The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-14
SMITHS IRON HOME.
Pen Pictures of an Eccentric New Jersey
Statesman.

| 1uO bUhVOhl0ilu uAlesV ui1C AIOetS@ 'A~-"oo
of Smithville, near Mount Holly. N. j ),
will be wiped out and cut up into house
lots for the benefit of the heirs of the late
Hezekiah r. Smith brings before the
public the life and remarkable career OF
the founder of Smithville.
Hezekiah B. Smith, throughout his sew
enty seven years of existence, was always
busy, relates the New York Mail and Ex-
press. His worst enemies never accused
him of sloth. Smith combined with all
the shrewdness and taste for mechanical
invention of the typical New England
Yankee tendency toward remarkable
and eccentric extravaganza. He was in
no sense a spendthrift. He simply in
dulged his odd fancies to their limit, and
from the beginning of his life to its end
he was utterly careless of the comments
or censure of any community in which
he happened to live. .Heedlessly he went
his way, man of great force, many
weaknesses and intense and dominant
individuality.
Hezekiah 8. Smith was born in Wood
stock, VT, in 1916. He was farmer 8
son, but soon wearied of blowing the
rocky pastures of Vermont and learned
the trade Of carpenter. Very early in life
his inventive turn of mind developed,
and developed chiefly in its capacity to
utilize the inventive abilities of others.
At length, through industry and thrift,
he managed to become the owner of a
number of patents and established a ma
chino shop in Woodstock. He then mar
ried Eveline Verona English, clipping to
Boston for tire purpose. He returned to
Woodstock, and, his business prospecting,
he removed to Manchester, Mass, then to
Boston, and thence to Lowell, Mass
He was at this time 40 years of age.
His eldest son, Elton, boy of IA, went
with him, but his wife and his daughter
and his two younger sons remained in
| Woodstock. Smith and his wife's relations
| having quarreled on account OF her mar
rage with him he positively fol- babe her
seeing any of her own family, but when
her father died sho went to comfort her
mother. Her mother gave her shawl.
Smith came home, took one look at the
shawl, left the house and never saw his
| wife again.
| In the meantime Smith became inter
ested in q young woman of the name OF
| Agnes Silkers0n, at that time Schoolgirl
| in Lowell She became his amanueDsis,
and, wishing that he might be able to
earn her Own living at some more proht-
able occupation, he paid to have her edu-
Gated as doctor And doctor she be-
came.
| Smith then moved to Shoeville, N. ].
| He bought the whole town and rechris
tened it Smithville, where he had scope
to carry out his own ideas OF how He'll
kiah B. Smith ought to live. He bought
an old square brick mansion. probably
| seventy or eighty years old, and started
| in to alter il to suit himself. He built
an L which, in the basement, was, and
| still is, a combination ale vault and
| bowling alley, the ale vault occupying
one side of the basement and the bowl
| ing alley the other. Over this basement
| was a poker room, absolutely consecrated
| to Mr.. Smiths favorlte pastlmo OF draw
poker.
But the cardinal popularity about the
inside of the house and bowling alley was
| that the chairs and tables and every
piece of furniture stood on iron legs.
| There were iron rungs to the bannisters,
| iron girders across the ceilings, iron dogs
and lions in the front yard, iron baskets
hung from the piazza roof, even the
clothes poles in the back yard were made
of iron; and in the poker room, at Mr..
Smiths favorite seat, there was move.
able iron foot rest which worked on O piv-
| OF for Mr.. Smiths ''game" leg.
| In this ironcad home Mr.. Smith in,
stalled himself and his belongings, and
then sent for Miss Silkerson to come and
act as his combined housekeeper, doctor
and amanuensis. Miss Silkerson at once
became pewholder In the Episcopal
church of Mount Holly, and proceeded to
put to practical test in the surrounding
countryside her particular fad of hygienic
food. Smith owned Smithville. Miss
| Silkerson influenced Smith, and all the
| inhabitants of Smithville and its sub
| urbs subsisted upon patent and unpalat-
| able food.
| In the meantime Smith ran for Con-
gress for the Second New Jersey district,
and was defeated, but was elected two
years later, and led while in Washington
an easy life. He subsequently became
State Senator. All this time, twenty two
years in all. Mrs. Smith had been sup
porting herself and her. children as
dressmaker in Massachusetts,
Elton Smith, the eldest son. after a
stormy scene in which his father repudi-
ated him, shipped before the mast, he.
came a steyedore, went to Savannah, Ga. },
and became one of its leading citizens. a
In:January, 1885. Agnes Silkerson died,
and Hezekiah Smith at once had statue
| VA AASA A'AeSAO a. AoAAJ3 ~ W uiiA'
country and set it up in Smithville. Then
feeling himself growing old and needing
care, he imported a couple of elderly
maiden ladies from Philadelphia to look
after him in his declining years. But the
rules of diet set down BY DR.. Agnes Silk
erson were rigidly adhered to, and the ell
derby ladies had to suffer on hygienic food
with the rest of Smithville.
Hezekiah B. Smith died on November
g. 1897, and left all his estate, real and
personal, for the establishment and con-
duct of school for the education and
training of apprentices and young me-
chanics at Mount Holy.
His widowsand children filed an appeal
on the ground that at the time of his
death he was mentally incapacitated At
ter years of litigation the suit has been
decided in their favor, and now Smith
vile will go out of existence, and only
the iron house will stand as monument
to the memory of an eccentric man.
The subcommittee on Indian affairs
which has been engaged for a consider
able time in framing measure designed
to harmonic the laws for the govern
ment of the Indian Territory and to bring