The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-05-25
mr. FATE OF THE
Wendell MILLIONS
rr SISTERS CONTROL ONE
. roRLD's GREAT FORTUNES
,Nn LIVE LIKE HERMITS.
IHFIR LIFE AN ANACHRONISM

n a TOo-Big House as If Crush
ID nv Their Millions. Shrink From
pnhlicity as Though They Asked
Only to Be Let Alone.
o,o afternoon last week a bit be-
-. g o'clock a little old lady wendell
NAV through the home-going
,nos m Fifth avenue at the corner
1, Tbirtv-ninth street, and pulled the
CIV hell that hangs at the entrance
.bo Wendell mansion, says Richard
nnr in the New York Times. Few
onv observed her. The street was
Sockpd with the hurly-burly of the
IT, afternoon crowds.
# was in the heart of Manhattan,
,boro metropolitan life reaches it's
oritb Of complexity and sophistica-
on Yet the episode might have oc-
snrred in village of a thousand peo-
10 and was precisely such an cpl
hide as has occurred at that mansion
broughout the past So years.
# was the call Of one old neighbor
h another. The house was in dark
pss but the little old lady waited.
81 moment another lady, just as
little lust as old, just as faded,
struck a match in the hall and lit the
seavy iron gas jet that stands above
H. h9lustrade. Then she opened the
Inner and outer doors and greeted
or caller and conducted her within.
The hostess was Miss Mary Wen
81 heiress, with her four sisters, to
n estate that is worth at least sixty
Ind perhaps eighty millions. Her
saller was member of one of the
Id Manhattan families whose history
extends beyond the Revolution.
The life that goes on in the Wendell
Nome is like breath from the past.
since the death of the brother, John
"A Wendell, in California, last winter,
#he sisters live on in the too-big
8Ouse as if crushed by their millions.
EUept for an occasional visitor at
sBte afternoon tea time they see no
Bne. Their life is an anachronism, a
seeming mystery, and yet a curious
scho from other generations. That
#hey live it in the conspicuous center
II Manhattan has drawn upon them
j fierce light of publicity from which
shey shrink as though they asked
8nly to be let alone to exc out the
Remainder of their lives, not like the
actresses to many millions, but like
8Oyerty-stricken and obscure old wo-
Men.
The house is an old-fashioned,
shree-story red brick, brown stone
'front.' structure, built in 1855. It cost
About $4,000 then, and has seldom
been repaired. 1t is assessed at So
POO now, but that includes the fur
8ishings. Many are familiar with it
AOw, and even the rubberneck buses
8ell about it as they go by and point
put the lot that is worth a million
Dollars and kept vacant so the dog
snay have his exercise.
4 The Wendell who built the house let
#ls contractor draw the plans to save
%ne architects fees. 1t is square and
plain, weather beaten but substantial.
m winter only the first two floors and
She basement are habitable because
She old furnace does not carry heat
Rell above the second floor, nor do
M upper windows successfully eX-
Rlude the blasts from the Hudson.
A high fence, so high that one
sanding on top of bus as it rides by
aan Just see over, screens a view OF
&le adjoining lot from passersby. In
sne lot are an old tree and a dog
#ouse, with a turf that has not been
&ut IN thirty years. There, after
Aark' so that no prying eyes can spy
#oWn from neighboring buildings,
Ane sisters take their exercise.
q with them are two old women ser
#ants, and the five old women live
8eefllously oblivious of the New York
Il the moment. The riot of fashion,
21trraVagance, joy, mirth, sin, crime,
roe and ambition which flows past
ren on the avenue constantly seems
~ 10 have affected them at all.