The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1900-08-16
SHE HAD OVER $50, 900
NEWPORT'S ECCENTRIC RE-
CLUSE IS NOW DEAD.
The Aged Sarah Gardiner Was wealthy
but Made the Rounds OF Garbage Bar
rels an shabbIest ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
lated Wealth. c

The oath of Miss Sarah E Gardi-
ner in her list year removed from
Newport one of its most eccentric
characters, says the Philadelphia
Times Miss Gardiner for twenty
years was practically Tecluse- a very
few who knew her in her younger days
We're permitted to talk with her in the
streets. but no one ever entered her
house her guest She lived in
wretched howell, and was pitied by her
neighbors as a poor, friendless crea-
ture who must have met with some
deep sorrow
In only one person in Newport had
she ever confided, and that was Lewis
L. Simmons. chairman of the board of
charities She left will naming Mr..
Simmons her sole executor, without
bonds.
The charge to divide her wardrobe
among wellmeaning neighbors APP
peared a grim joke, the deceased
never appeared in anything but the
vilest rags. But Mr.. Simmons was
amazed to find in the house fabrics of
the most expensive kinds. many of
them still in the original packages.
There We're elegant gowns, house wraps
of softest fabrics, dress patterns OF
costly silks and satins and furniture
| coverings that would not have been
out of place in some of the swell sum
mer villas of Newport These We're
found in heaps OF rubbish-the accum-
u1ation of years
The executor came across one after
another, bank books calling for various
| sums on deposit. These aggregate over
$50 700, and the executor believes that
a further search will reveal more. All
of this has been bequeathed to the
Rhode Island Society for the Proven
| ton of Cruelty to Animals, doubtless
| because of her extraordinary passion
| for cats, dozens of which found shelter
| in her home.
| Sarah Gardeners mother was the
| daughter of a half-breed Indian and of
| a negro, being a slave in the family of
| Commodore Perry Miss Gardiner al
| ways claimed that her father was a
| brother of Commodore Oliver Hazard
| Perry If this were she would be
| a distant kinswoman of the Perrys and
| Belmonts. She was dark complexion
| ed and comely in her younger days.
| Her mother made many sacrifices that
| her daughter should not be brought up
| in ignorance.
| When about 20 years of age Miss
| Gardiner fell in love with young sail
| or. Her sailor having been advanced
| to me grade of mate, the day was set
| for the wedding. When his friends
| learned that he. was about to be mar
| ried they informed the sailor OF heI
| supposed parentage. He refused to be-
| Iieve 1T until he heard it from the lips
| ready for them. but when she confess
| ed that the report was true he went
| away and was never heard of again.
| Her nature seemed to change. She
| devoted herself entirely to making hel
| mother happy. Her mother a Spir-
ftua1fSt. After a long talk with hel
| daughter on the subject one day back
| In 1851, the elder woman left to &C
| on an errand and was killed by the
cars. Her tragic end made such ar
| impression upon Miss Gardiner thai
she believed her mothers talk or
| Spiritualism was admonition OF
| Providence and therefore she became
| an ardent believer in the creed.
Miss Gardiner was engaged as a do