Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-07-04

When Colonel James Fisk, Jr., shot
down by an aSSassin'S pistol. died al
the Grand Central hotel. in New York
January 6, 1872, he was currently re-
ported to be one of the Wealthiest men
IN New York, says the Herald of that
city When, three months later, james
ID. Clark, the friend and business ad-
wiser of the widow ed Mrs. Fisk. filed
an inventory Of the dead mans estate
IN the office of the surrogate Of New
York, he appraised It's total value at
s2,0OO,OOO
Today that widow is living in an
humble frame house in the tenement
district of Boston on an income of 500
a month. And even that beggarly
stipend is derived, not from her hus-
bands estate, but from property
owned by her family in Brattleboro,
Vt. Not one cent comes from all that
colossal fortune which Jim" Fisk
risked his fair fame to gather to-
gether by the most audacious and
stupendous achievements known to
modern finance.
The mystery is deepened when it is
remembered that it was partly for her
sake that Jim" Fisk embarked in
those enterprises. Despite the stormy
passions that shook his mature years,
she was his only real love, his first and
his last. IN his will he eft her all his
property, real and personal, subject
only to a legacy Of 100000 to his sis
ter, Mrs. Mary J. Hooker, and an
nuitieS to his father and mother and a
couple of other relatives.
1t is true that the court reduced the
appraised value of the items as filed
by Mr.. Clark to $9o0,00O. 1t is true,
also, that three successive fires, posi-
bly, of incendiary origin, destroyed as
many humble homes that Mrs. Fisk
had raised over her head in the village
of North Hatfield, Mass, whittier she
had retired. But all these houses were
partially covered by insurance, and
the net total of her losses did not
amount to more than $4,000. The
rest of the great estate vanished in
thin air, whittier and exactly in what
manner none can say, not Mrs. Fisk,
not Mr.. Clark, not her attorney, Mr..
James NJ. Ball. 1t vanished, that is
all they can say; how, they can only
surmise.
The superstitious might see in this
a judgment of providence. But that
would imply bad craftsmanship on the
part of providence. Fisk's may have
been an ill gotten wealth. But why
visit the sins of Fisk upon his innocent
wife, an humble minded, Christian
woman whom no one has ever named
but to praise? And, above all, why
impOveriSh this woman to enrich the
co-conspirator who had aided and
abetted Fisk, who had climbed to fame
and fortune ON Fisk's back, who, after
his death, bounded his widow into pow
erty? If the friends of Mrs. Fisk are
to be believed almost every dollar
which was lost by the Fisk estate went
to swell the already ample Golfers of
Jay Gould. 1t is an extraordinary
stOry-sO extraordinary that it must
fain be true, for fiction never dared to
invent anything quite so strange. Mrs.
Fisk is loath to talk. Her friends are
loath to talk. Yet enough has been
cleaned from their admissions to get
a hint at least of the facts.
AT No. 573 East Eight street, in
South Boston, l found the widow of
the man whose name was once IN
everybody's mouth. 1t was a frame
structure, situated in secluded quar-
ter, which was once looked upon rs
the coming residential suburb of The
Hub. That was before the war. At
present it is occupied almost entirely
by tenements and the humber homes
of those who are able to afford even
an humble home. The house is owned
by a Mr.. BoWker, who still retains a
portion for his own use. Five rooms
be lets to Mrs. Fisk, and to her sis
ter, Mrs. Sanderson, for the modest
rental of SIT a month. Mrs. Sander
son also is a widow, but of recent date.
Her husband died last winter of a
distressing complaint, which culmin-
ated in insanity. And here the two old
ladies uncomplainingly and even cheer
fully await the call Of the Master.
They have lived here ever since Mrs.
Fisk's last home, in North Hatfield,
was burned over her head, on Christ
mas eve, 1892. But for their Brattle-
boro property they would be absolutely
destitute.
Mrs. Fisk was a Miss Lucy q.
Moore before her marriage. She has a
brother, Charles G. Moore, in New
York. Until recently he was employed
at the Victoria hotel, and is now a
state official at Fire Island. Mrs. Fisk
was never beautiful, but she still has
a face that inspires confidence and
has an attraction Of its own. Hell
natural goodness Of heart evidently
fascinated the eccentric and turbulent
soul to whom fate had decreed that
she should be mated. She always re-
tanned his respect and held his best
affections to the end. She was his con
fidante always. While he was pursu
ing his stormy career in New York
she was living in Chester square, Bos
TON. His nominal residence was n
the Grand Central hotel in New York
But he never failed to write to hel
when absent and every Saturday h
took the train for Boston and re
manned with her until Tuesday. 1