Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-22
L|E IlEIT. INSANE,
LAST OF NOTED HOUSE
on GERMANTOWN, DIES
For Thirty Years He Lived in
Family Mansion, a Virtual
Prisoner, Guarded by
Servant
MARRIED UNNAMED GIRL
Contract Annulled, She Married Again
and Was Slain--Then He
Lost Mind

*WfHfe" Tfeft is dead He was a pictur.
ssabe character In picturesque Germantown
and his lonE-c1ouded life ended in the
equally picturesque. Heft homestead, at
kl1z Germantown avenue, where In years
eHoBs his grandfather, George Heft con-
Quoted the historic Buttonball Hotel; the
huttonba1l tree, from which the hostelry
took name, still stands, but its branches
east their reverent shade over a ex-
tinct family. For willie" Heft reduced
BY Illness from a man of $50 pounds to n
mere shadow, was the one failing survivor
ef an old and respected Germantown house.
BY his death Saturday the Heft estate
enc OF the largest properties on German.
town avenue. passes to Mrs. Charles Smith,
- niece, OF Greene street and Chelten ave.
nue.: Il had long been held in trust, for
William De Bourbon Heft for more than
80 years had been incapable of managing
his worldly affairs. With William Mus
grave, his attendant for 32 years he had
lived alone in that palatial mansion with
It's wealth of rare furniture, or had rambled
among the well-kept walks and flower beds
that extended from Germantown avenue
back more than 500 feet to Greene street.
He had not been beyond its limits for the
sreater part of that long period, and his
condition was such that the presence of
visitors was not appreciated
The funeral services, which will be held
in the parlor of the old Heft mansion
who never before had more than an ex-
terror view OF the famous landmark.
Heft interment will be made in the family
vault in North Laurel Hill Cemetery after
the religious exercises, conducted by the
Rev. Luther De Yoe, pastor of Trinity
Lutheran Church, Germantown avenue and
Queen lane, are over. The last of the Hefts
will then rest with his fathers and the last
chapter in a troubled life will have been
written.
- For the 81 years which comprised will
lie" Hefts earthly span suffered early,
incurable blight Son of Casper Heft a
prosperous merchant of Civil War days, lie
was born and lived all his days in the
house wherein he now lies dead. Old Ger
mantown residents today recalled the ro.
mantle but tragic events that made that
residence virtual imprisonment In his
youth willie fell in love with and mar
ried q young woman whose parentage was
never rightly established. but who, as a
founding, was taken in and adopted by
. prominent family, neighbors of the Hefts.
The marriage was subsequently annulled
and the divorced wife drifted to Camden,
where she became the wife Of butcher
named Wenkenback. This shock proved
severe to young Heft, but greater was to
come.
Some years after her second marriage the
young woman was found murdered and her
body WIS concealed in a lonely wood out
side of Camden. The husband was accused
and tried for the crime. But to Willie"
Heftss the rude shattering of his romance
and the cruel death OF his sweetheart fur
nished burden too heavy for his reason TO
bear. Gradually his mental faculties sue
cumhed,s and though the deaths of his
father and brother George placed him in
possession of one of the finest homes in
Germantown, he never enjoyed its owner
ship- His latter days, the majority of his
years. we're spent In inner darkness amid
the brightest of outward surroundings
Latterly, his mental weakness induced his |
physical decay, and he was no longer able |
to wander among the flowers or to rest In |
the shade of the old buttonball tree He
had been bedridden nearly week when the
end came last Saturday.