The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-01-07
ALL EYES ON HELEN GOULD
9 ENGAGEMENT OF RICH WOMAN
TO FINLEY j. SHEPARD.
Something About Her Career and
PhilanthrOpiC Deeds. Has Long
Been Charity Worker.

The engagement of Miss Helen Mil
Ter Gould, known to the nation as
Helen Gould, and as one of the fore
most OF women philanthroptsts, to
Finley ]. Shepard, railroad man of
st. Louis, was announced recently at
the residence of Mr. and Mrs. George
]. Gould, at Lakewood, N. j. While
the time and place of the marriage
were not made known in the formal
announcement, New York friends Of
Mr.. Shepard said that the marriage
would take place in the latter part Of
next month.
Only a few members of the Gould
family were present at dinner at Geor-
gian court, Mr. Goulds Lakewood es-
tate, when the news was announced.
The news of her engagement was
surprise even to many of the closest
friends of Miss Gould. She is now
forty-four years old. Since the death
of her father, Jay Gould, on Dec. y,
1892. left her one of the richest women
in the country, rumors that she in
tended marriage had been so often
started and denied that it had come to
be believed that she would never
marry.
Miss Gould came into a fortune of
$10,OO0,0OO at the death Of her father,
and it is estimated that by careful
management and judicious investment
this fortune has grown to $30,000,0O0
despite the number and size Of her
charities.
Mr.. Shepard is assistant to 3. f.
Bush, president of the Missouri Pacific
Iron Mountain and Denver and Rio
Grande railroads. He is bachelor Of
fortT-f1ve.
Miss Gould IS one or The four trus-
tees of the Jay Gould estate, and her
part in the management of the Gould
railroads has been mainly work for
the welfare of the employees. Mr..
Shepard is very popular with the rank
and file of the railroad men, and since
his connection with the Gould lines
has been an ardent supporter of the
philanthropic enterprises undertaken
by Miss Gould.
Miss Gould was a pioneer in philan-
thropy among American women of
great wealth Her charities were prob
ably on a larger scale than those of
any other American woman before the
death of Russell Sage led to the estab-
lishment of the Sage Foundation by
his widow. Her greatest popularity
was reached during the days of the
Spanish-American war, when her eff.
forts In behalf OF American soldiers
and sailors caused her to be ranked
with Florence Nightingale among pa
triotic women.
Miss Gould's formal entrance to so
ciety did not take place until she was
twenty-five years old. Her debut was
delayed by the deaths of her father
and mother, to whom Miss Gould was
devoted. After her debut in 1898, how
ever, Miss Gould took little part in
social affairs. When she came into
possession of the fortune left by her
father, her time was taken up entirely
with the administration Of her prop
erty and her charitable activities.
Her method Of doing good was prac-
teal. From the very beginning of her
career her charitable work was per
sonal in its character. 1t was not her
practice to send check to this or that
society and then rest content. She
acted as a Sunday school worker and
as a volunteer parish worker, and then.
when her benevolences became larger,
the institutions and philanthropic pro
iects which she founded were all I'M
der her personal direction.
1t was not until 1898 that the Ameri-
can public learned of the extent of the
work Miss Gould had done The homes
she had established for the cure of sick
children at Woodycrest and elsewhere,
her personal charge Of philanthropic
institution In New York and the num-
berIess gifts she had made to different
charities were all so unobtrusiyely
managed that they had remained com
paratIvely unknown until the blaze Of
popularity burst upon her for her work
in behalf of the American sailors and
soldiers during the Spanish-American
war.
Her Care For the Sick and Wounded.
At the first call to arms she respond
ed in the only way in which she then
thought she could be of service to her
country-by giving 100000 to the gov
eminent for war expenses. Then she
became interested in the Red Cross
society and was active in the auxilia-
ries of that organization. She was an
honorary member of the Women's
War Relief association and donated
sums Of money from time to time to
that body. But this did not satisfy
her.
Her first really active participation
in the war relief work started with
her visit to the wounded and sick sol
diers at the Marine hospital, the Smith
indrmary and the Fort Wadsworth
hospital, on Staten Island. The per
sonaI contact which she experienced
that day, the insight into the suffer
inGs of the first men brought home
wounded from Santiago, seemed to
map out her work for her. She at
once assumed control of the Women
War Relief association and reorgan-
lied it, making its object the care of