The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-22

MISERS AND
 SPENDTHRIFIS TWO REMARkABLE CASES OF oN'
 SUSPECTED RICHES.
 nece.tly Revealed in New York-Ths
 story af 4he yyossan Whe Died
 of Staryntien With S20o,000
 at Hand.
 New York, April 2i.--The oldfasn. toned miser, who denies himseii tooa and clothing and lives in sauahd sur rossrdin9s while boarding great riches, Ia still with us Attention has recently been called to his presence by two ex- traordinary cases which astonisnca ihe metropolis. The first instance was that of Thomas McNally, an East sids rag picker. who was found dead in tpe street with twenty-nine bank oeoks strapped to his body, representlh& ee- posits of about $45,0oo. He, togetner with his sister. had lived for years ia q tenement to which the wretched pair brought at night the loads of rags ana bottles which they had spent the oas fu collecting. when the sister died McNalfy refused to allow the under taker to put black cloth on the aoor in token of mourning. It costs .oo much" he said.
 1t appears that McNany had inner ited s3o.oo0 from his father who was funk k-dealer. and had scattered it about in several satings banks. adding new ones to the list when his varions ac- counts passed the $3.Go0 limit Tor oe poeffs. Yet, with all this money al command, he is supposed to nave l.to Tiff it can be called living on nething but bread and water.
 The case of Maria Corsa Is even more surrrising. This woman, with fuliy sI .0o0. GOO. and with $200,0o0 in biils. gold and silver locked up in her secre- fary, actually died of starvation In the old family mansion on MOTHS Avenue, where she had lived as recluse TOT thirty-four years, never stirring outsioS of her own grounds. MiserlfnNss vas an inherited trsit with her, since her father. mother and uncle all hoarded their wealth. spending money only fer necessities When a girl, Miss Eorsa Is said to have been forbidden to marry a penniless young man upon whom she had set her heart: and her disappotnf- ment brought out the family tainf, leading to wretehed life and 9 mfser- able death.
 People love strong contrasts; and to offset these examples of avariec. stories about great spcndthrifts are new town talk. The visit of "Scotty," the sud- denly enriched miner of Death Valley. California, is still fresh in the minds of New Workers who arc, however. of opinion that his attempts at wasting money fell tar below the standard set years ago by the famous Coal Oil Jchnny" This man, whose real name was John Washington Steele, inherited from his aunt. when 2i years Of age, a large fortune in cash and securities and a royalty on all the oil produced on the family farm in Venango County. Penn sylvania At the same time he was ef- fered si.se8.ea9 for the property. re- ceiving s3o.o0o earnest money.
 The young man completely lost his head. Accompanied by friend he went to Philadelphia, where his hotel, bill amounted to $is.ese for the five he stayed in that city. In one day he spent xi0e.e9e. He set up fine carriage, adorned with painting rep an oil well, which he gave to his coachman when he left town, ip of taking a fancy to the members of a certain minstrel troupe. He bought an interest in the shaw and money upon the members for suppers costing $500 to s1, 1000 each. It was during his connection with this company that he used to buy hacks, take short drives in them and then give them to the drivers. At one time he rented whole hotel for one day at a .-ssr of ss.00o, everything in the house being free while his lessceship lasted.
 Of course. such crazy extravagance could bring about but one result, and in a short time Steele was ruined. He be- came a railroad baggage master and station agent on a western road. At last accounts he was living on farm in Pennsyivania.
 Fortunately. the majority of Amer cans steer a middle course between sor- did miseriiness on enc side and insane rrodigaiity on the other. They know he power of compound interest and in-
 est their savings in such manner as get the advantage of 1t. In New
 ,rk City alone the trust companies V "a deposits amounting to the enor- n.. us total of $S61. .461 ,e55 An officer of the Trust Company of America said recently. in sreaking of the growing tendency of the public to rlace its earn ings where money will make money.
 Very few persons have any idea of the way any particular sum of money will increase when its earnings gre steadily added to the principal. The most remarkable case :n point is that of the Theiusson estate in England. which lcd to the passing of a special enact mrnt by Parliament in order to prevent tl recurrence of what amounted to a cf ne against the public good, although E. could not be placed in any recognized
 tegory of wrongful acts.
 The man, who was of Swiss descent. settled in London as a merchant and succeeded so well in business that when he died fin 1797, his estate amounted to fs0o. .ooo or fg00.00O. His, will. which was perhaps the most extraordinary document of the kind ever known. after leaving fi0o, ,000 to his wife and chil- dr~n. tied up the remainder in trust during the life of three generations of his descendants. providing that in case of failure of heirs the property should be devoted to the extinction of the na- tional debt. As 1t happened. there were no grand children. and the trust be- came limited to the lives of tive gen erations instead of three. The will was established after much litigation, but was felt to be such a public danger that the Act of Parliament referred to was passed in 1900 prohibiting any similar schemes of beQHAst. When the trust was terminated by the death of the last grandson, litigation broke out again, in 1858. and the estate was finally di- vided in lS39 between the next heirs. If the property had accumulated ac- cordine to the usual law of compound