Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-16
is H0PELESSLY ILL
Old Age Carrying Away
Russell Sage.
HIS FACULTIES INFIRM
BUT HIS RULING PASSION rs AS
STRONG AS EVER.
Stories Told Of the Extreme Economical
Habits of the Man Who is Worth
a Hundred Million Dollars.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

Record Herald.
NEW YORK. May 10. 1905.
Russell Sage is lying hopelessy Ill In his
brownstone residence at 632 9th avenue,
near the corner of 5Oth street. There Is
nothing the matter with him except old
age and what the doctors call senie debil-
ity. His tough, old frame is worn out; his
mind is weakening, and his feeble shanks
refuse to carry him any longer. But he Is
nearly ninety years old Nature Is simply
asserting itself. His faculties are infirm,
but his ruling passion is as strong as it
ever was. Although his memory is almost
gone, he never forgets the days for the
meetings of the boards of directors Of
which he is member, and always sends
his brother-in-law, Mr.. Slocum, down town
to get the ten-dollar gold pieces to which
he is not entitled, but which are paid as
fees to the directors who attend. Mr.. Sage
is not entitled to the fee any more than
any o:her absent director, but he demands
1t just the same, and his associates are
willing to pay 1t rather than disturb his
peace of mind. Mr.. Sage is a member of
twelve or fifteen corporations. His fees as
director amount to $50 or $50 week
AMI although he has a hundred millions or
more in stocks and bonds packed away in
among twenty or thirty banks, he grasps
at them though they were necessary to
keep his Pickering light af1ame.
Grasps Nothing But Money.
He is director in all of the Gould COM
panies, and up to two or three months ago
came down town every day to meet with
the boards. He was SO feeble that a serv-
ant had to almost carry him in, and five
minutes after he was placed in his chair
he would fall asleep from weakness and
would not Waken until the meeting was
over Mr.. Gould told him it was not nee
essary for him to come down town for the
meetings and promised to send him a type
written copy of the minutes and the at
tendance fees If he would remain at home
which he reluctantly consented to do. The
next day, when the board adjourned his
brother-ln-law, Mr.. Slocum was waiting
in the hall to get the minutes and the
money. He was told that they would be
sent to Mr.. Sage by mail. In the after
noon he returned saying that Mr. Sage
preferred that he should bring the money
himself, and he would not leave until he
was gwen $40 gold piece Every time a
meeting OF any of the boards of which Mr..
sage Is member has been held since Mr..
Slocum has appeared and remained until
he has gotten the money.
MIR. Sage is not in such a hurry about
the minutes. He is willing to have them
sent by mail; but he is not capable of
reading them or understanding them if
they are read to him. He has lost his
grasp upon everything except money; and
10 oii4s Will greatest dlff1culty that
he can be induced to sign papers which
require his signature. He has always been
suspicious of the motives of every one he
mas mad business with-even of his own
e emf Mr. slocum, Mr., Osborn who
has been his private secretary for more
than forty years; his physician DR. Mum
and even of his wife. 1t sometimes takes
the combined influence of these people to
persuade him to sign a document
For nearly year he has had an attend
ant to go around with him His family
ana friends We're urging him for several
months before he could be persuaded to
employ one, and even then he did not CON
sent to do so until it was arranged to nIaca
the man on the payroll of one of the cor
porations of which he is a director. so that
ne would not be required to pay him
wages -
Stories Told About Russell Sage.
While many of the stories that are told
OF Mr.. Sage's misery habits and eccentric
tiles are fictitious none of them are exae-
gerations. 1t would be almost tmpossible
for any one to imagine a man more eco
nomical and stingy than he Although his
Income is reckoned at 5000 day. at least
and some people think 1t is twice that
amount, he has lived at the rate of 81 OOO
a year or less. and his personal expenses
nave not been hundred dollars a wear
Ihat is very liberal estimate. He has
Two suits of clothes: one for week days
and the other for Sunday, and he has worn
them as long as anybody can remember
He has not bought new oyercoat for fif-
teen or twenty years, and his hat is quite
as old as that, If not older. A few years
ago he sent for gentleman who had done
him favor, and, in a confidential way
said that he was going to reward him with
q q, tip, that he could work for profit.
Then, to the mans astonishment Mr. Sage
gave him the address of store on 7tb
avenue where he could get shoes for 81
pair.
To save time the Western Union Tele-
graph Company serves free lunch to it's
operators, and Mr. Sage appeared every
day at certain hour. seat was kept for
him at a certain table up to the last day
he came downtown. He never paid fare
on the elevated railroad, because he was
a director, and the ticket takers had in
structions to let him go by without paying
He invariably helped himself to newspapers
from the stand at Goth street In the morn
ing when on his way downtown, and did
the same at Rector street when he was
going home in the afternoon. He has TAX
en- his newspapers for a generation In the
Same way, of the same men, and they have
never dared say word about It, He has
always compelled the bootblacks on the
elevated stations to shine his shoes for
nothing. At first, years ago they used to
demonstrate. He would climb into one of
the chairs and wait until they served him.
II they demanded pay he would threaten
to have them put off the platform
The omnibus drivers and cabmen on 9Th
pane of glass in one of his parlor windows
which, they say, has been there for twenty
two years. The story goes that Mrs. Sage
negotiated with glazier to replace 1t with
a whole pane for So. Mr. Sage would not
pay more than $40. The glazier would not
yield. and the deadlock has continued for
almost a quarter of a century.
Sells Hay From His Lawn.
He has quiet little country place down
on Long Island, with a good deal of lawn,
but he does not keep the turf shaved down
like his neighbors. He lets the grass grow
until 1t is high enough to make good hay
and then sells 1t for So to a livery stable
keeper In the vicinity.
People who have been associated with
him can tell yarns like this by the hour.
Mr.. Sage and his wife are members of the
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. AS
long as he was able to get out they at
tended service regularly, and he always
put IS bill in the plate. He subscribes
Is and $40 year to various benevolent pur-
poses and on one occasion he gave $50 to
mission That burst of generosity cre-
ated a great sensation. Some of his friends
did not believe the story. One of them was