Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-04

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time to hang her little black cape and
bonnet. often in tho hall bedroom OF
some cheap boarding house. or in some
remote and modest Nat around New
York.
ECCENTRIC EXTREMES LED
TO POPULAR MISCONCEPTION
Her eccentric extremes OF economy
led to popular misconccption of her
as "sclf-madc woman AS "a mat
ter Of fact, she was born rich, I'm 1865
she inherited some slo.o0o.ooo, which
accumulated upon itself until in nfty
years il had multiplied nearly ten
times. She also Inherited family tradi-
tons which had been Il pride for three
centuries, and which Shc was anxious
to pcrpetuatc in her children.
She was born on November 81, 1895,
at New Bedford, Mass. This old mari
time city was founded by her ancestor,
John Rowland. a Puritan. who came
over in the Maynower. and who named
the place after Bedford, his family
homo in England In succeeding gem
erations the Rowland family became
famous in the whaling industry and
shipping trade with China, and had
an irreproachablc social standing Ed
ward Mott Robinson. who had also
New Bedford. married Abby Rowland.
of whom IIctty Robinson. tho future
mistress of finance, was born. She
was sent TO a Quaker school on Cape
Cod. and to a seminary in Boston. and
got her first lessons in finance when
her ageinE father intrusted her with
some Of his books.
She was just thirty years old when
her father died suddenly. leaving hcr
his s?.Ooo.o00. $l.0UO.oo0 outright and
the income from the other eight, tho
principal to be held in trust for her
children. II is forgotten that IIetty
Green. then Robinson, was a belle in
New York society. According to her
own stories. she often danced the
whole night through" Even then.
however. she lived in a boarding house,
and was so saving that rather than
pay cabfare. she would pull a pair OF
heavy wooden stockings over her shoes
and walk through the snow TO parties.
Almost at the same time that her
father died. her aunt Sylvia Ann How
land. passed away, leaving several
million dollars. 1t is said Hetty Rob
inson had been brought up from child
hood to count this money as hers. and
that the aunt expressed the hope that
Hetty would some day become. as she
did, the richest woman in the country.
DIVISION OF ESTATE
NOT AS EXPECTED
The division OF the aunts estate,
however. was no; as expected Three
years after the aunt's death Hctty
Green appeared in the United States
Circuit Court in Massachusetts with a
VIII which She wanted substituted for
the one already probatcd This will
was in Mrs Green's own handwriting,
and some OF the most famous experts
OF the day declared under oath their
belief that the two signatures II con-
tanned were not made by the aunt, but
were traced by IIetty Green herself
over An original signature of Sylvia
Ann Rowland.
The litigation is one of the most
famous In court annals. After an ex-
pcnse OF $4,000, the case was dis
missed on technicality An appeal
was made TO the Supreme Court Of the
United States, but while this was pend
ing private settlement was reached.
From those days 20 the time of her
death Hetty Green was involved in
some law suit or other, asserting that
lawyers were forever trying to rob
her OF her property. Her antipathy
toward them was So violent that she
said. II would rather have my daughter
burned at the stake than to go through
what | have with lawyers"
She married in 1867. Her husband
WAS Edward II. Green, who was United
States ul-general in Manila where
he had made fortune in the silk trade
1t Is said Green. at public dinner,
heard some one speak of lIetty Robin
son as the greatest American heircsS,"
and straightaway announced his deter
mination to marry her. Before the
wedding day an agreement was signed
TO the effect that the wife's fortune
should never he drawn TO meet the
husbands debts or any of their joint
expenses. He died in 1902, after hav-
ing lost most of his money in Wall
Street.
Both Hetty Green and he did bust
ness there for many years. but on
separate accounts. Old Wall Street
men hcvc told innumcrable stories
about her closcness. One was how
she negotiated once for a special en-
einc to take her from Philadelphia
10 New York so that she nigh; not
miss a chance to make several thou
sand dollars before the close of tho
Stock Exchange. y price was named
by tho railroad company for an en-