Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-05-22

| he would not leave until ne was CIV
en- SO gold piece. Amy time a meet
| ing of any OF the boards, of which Mr..
Sage is a member mas been held since
\ Mr.. Slocum has appeared and re-
manned until he has gotten the mon
ey. Mr.. Sage is not In such hurry
| about the minutes. He is willing TO
| have them sent by mail: but ne Is
not capable Of reading them or under
standing them IL they are read to him.
| He has lost his grasp upon every
thing except money; and 1t Ia only
with the greatest difficulty that ne
require his signature. He has always
been suspicious of the motives Of ev-
eryone he has had business with
| even of nis own employees, Mr.. Slo-
cum and 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 doc
ument.
| For nearly a year he has mad an
attendant to go around with him. His
family and friends were urging him
for several months before he could
be persuaded to employ one. and even
then he did not consent to do so until
it was arranged to place the man on
| the pay roll of one of the corpora
tons of which he is a director, 50
that he would not be required to pay
| him wages.
While many OF the stories that are
| told of Mr.. Sage's misery habits and
| eccentricities are fictitious, none of
them are exaggerated. 1t would be
almost Impossible for anyone to i'm
agine a man more economical and
| stingy than ne. Although mis- income
| is reckoned at 5000 a day. at least,
and some people think 1t is twice that
amount. he has lived at the rate OF
$1,000 year or less. and his person
| al expenses have not been *lVO
year That is very liberal esti'
mate He mas two suits OF clothes,
one for weekdays and the other for
| Sunday, and he hss worn them as
long as anybody can remember. He
as not bought rev overc' f'f
:ftoen g; twenty y.a"s,t and nts dD'
is quite as old as tnat II not older.
A few years ago he sent for gentle
man who had done him a favor. and
in confidential way said that he
was going to reward him with tip
that he could work for profit Then.
| to the mans establishment, Mr.. Sage
gave him the address OF store on
Seventh avenue where he could get
shoes for 81 pair.
To save time the Western Union
Telegraph company serves free
lunch to Its operators, and Mr.. Sage
appeared every d4y at certain hour-
A seat was kept for him al certain
table up to the last day ne came down
town He never paid fare on the ele-
waited railroad, because he was di-
rector. and the ticket takers had in
structions TO let him go by without
paying. He invariably helped him.
self to newspapers from the stand al
Fifiieth street in the morning when
same at Rector street when he was
going home In the afternoon. He has
stolen his newspapers for genera
ton in the same way, of the same
men. and they never dared say word
about 1t. He has always compelled
tions to shine mis- shoes for nothing
Al first, years ago, they used to re-
monstrate. He would climb into one
OF the chairs and wait until they serv'
ed him. If they demanded pay he
would threaten to have them put of
the platform.
The omnibus drivers and cabmen
| ON Fifth avenue point out a crack
across the top pane of glass in one
of his parlor windows which, they
say has been there for twenty-one
years. The story goes that Mrs. Saee
negotiated with glazier to replace II
with a whole pane for $l2. Mr.. Sage
would not pay more than SO. The
slazier would not yield, and the dead
lock has continued for almost quar-
ter of a century
He has quiet little country place
down on Long Island, with a good
deal of lawn, but he does not keeT
the turf shaved down like nis neigh
bors He lets the grass grow until il
is high enough to make good hay ant
then sells it for 50 to livery stable
keeper in the vicinity.
People who have been associated
with him can tell yarns like this b,
the hour, Mr.. Sage and his wife are
members of the Fiftn Avenue Presby
ierian church. As long as he wa.
able to get out they attended service
regularly. and he always put 81
bill in the plate. He subscribes VI
and $40 year to various benevolent
purposes, and on one occasion NJ
gave $50 to a mission. That burst o
generosity created a great sensation
Some of his friends did not believe
The story. One OF them was so rasf
as to bet $500 that 1t was not true
Mr.. Sage declined to discuss the sub
ject and the dispute was referred tc
he pastor of the church, who assured
vi hu Nlr