The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-20
A NOBLE LIFE GIVEN
TO- SCIENCE.
Surprise Caused by the Statements of the
Nephew of the Late Professor Marsh
Of Yale, in Contesting the Will
His Ambition at the College.

/ and for the greater part of the thirty.
three years he spent at Yale he refus-
edto take any compensation for his ser
| vices. This action was not at all un
usual, as there are at present q hall
dozen professors In the university who
receive no pay. His own fortune was
so large and his income so much above
! his wants that he did not need his sa-
| larry as professor, until he had gone
through his money When he had done
this he was forced to receive what was
due him from the college. Some foul
, years ago, therefore, Prof. Marsh asked
the university for his salary and from
| that time to his death he received
$500 year, and lived for the first
| time in his life on a limited income
His affairs had not been satisfactory
for the ten years previous to his death
He built a fine house on Prospect
street, and fitted it up much like a
private museum. Its walls were hung
with valuable paintings, its floors lit
tered with rugs collected in his travels,
its rooms stacked with curios, relics of
ancient races and scientific objects.
When he found that he could not con-
tinue to spend money so freely as for
merly he mortgaged this house to the
university, and borrowed $50 900 on 1t.
AT the same time he informed the
university that he had decided to leave
everything he owned to Yale, and that
he would present his house to the col
lege at his death. He had also the
disposition of another 900 left him
by his uncle, George Peabody, to dis
pose of as he wished at his death.
This sum he made over to Yale. At
I the time of his death he had just S1S6
in the City bank which represented
his total cash assets
Prof. Marsh always considered that
he was a business man, and he showed
great sagacity and perseverance in his
search after relics. He had in opera
ton an extensive system of scientific
accommodating, and through a hundred
different eyes all over the country he
kept himself informed of fresh discov-
cries of fossil deposits. He would be
ready for trip to the west ten minutes
after he received word of find and
would be on his way on the next train
that left New Haven. He spent thous-
ands Of dollars in this way. He was
known to leave a recitation or a lecture
on receiving a telegram and post to the
station. Often he would have to race
against other scientific men in getting
to a place where there were chances
of find, and it is said that he once
had train stop in mid-prairie to let
him off, while his contemporary who
had unwittingly let him know that he
was bound for the same destination,
rode on unsuspecting that the great
fossil seeker was tramping it across
the fields to arrive at the scene first.
Prof. Marsh never stoppepd at the
cost in order to get a fossil that he
wanted. He spent much money on Or
chids alsol and on American paintings,
of which he was very fond.
His opinion on religious matters,
while seldom expressed, were as vigor-
Gus as his scientific views. He was an
advanced thinker. He rarely attended
church. He was the last man to be
forced into any form of belief, and the
statement that he was cajoled into
giving his collections to Yale through
hopes of immortality, either on this
earth or in another world, is regarded
here by all who knew him as eminent
ly nonsensical.