New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-06
FORTUNE IN M1SER'.s TRUNK.
BAGS OF GOLD, BANK ACCOUNTS. STOCKS
AND BONDS LEFT BY SCOTCH
GARDENER

James Howie seventy years old died in the
New Rochelle Hospital yesterday from old age
and exhaustion. Although HOWE is said to
have been worth nearly 100000, he practically
starved himself to death He had bonds and
mortgages on property in ew-Rochelle. Pei
ham and this city. and shares in the New
Haven Railroad Company, yet he lived on 10
cents day and paid only 81 week for his
room. He had fear that he would die in the
poorhouse. Although the old mans friends sus-
pected that he had money. the extent of his
wealth was not known until his trunk was
broken open yesterday after his death, and the
gold and treasure were exposed.
HOWE. who Scotchman, was for fifty
years gardener for DR.. Bolton the clergyman
and the historian. at the old Bolton Priory in
Pelham. He laid the foundation for his wealth
by strict economy and profitable investments.
He bought three hundred shares of New-Haven
Railroad stock when that line was being built.
and disposed of it at a big profit. The old gar
dener left the Bolton family few years ago.
when the prlory was sold to the Countess de
Talleyrand. He was unmarried. and for five years
he had been living at the New Rochelle Tavern,
an institution for self-supporting of small
means. The people at the tavern thought that
HOWE was extremely poor man. His clothing
was shabby. For breakfast he usually ate one
egg and drank a cup of coffee, and for luncheon
he had soup and potatoes. His evening meal
taken in his room. consisted OF one apple and
glass of water. On Sundays HOWE would some
times treat himself to a fifteen cent dinner.
OF late the old man had had little to say to
his fellow boarders He spent most of his time
in his room. On Wednesday, when the janitor
went to the to make the bed he found
HOWE ill., Miss Anne Bolton, one of the sur
vivng members of his former employers family,
visited the old man and, finding that he was
in dying condition, had him removed to the
hospital. Before his death HOWE told one of the
hospital attendants to have Miss Bolton place
his estate in the hands of her lawyer He
added that he had made will. and that it would
be found in his trunk at the tavern. Miss Boil
ton engaged City Judge Van Zelm. who has been
her attorney for a number of years. Miss Bolton
was greatly surprised when Judge Van Zelm
broke open the old leather trunk of the old
man and took out eight bags of gold coin con-
tanning 5000 each. The other contents OF the
trunk a bag Of foreign coins, mostly gold;
ST. 900. with no interest drawn in thirty years;
a memorandum of sixty shares of New Haven
Railroad stock half dozen bonds and mort
cages, a gold watch and banknotes
There were two Wills in the trunk. One Of
them was dated in 1893, and in it the dead man
bequeathed all of his property to his three nieces
and nephews in Chicago. In another will dated
1898 he gives his property to his sister in Scot
land during her life. and afterward to the rela-
tives in Chicago. The sister is Mrs Mary Scott
a poor widow, who lives at MOrebattle, kelSO,
Scotland. A cable message sent to her yester-
day by Judge Van Zelm will be the first intima-
ton she will have of the fortune she has fallen
heir to. The gold in HOWie's trunk had been
sewed up in bags made of cast off clothing and
then wrapped in newspapers. Judge Van Zelm
estimates that the old mans hoard amounts to
$50 900 or 100000. On the advice of Miss Boil
ton Judge Van Zelm hired a dray and had the
property removed to his Office and locked in his
safe pending the arrival of the heirs.