Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-01
is A VALUABLE OLD FARM.
Estate on Broadway Left for Care of
Sailors Has Increased in Value
from $45, 900 to $4,000, 900.

csINe privilege OIL buying ldndS tla(
heretofore could only be leased"
These Were headlines recently print =
ed in New Yor. newspapers, but they
v ere slightly misleading. An ATTEMPT
is Icing made to obtain a legal decis-
ion to enabla the trustees to dispose
of some of the enormous holdings of
Sailors Snug Harkor. but the trustees
have not yet won. In April last they
Instituted friendly suit against the
Acknowledgement for the purpose of
having the Courts set aside the terms
of the will in which Robert Richard
Randall provided that the income from
his estate should for all time be de-
voted to maintaining home for
aged and decrepit" sailors
THE suit has not yet been ended,
but the trustees hope for decision in
their favor. as they feel that the in
terests of their wards, the city and
business men affected will be best ser
we'd by obtaining permission to sell
some of the lands that have attained
values which have seemed inconceiva-
Bile to the original donor. From $45, 900
to s90,000,a00 is a fairly respectable
increase in valuation, and it is safe
to say that when Randall drew his
will he would nave ridculed d sugges-
ton that this enormous increase in
valuation was possible. For at that
time Randall grew hay, carrots, eggs.
cows, cabbages and other products of
nature where to-day ore gets but the
flash of foulards and other feminine
fripperies, the rush of trolleys and au-
tomohiles, the clatter@ of printing
presses and the thousand other sounds
and sights pertaining to the business
and private life OF the persons who live
or work in what is now one of the
most eongested parts of New York
City.
And, impossible as it would have
heen for Randall To have formed
mental picture Of what his little farm
would look like after the pa ssage of a
hundred years, il is equally difficult
for modern mertals to see long rows
of BEAMS lettuce, corn and other tropi-
cal fruits growing from Broadway and
Tenth street 10 Fourth avenue and
south To Beverly Place. Nor is it
easy 10 picture Randall the privateer.
turned merchant and farmer. driving
home in his high wheeled buggy and
pulling up. to ask his farm overseer
how many bushels of corn he had
gathered from the land which now is
covered by the Wanamaker stores
ard whether he had succeeded in ex-
terminating tile humble meles that
preceded the builders of the subway.
Again. understand that here is an
institution owning property so highly
valuable, yet so bound by the express
ed wishes of a man who has been
dead for more than a hundred years.
that it cannot spend its income and is
worried by its accumulated wealth.
There you have Sailors Snug Harbor
Pity the poor trustees,
IN June. 1901, when the first crop of
hay was being taken off, Aston
place, Alexander Hamilton drove along
the road that crossed the fields which
he once owned in partnership with
John Jay and Isaac Roosevelt. Pull
ing up his horses about one hundred
Yards west of where Grace church
stands today, at Broadway and Tenth
street, he entered the mansion built by
The last British Governor of New York.
In 1890 this relic had been bought by
Revert Richard Randall, the privateer.
together with the Mimic farm, com
prising about 90 acres. which then
marked the northern extremity of
Broadway.
Randalls father, Thomas, owner and
master of the Fox. swift bark, had
operated, under letters of marque. the
Spanish Main, making New Orleans
his headquarters and base of supplies.
- |, =. r.
ert. privateered-or pirateered-with
Captain Tom, but when his parent
died the young man left the sea and
became a merchant and gentleman
farmer" He originated the commut-
ing habit-in a buggy.
On that bright day in June Alexan-
der Hamilton had been summoned to
draw will. AS Randalfs antipathy
to lawyers is recorded in history. 1t is
not hard to credit the somewhat testy
greeting said TO have Eeen uttered by
the remodeled pirate:
"Damme, sir. Good morning, l have
from me damned physician--the breed
cen about as pestferous as are the
leg shafks-that | must prepare for
the last cruise Ho Boy! Ink-horn,
sand box and quilts"
Randall's will is a curiosity, but it
also is model of terseness and COM
prehensiveness Mr.. Hamilton's acu~
men and ability are again proved by
the manner in which he provided such
perfect legal safeguards that no
Courts have vet found grounds for
permitting evasion of any of its terms.
The first requests were annuities of
$40 to each legitimate child of his
brother Paul. until completion of his
fifteenth year. and CT 900 cash on his
twenty-first birth anniversary To
each legitimate daughter of the same
Paul he gave G1.000.
To Betsy Hart, my housekeeper. a
life annuity of G4o and my golden
sleeve buttons" To Adam Shields.
oyerseer, &c 40 and a gold watch To
a servant, Gavin Irwin. ego and my
gold shoe buckles.
Then arose the question of disposal
of the residue of the estate, consisting
Of "21 acres, / rood, "a perehes and
1872 feet of farm lands sictuate in Fiji
teenth Ward; four lots i'm First Ward;
1928 in per cent. and $6430 in 6 per
cent. stocks. The total valuation was
about S45 900