The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-18
THE RICHEST OF WOMEN
HETTY GREENS WORKSHOP IN THE
CHEMICAL BANK, NEW YORK.
How She Became Business Woman,
Making-HOw She Keeps Young.

| Copyrighted, 1897 by Frank G. Carpenter)
| NEW YORK CITY, July 16.-Mrs. Hetty
| Green was in her office in the Chem
| zeal National Bank when I called up
on her one day this week Hetty Green is
| said to be the richest woman in the world.
! Her wealth is estimated at from $40, 600, 900
| to 10000. At per cent. her income must
be over $1,000 day. or more than So a min
| ute, day and night, year in and year out
| Her property is of many kinds and her in
| vestments stand out like great freckles on
| the face of the United States. With the
| grip of octopus her mortgages embrace
some Of the most valuable properties of our
| biggest cities between Boston and San
Francisco, and the dollars roll in to her
| from every part of the country between
Maine and Texas. In railroads and steam
boats, in mines of gold, coal and iron, in
| the telegraph and telephone, her stocks
! cover all kinds of property and most ev-
cry variety of industry. The greate1 part Of
| this vast wealth is due to her own talents
and she manages it all herself. She has been
at work for more than an hour when 1
met her at the bank at II o'clock yester-
| day morning, and it was an hour more
before she could get rid of the men who
were present with business matters by
previous appointments before she could
| see me.
WHERE SHE DOES BUSINESS.
| During part of this time 1 waited for her
| in her private office in the bank. 1t is not
| easy to get access to this office, for it is
| a part of the bank itself. 1t is merely one
corner of the big room in which the cash
| iers, tellers and clerks, penned UP in gilded
! cages, carry on one of the biggest banking
| businesses of the United States. Hetty
! Green's corner is lighted from the roof. At
| one side she is fenced off by a long walnut
| desk such as bankers use for sorting bank
| notes or papers, and on the opposite side
| is the wall. The space between forms the
| office. 1t is not as wide the ordinary
| alley, and all the furniture in it would not
| bring SIS at auction. There are two little
| walnut desks in the office. One of these
| has fiat top. 1t is here that Mrs. Green's
| stenographer and typewriter, a pretty
| young woman of about eighteen years of
age, sits. The other desk is Hetty Green's.
| II is small roller-top affair with a set of
| drawers running on one side from the table
| to the floor. The desk is, judge, about
| three feet wide, and the pigeon holes within
! it are stuffed with papers. Upon the top
| lies Mrs. Green's bonnet and cape just as
| she has throw them there, on coming into
| the once, ana upon the desk Is the steer
| pen with which if she wishes she can sign
checks for millions. There is little sign of
comfort or luxury about this little office.
| Were Mrs. Green and her secretary not
present you would not imagine that it be-
| longad to a woman. There is not a sofa nor
cushion nor a rocking chair in sight. The
| four chairs which form the only furniture,
| in addition to the desks and a table, are
| straight backed cane-seated ones, such as
| are used in other parts of the bank. There
| is no tatting or crochet work to be seen,
| and the only feminine signs visible are
| Mrs. Green's bonnet and cape and six pins,
| each at least two inches long, which are
| probably to be used for fastening papers
/ together. Upon the table is a box about
| eighteen inches square and a foot deep of
| just about the size of those in which a
| grocer keeps soap. This box is of tin,
painted black, and as you look you think
| of the leaden casket of Portia in the ''Mer-
| chant of Venice" 1t is Mrs. Green's box
| for valuable papers, and though its outside
| is but homely tin, 1 doubt not that there
| are millions in it,
| WHAT SHE IS LIKE.
| 1 wish I could show you Mrs. Green as
| CHI oba cd with ma har b1ISi0pS