The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-12
THE LATE MRS. j. G. AVER.
Had an Income of $2,OOO,OOO and Was
a Remarkable Woman.
Cnrtis. in Chicago RECORD

w. E. Curtis, in Chicago Record.
The cable dispatches announce the death
in Paris of Mrs. j. c.. Aver, widow of the
famous patent-medicine manufacturer, and
one of the most remarkable women in the
world. She was the richest woman in Par
is, had the c~ostliest diamonds, the largest
number of gowns, the finest horses and car
ciages, and spent more money than any
woman in that city. Her wealth was estl-
mated at 500, 900, 600, her income at " ,00O, 00Q,
and she spent every dollar of 1t. Although
she was a liberal contributor to charities,
and assisted many poor American young
men and women who appealed to her for
aid, most of her expenditures were Tor the
qualification of her love of display. She pur-
chased one of the largest and most magnlfl-
cent private palaces in Paris, located in the
aristocratic Saint German quarter, and fur
nished it at a fabulous expense, and about
ten years ago, soon after she took posses
sion, gave a series of entertainments that
astonished the most extravagant princes or
Europe.
OF late years she has been in the habit of
giving her entertainments lsewher for a
peculiar reason. 1t is said that she never
appeared in public twice in the same gown;
that she purchased from two hundred to
three hundred costly dresses every year, and
that she never gave one away, but when II
dummy and set Up in one of the rooms OF
her house, where she could look at 1t and
enjoy it's beauties herself. Her collection
of gowns increased so rapidly that it filled
her great house from cellar to garnet. Al!
her parlors, drawing rooms, bedrooms and
dining rooms were filled with lay figures
Cidu III OCdulllQ Ooll 0ANaoN1 I'LL -
which cost 81 900 each They were even
stored in the kitchen. The only part OF the
house that was not occupied with them
were chambers for herself and her serv-
ants, q small reception room and a break
fast room, in which she took all her meals
At the time of her death this collection
must have represented several thousand
dresses.
Mrs. Aver was the b~est-known woman in
b t~es women in Paris. She was as
familiar to the public as Sarah Bernhard.
Her appearance was as peculiar as her &c
centricities. In her desperate hght against
death and age she employed a small army
of attendants. She had a skilled physician
employed, whom she is said 70 nave paid
ices. He examined her carefully every
morning and evening, and gave her remedies
for the slightest symptoms of an ailment
that he could perceive. She had a masseur
from Sweden, said to be the most skillful
in Europe, who rubbed her twice a day; she
had q maid who did nothing but paint her
face and her eyebrows. Like the wife of
Nero she bathed in milk, and there was not
q trick known to the art of beauty that she
did not practice in order to give her a
youthful appearance. Although she was
over seventy, at a distance she looked like
| served her closely her face was so com
pletely made up that she seemed to wear
a mask.
SO rich a woman could not. of course. es-
cape Adventures, but Mrs. Aver was a
shrewd woman and was imperVious TO their
Establishments. At one time 1t was reported
ina slit WdS tiSd6C0 " LIZ ~ lit
pretender to the Spanish throne. and in
tended to marry him and furnish him the
means to recover power. 1t Is probable that
there were negotiations between his repre-
sentatives and the American m~illionairess
but how far they advanced will never be
known.
Mrs. Aver was a genuine Yankee. She
was born and bred in Lowell, Mass, and
married Or. Aver while he was, a drug clerk
in that city. She came of good family, and
| at one time was a school teacher. DIR. Ayers
first medicine was a cough remedy. which
proved so profitable that he abandoned the
general drug business and went to com
pounding patent medicines exclusively until
he became the largest manufactures In that
line in the world. Mrs. Aver went TO Paris
because she could not secure the social po-
sition she sought in this country. She tried
Boston, New York and Washington, and
built a beautiful palace at Newport, but
! eighteen or twenty years ago she gave up
the fight and moved her household goods 10
: Paris. where her wealth and her diamonds