The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-04
\ NEGRO MILLIONAIRE
WHOSE CURIOUS WILL Is cAus.
 ING A DISPUTE.
Was a Born Trader and Attended Strictly to Business and Was
 Always Successful.

The phi,adelphia correspondent of The New York Tribune tells Of the death anu bequests of John Mckee. coiored. wnS no
 Sns of the Se Sessc was called | "Colonei' Mckee. doubtless m compn, ment to his wealth. There Is nothing said
 of his having gained the title by mliitary sn service .sos ISss EsiuMse Mekee %as bright mu
 latto, with straight hair. flowing oearu' | and Caucasian features. u
 1 Nothing in the life of Col. John Mchee' the Philadelphia negro, who aieu S pos st | from g, GOO GOO to $4,0Oo0oo. even bordereu l on the sensational. or gave the snentest l indication that dying he would att!act to himself the attention of the worrG r;,. ps Ing Girard College in its aims ana i.s | field of usefulness. His eighty years l term upon earth was simply one contn- uous attempt at accumulation os prop- l He was absolutely devoid of sentiment, land vet there are hundreds of persons
 who will testify of his kindness or heart and desire to do good in ms own pscu, ,a, and severe He was not given to any ais play of affection. and the history of his
 domestic life does not seem to recora
 many acts inspired by tender neart;
 This statement Is borne out by the terms Of his will. recently made public.
 which created consternation among the members of his immediate family ana ms descendants. and which surprised all wno knew him. The will is remarkapie ooc- ument. It is writer, on thirty-two pages | of fooIscap. Each page bears his sigma ture. While devising millions Tor the pen
 eft of strangers to his blood ana to ms race, he left to his only daughter. Mrs' Abba A. Syphax. an annuity of only $3eO. TO her five sons he wilied $99 each an nually. and to the child of dead daugh- ter q like amount The consternation ere ated by the reading of the, VIII auickx gave place to a determination to light it's provisions. The helrs-at-lay movea T promptly and their caveat against It's aa-
 mission to probate by the register or wilis was filed before the will found It's way So unusual were the terms of this test ament and so singular In their relation to the benefits designed for his family that 1t is said that officials or .he no- man Catholic Church to whom Mckee barring few unimportant bequests.ieft the estate in trust, naming Archbisnop Ryan. the head of the church In Phila- deiphia. as one Of the trus.ees' n ,hn are e,ft f
 which deprives his family or tneir proper
 The beacon of McKee's life effort is best
 illustrated by his first entry into game
 of skill, which he played as boy in
 Alexandria, Va. He dld not rest until ne
 had won all the marbles owned by his companions, and as far as the stock oi
 marbles among the boys in the & oid vir, a ginia town was concerned, Mckee had
 them cornered This expressed the great
 desire of his after life and the keynote , of his character--acquisitiven and ac- ! emulation. ,. was simply life of hard work and the making of money. He looked upon liIe
 and individuals from only one viewpoint
 and that was what it and they were worth tau.r IA
 sentiment and was strictly business ir
 everything that he said and did. These characteristics and relations during hls : life extended even to the members Of ms , II At one time in his career Mckee took
 great interest in the Presbyterian
 Church in Lombard Street. or which ne 4 was a member in good standing Tor near U ly sixty years. His father-in-law was 2 very religious man. as well as a man oi r some means In respect to his church re- f lations Mckee acted to please him.
 The dead man had keen and appar' ently instinctive knowledge of the value ! of real estate. He was hardly ever knowr . to have made a losing investment or tt have deal fail in his hands. He was remarkable for continuous and strenuous
 stood out prominently. He never ran ar- e ter anybody He required all men to come to him and was willing to wait until circumstances brought them to his door.
 1 PrODaDly the best eVlOence OI tiffS Qudl- ity was given by him about year ago when, 1t Is said, a syndicate of New York : financiers, which included J. Pierpont Morgan. approached him and asked his : terms for the sale of large tracts Of land
 which he owned in West Virginia This land is In the heart of the soft coal re- zion, in which district MT. Morgan and his associates were supposed to be ac- , quring controlling interests. Mckee named the terms but the syndicate thought they were too high. At any rate there was no sale. and, although repre- , sentatives of the syndicate renewed their overtures Mckee stuck to the price which
 he had originally named and at the time , of his death the matter of a sale was stiii unsettled. In alluding to the subject a
 short time ago he said that he was con
 tent to wait, because he knew that the time would come when the property would
 be considered by others to be worth the
 price which he had placed upon it.
 In singular contrast to his strictly bus-
 mess methods was his reputation as a
 landlord Mckee probably had larger
 number of tenants of small holdings than
 any other man in the city. To them he
 was known as the best of owners. They say he always kept his property in good repair and prospective tenants contend
 ed for preference in renting his houses.
 At any rate he always had list of ap-
 plicants to take the first house he had
 empty.
 At Christmas time he would buy gen erously of toys and other small gifts, tn
 the sharing of which would be included the children of the entire neighborho od.
 The scene of distribution on the morning of each Christmas Day was his home, at
 No. 1,U30 Lombard Street. and 1t would
 require several policemen to attend to the crowds which assembled there.
 The climax of his peculiarities is found
 in his gift of the house in Patton Street to his daughter. She was supposed to be
 his favorite of all the family, and she was constant in her attendance upon her fath-
 CT until the day of his death. The house in Patton Street is numbered 1895 and is not far away from the Schuylkill River. Tn
 the vicinity of Grays Ferry It was the meanest house in McKee's possession and
 is the poorest nelghborhood of any Tn which he owned property. This virtual
 turning of his daughter out of the home stead at No. 103O Lombard Street where she had lived and taken care of her fath- CT. and settling upon her the very least of
 his possessions, was one of the incom-
 prehensible acts of this negro. and the
 members Of his family SO far have vainly
 tried to discover any reason for it.
 Mckee was a resident of Philadelphia
 for sixty years. He was born in Alexan- dria, Va. in 1922. and was apprenuced to his uncle in the brick business in his na-