The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-23
a GENEROUS NAN
Reimbursed People Who Lost Money
On His Advice.

Out of lhe trickery and scandal
that were disclosed to the public in
the investigation of the Americao
Asphalt bubble, the New York World
obtains a story of one man who was
conspicuous for his honesty and bust
ness integrity. That man was DR..
Ludwig S. Filbert, one of the pioneers
in the asphalt business and who &C
cumulated a large ,rtune in it before
the boom days. DR.. Filbert'S inter
esting story is related by the New
York World in this way: DR.. Fill
bert was a descend INT of one Of the
fine old Quaker ia oilies Of Philadel-
phia, and a.; his fortune increased he
found pleasure II. turning a large in
cerment Of his income toward philan-
thropy. In this way be came to know
many people who were in the lowly
walks of life. He was won't to help
them, not only materially, but hun
dreds of widows and orphan children
profted by his good advice. Scores Of
them invested their savings in enter
prises that were indorsed by their
benefactor. Asphalt had made a
large fortune for Dr. Filbert, and so,
when the American company cane to
be organized, he advised all Of his
humble friends to get in on the
ground floor and invest their savings
in the stock before it had time to
reach the figures to which be conf
dently expected it to go. In this way
hundreds OF poor people were led to
invest all of their savings in what was
to prove one Of the gr satest financial
6zzles Of the century,"
When the collapse came, DR.. Fill
bert, according to the Worlds histo-
rian, realized that his loss Of mil
lion and half dollars, great as it
looked to him in his declining years,
was not nearly as serious as was the
loss of the entire savings Of the hun
dreds of poo people who were wont to
look upon Tim as their benefactor.
He knew that many Of them had been
left pennileSs and felt that be was re-
sponsible for it. He called the mem
bers Of his family together in council
and laid the facts before them. He
said that he felt that be was person
ally responsible for these losses of the
poor, and that in consequence it was
his duty to reimburse them all.
am getting DID, Dr.. Filbert told his
family, and cannot live many years.
l want to be prepared to meet my God
without the cries of hungry women
and children in my ears. It will cost
me half million dollars to repay all
these poor people for the losses they
have sustained in this miserable stock
failure. My own losses are million
and half, and this money will, of
course, come out Of your pockets, since
you will be deprived Of it after my
death. BuJ l think I can face death
better with IN honest name, and thai
is my reason for asking you to uphold
me IN the di bursement Of money tha )
was intended for you" The famil.'
Of the aged )hilanthropist sanctioned
his honest purpose. and he set abou;
at once TO repay the persons who hail
boughl Asp lalt stock on his advice.
He drove tc the several banks wher,
be kept his accounts, and notified
them that he would want to draw
Sl00,0 900 from each of them on th',
following da7. The next morning b.
drew the alf million in currency,
placed it in bag and drove from one
house to another where lived those
who bad lost their savings in the bub-
bic. Within one day be paid out
every dollar Of the money and at night
told his friends that his conscience
was clear once more.