Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-11
DEAD RECLUSE
OWNED A FORTUNE
GREAT STORES FOUND IN HER
HOUSE AFTER DEATH
Was Supposed to BE Poor, but Home
Is LuxuriousIy FurnIshed-Fine
Garments and Much Money
Discovered
nY rIMorHY }. o,coNNon

Special Cable to The Herald.
DUBLIN. Nov. 10,--A woman named
Agnes Hearst, supposed to be an
American, was found dead in her house
in Belfast some days ago, and the
police, on taking charge of the house.
found money and property of consider
able value. Outwardly, the house pre-
sented the appearance of going fast into
dilapidation. Indeed. very few individ-
uals passing along and noticing the
old fashioned, green-painted wooden
shutters continually closed would have
imagined the house was tenanted. The
interior, however indicated a very diff
ferent state of affairs. Every one of the
ten or eleven rooms the house contained
was luxuriously furnished, and in every
direction there were evidences that the
owner was possessed of considerable
wealth. Struck by the gorgeous sur
roundings, the silk and satin dresses
everywhere observable, forming an ex-
traordinary contrast between the in
terror and exterior appearance, Sergt.
Whitford and his men searched the
place.
In one Of the bedrooms they came
upon large safe of $4,000 in gold, notes
and foreign bills. The notes were on
almost every bank in England, Ireland
and Scotland, and ranged from Ell to
ESQ in value, and the bills were chiefly
for German marks, Danish and Norwe-
gian currency and American dollars.
Some of the Scotch and English notes
were badly frayed at the edges, either
showing constant handling or a length
ened period Of repose in the strong box.
Some of them, owing to the damp and
n1ildew, were moldering away and al
most unrecognizable. In the same re-
ceptacle the constabularly found a draft
on the Bank of Ireland for $4,000.
But this was not all. Two large
American trunks when opened disclosed,
carefully arranged and piled on top of
each other, numerous quantity of
gentlemen's pocket handkerchiefs made
of the finest silk and cambria; some
with monograms, many without, and
not few having crests woven into the
corners.
Beet Industry
At the last meeting of the council
of the Dublin Industrial Development
association a letter on the subject of
the possibility of establishing a sugar
beet industry in Ireland, which Alder
man Cole had drawn attention to pre-
viously, was received from Lieut. Col
F. 7. Warburton, r. E., London, in
which he pointed out that such an in
dustry was Handicapped in the process
of manufacture by expensive coal He
said that all methods hitherto adopted
with peat had failed for reasons which
he need not enter into, but which might
be summed up under the general term
Ignorance" But" he continued, 'if
enterprising and intelligent men, who
desire the rise of Irish manufactures of
all kinds, take this matter in hand the
face of the whole country will be
changed in a few years."
Col Everard, j. p, D. L., said he
knew that beet grown in Ireland was
quite equal to the best that Germany
could produce. The real difficulty was
not the soil or the plant; that was all
right. The real difficulty was the un-
certain condition of the system of
kounties that are adopted in foreign
countries. And they were not sure yet
whether the government would try to
help this industry in the way it was
being helped elsewhere. Apart from
that difficulty, another arises, and that
is the extreme fluctuations from over
supply. He quoted figures given about
a company interested in this matter,
which showed that the price of a GER
tain beet sugar within ten months re-
6uced so per cent, which clearly meant
that no profit could be gained from the
manufacture. Another difficulty in this
country was that it must be carried
on on an enormous scale, and all at
once. They must start into it with
first class machinery and with an area
of at least 5000 or 1000 acres of beet.
He (Col. Everard) saw that it was not
practicable at present.
Fear Potato Famine
That the fears of potato famine are
not over is demonstrated by the follow
ing resolutions just adopted by the
Oughterard board of guardians:
''That we, the guardians of the poor
of the Oughterard union, at a quarterly
meeting assembled, view with the ut
most concern and alarm the almost
total failure of the potato crop this
year, the result of which we know is
sure to be a serious and alarming
famine amongst the great majority of
the small tenant farmers within this
poor and populous union, because the
failure of the potato crop this year is
the worst that has occurred with us
since the black days of '46 and AZ.
Knowing these facts, and knowing
that with only the resources of an
already overburdened and highly taxed
poor union at our disposal we see
plainly that it will be utterly impos-
sible for US to meet the pending dis
tress which is sure to prevail; we there
fore earnestly and seriously urge on
the government to take early steps
toward starting works of a useful and
necessary nature calculated to give en-
ployment throughout this union to the
numbers Of distressed and famine
stricken people who are sure to need 1t.
From our own observations and
from what we can see of the far
reaching effects of the failure of the
potato crop, we are most positive that
the earlier works are started i'm the
r.E h afg
chance there will be of graphing with
any degree of success with the specter
of famine throughout the district"
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