The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-23
REFUSES WEALTH
SOUGHT 3 YEARS
Man Of Mystery Lived in House
of Secret Rooms and
PaSsaGewayS.
HE HOARDED EVERYTHING

BRONSON. Mich. Feb 80 -Rronson's
man Of mystery. J. Francis RugGles, died
in September. 1911. and was buried IN
the little cemetery east Of town. which
should have been the end of j. Francis
Ruggles. hut it wasn't.
This man OF mystery was born and
brought up on a little farm q mile west
OF the village As a boy he displayed
great eccentricity. refusing to apply
himself to the labors of the farm as did
his brothers. but living apart from them
as much as possible He read omniv-
orously everything that came within
his reach he took to collecting and
boarding odds and ends OF every de-
scription. and books became a mania
with him.
one day when he was still "A young
man the old farmhouse burned 20 the
ground. After tho emhers had cooled
J. Francis showed aside the asncs until
he a uncovered the fireplace he raised
the hearthstone and from underneath
extracted a lump Of Eold-a lump that
had originally been $1,000 in coIn-and
this to the vast surprise of his parents
and brothers, who had not entertained
the slightest suspicion that the Young
man had even 90 nue. as a dollar laid
away.
To them j Francis impaired the sad
information tina his lump of gold rep
resented only part of what the treasure
hole had originally contained. Nearly
a thousand dollars in currency had gone
up In smoke,
In after years Ruggles accumulated
much wealth. He became a collector
OF rare books. In the building he erected
in Bronson was housed what was a
valuable collection OF rare hooks and
Curios.
His business was hooks He would
procure for you any hook IN the world
Il you were willing TO pay the price
His markets were In every corner Of
the globe. on his shelves YOU could
fnd. side by side with Twenty Years
Of Hustling.' books that were very
valuable. From Cupola 10 cellar were
glass cases filled with curios Of every
description and from every part Of the
world
secret MIXERS.
For a quarter OF a century Ruggl"5
lived alone on the second floor of the
building. He was a recluse In IN" strict
est sense Of the word, never leaving his
home except for his meals, which he
took at the hotel directly across the
road For over twenty years ne never
ventured east of the first corner. lie
would not enter the post office and his
flnll WAS N'llN 'lfl ny ~ ivy
His building was "A marvel Of mysicti-
ous p~assaaeway odd chambers and SCI
cret entrances and exits. II YOU desired
TO enter the building while ne Wa on m.
second Moor he had hut TO step 10 the
front, raise a little board In the floor ant
look down through a tiny glazed window
to ascertain who YOU were
There were windows I'm the floors, the
ceilings and the interior walls every
where, From his living room above ne
could follow the moVemen of any one
from attic to basement. If you should
enter his Living room by one entrance j.
Francis could leave by auothc' without
losing sight Of you Tor an instant, but be-
was invisible All the time
lie boarded cVerythiug. liz clothing.
his hats, even his toothhgushcs We're
never thrown away on DESTROYED. Nfe.
his death his hrothcrs threw ont half y
hushcl of old tooth and hair brushes am,
a wagonload OF old hats. ON the walls
of his room were pasted autograph let
ters from such celebrities ls lioh lngcr-
soil. Abraham Lincoln. Edgar Allan 200.
Thomas Paine, III Hung Chang and
many Others
And during all this time Rugg.,s tc-
cumulated much wealth H. utd uu
faith i'm banks. Ills build uu, while u
had been made AZ hreproof as possible
was not a safe dopos.to y for his money.
and so he was wont 10 procure from the
local blacksmith at varying times short
lengths Of iron pipe Just large enough
of diametcr to admit a 500 gold piece
As these lengths Of PIPE became Nll'd
with $50 gold pieces he nut th,w away
in some mysterious rcc,sscs OF mis- lui,d-
ing-and they probably are there yet
Thousands upon thousands Of dollars!