New-York tribune., 1902-08-24
WANT BURk E MONEY.
FLOOD OF APPLICATIONS FROM NEAR
AND FAR AT OFFICE OF THE
FOUNDATION.

Since the announcement Of the gift of John M.
Burke for the establishing of a convalescent
home, to be known the Winifred Masterson
Burke Foundation, the applications for as
sistance that have been showered upon the
Trustees are formidable in number. An in
teresting circumstance is the fact that the print
ing of the story in a charitable paper was fol-
lowed by a deuge of applications from every
State in the Union and from places as widely
separated as Montana and Bermuda. Daily
numbers of visitors flock to the Broadway Of
fee of the secretary of the foundation, whose
name is mercifully withheld, to seek aid for
their schemes.
Not long ago a weather beaten, time worn vet
eran hobbled into the office and. carefully lower
ing himself into chair. inquired eagerly of the
secretary:
An is this the Burke placer"
On being informed that it was he continued:
AN it's foine pile er money the gintleman
hav' left fer the incurables, is it?
Before the secretary could explain that the
money would be unavailable for at least year,
the old fellow continued with touch OF the
tone that softens and sweetens:
An I'm n thnkin the ould must a had
me in moind whin he did his noble deed. NOW,
I'll not be takin' yer valuable tonne, but phat
want is this. I've wooden leg here Dye
mind?" He thumped the solid member with his
cane emphauCaliy NOW, III d liiihhiAi siSA> -
cor-r-r-k leg is the thing the ould gintelman wud
give me- ef he could me. 1 see the gift in
the paypers, an cum to ask fur that leg.
The old man did not get his new leg but he
carried away the sympathy of the office.
StiH another application for assistance came
from one OF the West India Islands. The writer
asked merely for home. This slight request for
| n few thousand dollars to purchase home that
might enable the applicant to live comfortably
| on her assured income closed with a polite in
vitation to the officers of the society to come TO
the West Indies and the applicants condi-
/ tion If they doubted her own statements.
! Then there have been applications for money
/ to build churches to found all sorts OF institu-
/ tons fight law cases that have been nearly
! won and need only the contribution of capital
! To reap the harvest. Inventors with patents
/ secured who desire to sell an interest in their
scheme for the necessary capital TO run it have
! conceiy ed the idea that the donor of a conval-
! escent home intended to take care Of all the
various schemes in the world.
! In the office of the foundation there are let
/ ters and letters. ranged in heaps Each mail
brings an addition to the mass. To-day a
! number Of people in Texas have sent appllca-
tions as a result of the reprinting of the story
of th, gift in local paper. Yesterday the ap-
Mica tf0ns were from a half dozen counties in
the Northwest where the news had just pene-
| tratcd.
The local calls not so bad" said the sec
retary to Il reporter the other day; "in the main
the same Old contingent of grafters' that are
looking for something easy have dropped in for
| a dollar. There have been cases that appealed
| 10 my heart, and others that called 1orth my
wrath hut there is a certain reasonableness
! about tn, Nt.w-York demand. But that does
not apply to the rural appeal. that asks boldly
! Tor t1nucand* Nothing in the city has COM
uared with thr nerve the country has shown
Meantime there is a certain pathos IN the
unanswered: requests They are duly hied ana
! await the inevitable answer that nothing can
be done for at least year. Somewhere beside
the waves of the Atlantic the donor, John Nj
Burke who fled from the city to escape 'he
consequences of his magnificent gi1t, is "ohoer-
| ing cynically if he can safely return " Ne"
| York with the winter.