions about yourself that have
found their way into print the CONNER
cial Advertise would like to be the me-
dium."
He replied lat he would avail himself
of the opportunity because he knew he
would be correctly quoted.
"Rememher." he continued, Il do this
more in Difference to the wishes of my
friends than to crafty my own inclina-
tions. | propose to correct some of the
many misrepresentation regarding myself
which have frequently appeared in the
public prints. By dint of repetitions,
without contradiction, these misrepresen-