Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1906-02-24

ceived as legal fee from fellow.
| accused of horse stealing, and who
had nothing else 20 give, two second
hand copper stills These were In
charge Of Joel Williams, who kept
tavern adjacent to the river, and
who was a large property holder
there In early days. On presenting
| this order. Mr. Williams told Mr..
Longworth he could not let the stills
60 as he was Just building a distil-
lery in Butler County, but he would
give him a lot of thirty-three acres
cles. Mr.. Longworth. whose view OF
| the value of property here was al
ways in advance of public opinion.
gladly closed with the proposal.
These thirty-three acres occupied q
front on Western row, from Sixth to
Seventh Street, running west for
quantity, and this transaction alone.
taking into view the prodigious adj
vance in real estate here. would OF
itself have furnished the basis of an
immense fortune. the naked ground
being now worth nearly two millions
of dollars.
What Mr.. Longworth's property
Is worth is rather difficult to deter
mine. but as his taxes for 1850 were
upward of $4,000. the highest sum
paid by any Individual in the United
States, William w. Aston excepted.
whose taxes for the same year were
t23,flS. the presumption is that
there are few individuals of higher
reputed wealth In the United States.
IL. however. he were a man of wealth
and nothing more this notice would
not have appeared in these pages.
"Longworth Is a problem and
riddle: problem worthy OF tho
study OF those who delight In explor-
ing that labyrinth of all that is hid
den and mysterious. the human
heart. and a riddle to himself and
others. He is a wit and humorist
of high order; of keen sagacity and
shrewdnesa in many other respects
than In money matters; one who can
be exact to dollar and liberal,
when he chooses, with thousands: az
hihtu hHu iEndtity
his own opinions. and yet of album
dant tolerance to the opinion, how
ever extravagant, OF others-~a man
OF great public spirit and sound gem
eral Judgment. All these things
rarely accompany the acquisition
and accumulation OF riches.
"The other day had occasion to
L.. a he
wants OF a destitute but deserving
widow residing in the Sixth ward.
Among other persons l applied to
Longworth Who Is she2 DO you
know her? Ii she deserving objectf
I assured him that she was. had
good reason, l said. to believe that
she bore an excellent character and
was doing all in her power to sup
port large family of small children
Very we'll. them said Mr.. Long
worth. I shan't give cent. Such
persons will always find plenty to re-
lieve them. shall assist none but
the idle, drunken. worthless vaga-
bonds that nobody else will help. II
you meet with such cases call upon
me- That this was not mere pre-
tence ! find in the success of an APP
plication made here In behalf OF the
Mormons after they were driven
from Illinois. committee of that
people visited Cincinnati and applied
to Q friend OF mine. who said he had
no money to give but wrote note to
Mr.. Longworth. In which he stated
he had sent them to him as having .
claim on him, they not being Chris
tians. Mr.. Longworth gave them ac-
cordingiy $40. (Note-'The devils
poor Mr.. Longworth called the kind
he helped.)"
Thus ended the Cist chronicle OF
nfty-four years ago, and twelve
years later ended the subject OF It.
He left q fortune estimated at $751;
000. 900, and nobody ever said any OF
It was tainted money, although there
were good and pious Cincinnatians
who said II "Old Nick" hadn't gone
to meet his namesake the harmony
OF the hereafter would be out Of
tune -.El