Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-04-18
TRUST ENDS after
A HUNDRED YEARS
Famous "Bridgewater Trust
Has at Last Come to
an End.
HEIR is VERY RICH MAN
Vast Estate Of the Duke of Bridsewatei
Consigned to the Care of Trustees
for a Century, Goes to Pres
emit Heir.

London special: Sunday last trans
formed the hitherto conspicuous
earl of Ellesmere from a merely we'll
TODD peer to one of the richest men IL
England. At noon on that day thu
jealous guardianship. came to an end
which has been kept for a century ovei
the magnificent property known as thu
"Bridgewater trust" with all the &C
cumulated revenue which it has pro
duced during that time.
The story of the trust is a vastly moro
romantic one than ordinarily gets mixed
up with a mere property, however grea
and valuable. 1t was founded by thu
first duke of Bridgewater, a noblemaI
OF great wealth, enterprise and business
ability, who died just 100 years ago las
Sunday. 1t was the duke who started
the great system of inland canals IL
this country. He owned great collier
les near Manchester, and built the pres,
ent canal between hat city and Liver
pool in order to lessen the cost Of trans.
porting the coiliery output. Then h,
built other canals in South Lancashire
and up to ITO had spent about 81, 600, 00l
in this way. The proper development
OF these canals and the collieries will
which they were connected becam,
the dream of the dukes life. He had &
definite scheme laid out for their man
agement and he had no Idea of having
his heir step in n possibly upset tn,
results of all his work by trying to run
things according to his own ideals. So
when the duke died, he tied up hi
canal property for 100. yaars-makint
arrangements that during hat time 4
should be conducted on the lines origin
ally laid down by him-speCifying, how,
ever that after a century of nursing
1t should go to whoever was the he'll
at the time. The bulk of the dukes i'm
mense estate he left to his cousin, Johr
w. Egerton, Who succeeded to the
dukedom of Bridgewater, while prop,
erty, painting n plate, worth owe {
million dollars, were bequeathed to an
other nephew, the marquis of Stafford
The will by which all these bequcst!
were made was a remarkable document
In as we'll as in matter and II
now a part of the nations collection
Of historical manuscripts in the Brit,
ish museum.
Although it is known definitely tina,
the present value of the "BridgewateI
trust" is sufficiently great to place 1T
noble inheritor among the wealthies
men in this country, the simple fact tina,
the property has remained in the sam
hands for q century makes 1t impossible,
to get an exact estimate of it's worth
1t will be in the millions of pounds ster
ling, however.
The lucky Earl of Ellesmere is not {
young man; he is Sc. He has had rattle,
a picturesque existence, though not al
romantic a one as that of his great an
cestor. The earl always has been famed
as a sportsman and combines Will
prowess as a cricketer a considerable,
talent for novel reading. He has pub
nGhp1 1hTan rom moe ~ Of TvhIaIH;
called "A Broken Stirrup-Leather." Hi
lordship is married and already owns
about $4,000 acres. He has three coun
try seats n a town house.
AS for the old Duke of Bridgewater
no would have picked him out ii
the beginning as a man likely to de
Velop into a Napoleon of business. A
a boy he was sickly, and his intellectual
powers were so lightly thought of tina
1t was doubtful at first if he would b
allowed to inherit his'dukedom. He as
sumed the title at twelve, however, AM
then was permitted to grow UP as
man about town, a gambler and owne
of race horses. 1t was an unfortunat
love affair that first steadied him an,
apparently piqued him into shown,
what he could do If he tried. He fel
in love with Elizabeth, widow of tn
Duke of Hamilton, formerly one of tn
beautiful Misses Cunning, u sh
would not marry him and he broke u
his London establishment and shool
the dust of the metropolis from his fee
in disgust. He threw himself into tn
task of developing his immense prop
critics and the canal schemes soon fol
lowed. In his latter years the duke go
aereputation for great severity. Orna
mental things he despised and there /
a story how one of his gardeners hav
ing set out a bed of flowers at Worsle
hall, his seat near Manchester, the duk
rushed out into the garden and, Xix
the Roman emperor, slashed off tn
head of every flower with his cane. III
was generally CLOSE" too, though one
he gave $500, 600 to a var fund, when. tn
country was threatened with a foreig
campaign. When in London he mad
arrangements with a friend of his I
provide food for himself and his guest
at so much per head. He insisted tina
his funeral should be carried out wit
no pomp or ostentation whatever.