The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-07-15
PIcKINes FOR LAWYERS.
Fight For Millions in New Jersey.
Court.
Detroit Evening News.)


Paterson, y. 1.-THE New York Mu-
scum of Art will not get the $4,000, 600
bequeathed to it by the deceased loco
motive builder, Jacob S. Rogers, with
out long and bitter fight, the cost of
which VIII eat into the fortune by
thousands of dollars.
Disappointed relatives will contest
the will. and so seriously are the. ex-
ecutOrs impressed with the task of de-
tending il that they have decided to
retain former Attorney General Grfggs.
He@e. where the eccentric old mill
honaire was known, the gift TO the
museum is looked upon as an act of
spite, thoroughly characteristic OF. the
man, aga nSt those who had better
claims upon him. In Paterson It is
hard to find a man, woman or child
who has a good word for the rich re
ciuse. The exceptions are the servants
who attended him in the cottage where
ne Kept q pack OF savage dogs to guard
him from intrusion.
Like Gilman, the tea merchant. Rog-
ers was lavish with money where wo-
men not of his household were con-
cerned- But in ordinary business he
was penuriOUs and close 1t is net
thought he cared for the museum, but
he loved his legal heirs and the town
- title that he expressed himself in
[. say.
t,os IS was fond of Paris in his
younger days, and a high roller fcl
years r the gay capital of France
he once gave a dinner that cost
over $4,000. 1t was in 1870. during the
siege, when everything was at famine
prices, that he gave the spread, which
was a sort of prototype of the enter
tainment since famous as the beauty
dinner"
That money was no object in cases OF
attempted conquest is shown by the
story told how Rne~e-~s
liberal proposition to a woman who
owned a home almost on the site of
the present city hall. It was encun,-
Dered with a $4,000 mortgage, and he
o!Iered to lift It for her on terms so
disagreeable that che refused
A suggestion of romance is afforded
in the presence, at the old bachelors
grave at the interment, of two closely
yelled women. One was old and feeble
the other rudy with the beauty OF
middle age. Both We're former resi-
dents of Paterson and one is the
daughter of the other. Years ago Rog-
ers met the daughter in Paris and
became infatuated with her After his
return to Paterson he sought to have
the girl and her mother come back to
America, but they had planned to re-
main in France. Finally the million
ARE persuaded them 20 grant his wish.
He bought for them in Waterbury.
Conn, pleasant home. and settled
upon the girl securities valued at $40 =
OOO assuring her Of an income of about
$500 a year. Some years later. when
their income was reduced by depreci-
alton of some Of the stocks and bond
he replaced them with others Of great
er value
OF his love for his dogs many stories
are told. His butchers say they were
always fed on rich tenderloin steaks
Many tales of his eccentric Wavs are
TO close the works in which his fortune
was made. his associates endeavored to
change his determination The busi-
ness was successful and its Opportuni-
rles greater than ever, but Rogers was
obdurate.
No he said. CLOSE it down. am
sick of il"
And his word was law.
Prevalent feeling in Paterson con-
corning the museum Of art beduest is
rejected in this paragraph from one
Of the local evening papers;
The lawyers are in great luck. The
contest Of the viii Of Jacob s. Rogers
win afford them some mighty fat nick
ings- There won't be so many millions
for the Metropolitan Museum of Arr
after the fees and costs Of the will con-
test are all paid Jacob s. Rogers evi-
IDENTIFY forgot something. He did NOT
tie up his real estate in this city for
three lives as he might have done.
His -the-manger policy all
through his long lie prevented the
growth and development Of a large
section Of the city, but his death re-.
leases the ban. The Rogers farm. in
the midst Of city lots viii no longer
dida't know that he had the power to
hart his neighbors and hinder the
ciIy's development after his death as
he had done during his life