Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-01-10
NOW STRUGGLES ALONG IN PEN,
URY IN BOSTON.
IN A LITTLE COTTAGE
" ian Once With Millions at Her
Disposal is Now PenniIess-History
of the Tragic End of the Man Who
Once Held the Erie Road in His
Grasp.

p wv SeNlS hOp0th MUSE OH N SNISSLs
2 South Boston, depending upon an in
come which two decades ago would
scarcely have sufficed for the manten-
ers, lives Mrs. James Fisk, formerly of
New York, and widow of the James
Fisk. whose murder by Edward S.
Stokes in 1872 startled the peoples of
two continents
Less than twenty-five years ago
Mrs. James Fisk, as wife of the owner
of the Erie road AID other vast indus
trial holdings. was one of the most
wealthy and influential women in NV
York, and in absolute control of a
fortune in her own right value at mil
lions.
James Fisk was at that time, just
, previous 10 his murder by Stokes, the
partner of Jay Gould, a former friend
Of Boss Tweed. one of the Tammany
, dictators, and man whose worded
menace was sufficient to accomplish
the financial ruin of any one unfor,
tunate enough 10 arouse his enmity.
Then it Was mat Nj Fisk had
| 'AANAAAH All R4NAAASF was NtuANfh hAAtA@
both for her beauty and her wealth.
and in the social world her word car.
ried practically the same strength as
? did that of her husband in Wall street
b or anywhere ION change
She has seen his murderer found
2 guilty of a crime which at first it was
thought would send him to the gal
] lows She has seen that verdict re-
voked a sentence of Imprisonment i'm
posed, and the murderer afterward re
leased from Jail to regain almost the
identical position forfeited by that
crime.
q She has seen a vast fortune dis
: sipated-she has seen her husbands
: so-called friends with greedy hands
!. stretch out in avarice for his widow
i property, and, incapable of resistance,
: has seen that husbands wealth added
8 to the fortunes of those whom he had
5 honestly befriended in life.
: Like leaves in autumn she has seen
@ her false friends fall from her side
d has known the emptiness of social
e prestige and, like many another has
been glad to turn to the few faithful
ones who remembered her for what
she was--for what she had been.
Today a women well on to GO years
= she is content to 1--we in practical OBJ
= security content % know that she may
= at least exist without help, and salts
= fed in the cor ddence that sufficient is
:, left from her once great wealth to in
:, sure decent burial
Income is Sc per Week.
$ Her income today is scarcely 81 pc,
l. week, but Mrs Fisk knows that she
u can live on that She is satisfied with
u her lot and has almost forgotten What
. her former life had been.
{ II 10 the time of James Fisk,
= tragiI death everything that thai
!, great fnancler had put his hand to hal
prospered wonderfully, and when bu
= a few short years previously he HAD
u wed a young and beautiful wife, jeal
Gus rivals agreed that James Fisk ha(
accomplished the greatest stroke il
his extraordinary career.
" For his newly welded bride was
II many years younger, extremely pre-
n possessing, of excellent family, ant
II just such one as could carry the
e name and reputation of the wealthy
a financier TO the best advantage anf
/ reap socially honors as high as those
he himself had gained financially.
- She was a fitting ornament TO the
palatial Fisk residence and wealth
beauty-everything mos. desirable in
New York-was eager to pay her nom
age. She had wealth greater than she
could handle, proud of MS accomplish
cd wife, James Fisk anticipated ever.
wish and fortune smiled mo5t brightly
upon the Fislls.
And then came the cloud that dark
ened the Fisk fortunes for the first
" time; then occurred that tragic event
= that in TIE twinkling Of an eye made
:, q widow If the happy bride and led to
: years of litigation that eventually
were to rob her Of her princely home
OF her husbands vast property and
her own.
I. ) few years before Colonel Fisk had
s met and become attracted by one Ed
- ward s. Stokes. who had previously
= deserted the humdrum business In
| which father and son had amassed q
:. comfortable fortune for the alluring
chances of Wall street and its specula-
!, tions. Stokes was bright, PROPOSES
, ing man, many years F1sk's junior, but
y, be showed such an especial aptitude
for successful speculation that Fisk
took him into partnership in some OF
his schemes and helped him to add
considerably 10 his own wealth
S ouarreled over Woman.
Although firm friends and business
associates, a quarrel soon arose over
i the attentions both men were then
2 paying to a certain Josie Mansfield
+ well known as the speedicA set Of
, New York as the occupant of a PAL
5 atia mansion allotted to her use by
Colonel Fisk While some claim
1 that Stokes was acquainted with the
woman before he met Fisk, there are
others who maintain that Fisk took
, Stokes around and introduced him,
: and thus laid the lines for their quar-
: rel separation. and Fisks untimely
death