Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-09-01

| eiAS oolhC lOOlu dI IIe lIduSll mousse
for SO years.
In giving away his fortune Mr..
Roath does not propose to wait till
death shall reduce his hold on his
heirs to the questionable influence
which may be exerted via media from
the other world He makes it clear
that upon the behavior of the benef-
Charles depends the final division of
the property. He expects an cpl
demic Of good examples in his
| family.
Makes Poor Families Rich.
The eccentric stockman is just now
at his old home at Norwich, Conn,
where he has completed all the legal
steps towards carrying out his plan.
He is said to have been attracted by
fthe declared purpose of Andrew Car
negie and d. K. Pearsons to die
poor. One peculiar feature of his
gifts is that all go to poor families
each relieving an independent for
| tune.
Mr.. Roath is estimated to have an
other million, but he has not yet said
what he will doewith it.
How Fortune Is Distributed.
The scheme for supervising the
disbursing of his fortune is just an
other touch to the already eccentric
career of Mr.. Roath. The settle
ments he has made are as follows:
Louis P. Roath of Norwich, his
brother, s25O,00O. fJG
Mrs. Elizabeth Randall, his sister
$3.50, 000 9s
Children of Mrs. Henry L. Parker
deceased sister, each $4,000 as fol-
lows: Mrs Harry H. Walker, Brook
lyn; Gerard l.. Parker, Cincinnati;
Mrs. H. B. Norton, Mrs Martin E.
Jensen, and Harry F. Parker of Nor
wich.
Will Watch the Results.
81 had fun accommodating the money!
said Roath yesterday in Norwich, "and
now | want to see what my relatives
will do with it. Ii | have done any
thing to make my relatives happy
want to see the results, and | don't
want to have anybody fighting for the
money when am dead"
Mr.. Roath left the city for Norwich
early in July and went about secretly
arranging for the gifts. Stephen b.
Mech, president of the Thames Ma
tiona! bank, assisted him. Reports
from Norwich indicate general rejoic.
ing. The brother, Louis P. Roath, has
two sons, one conductor and one an
engineer on the New York, New Hav-
en- and Hartford railroad. Each will
ultimately have S125,O00. The son of
Mrs. Jensen will enter Yale this fall
after having given up this cherished
purpose. Edwin A. Roath, employed
for twenty years on the Norwich line,
will now be able to give up steam
boating and will take care of his quar-,
ter of million.
Began as Hotel Clerk.
1t was when the old Lake Shore
stock yards were at Twenty-second
street that Mr.. Roath came to Chicago
forty years ago. At that time John
B. Sherman owned the old Bulls Head
hotel, the rendezvous of the stockmen
of those days. Mr.. Sherman took lik-
ing to Roath, who was 35 years old and
employed him as clerk of the hotel.
When Mr.. Sherman founded the
stockyards in their present location he
took Roath with him. Roath then be-
came live stock agent for the Michigan
Central, a position which he held for
ten years. Later he went back to the
stockyards company, where he was
known to every stock shipper as the
man who signed the tickets on
weights. He retired twenty years ago.
In Transit House Thirty-Eieht Years.
The Transit House was opened to
the public no Christmas day, 1865, and
that day Mr. Roath engaged room and
board there. He has lived there ever
since, with the exception of the sum
mers, which he invariablye spent at
Norwich, Conn. Unmarried and with
out relative in the west, he was
known here as parsimonious olo
man who knew a good business propo.
sition when he saw it.
Even while he was working as q,
clerk in the old Bulls Head Roath
was investing his savings under the
advice of Mr.. Sherman and later of
Nelson Morris, who was also an old
friend. He was one of the original
stockholders of the First National
bank and also of the National Live
Stock bank. Besides these stocks
his wealth is invested in Chicago City
railway, Swift & Co., National Bank
of America, Omaha Stock Yards, Kan
sas City Stock Yards, Union Stock
Yards and Transit company of Chica-
go, Chicago Telephone company and
National Biscuit.
Anecdotes of His Thrift.
Many stories are told of the par
simonious habits of the old man. He
was always dressed in the same black
suit Of an antique cut which his as
sociates declared he had worn these
twenty years, and till a few weeks
ago was never seen wearing any but
an ancient derby hat 1t nearly broke
the old mans heart when stock man
carried off the hat by mistake from
the hotel dining room But he did
not buy new one, for Clerk Dwyer
gave him castoff headpiece, which
he wore when he departed for Nor
witch six weeks ago. His worldly chat
tells never exceeded in quantity
what might be packed in a steamer
trunk.
He took the trunk with him when
ne left Chicago, add this -ts taksn as