The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-07-07
WORLDS MISTRESS OF
FINANCE is DEAD

WO1OklO . N1A01INEJ0 UT
FINANCE Is DEAD
Mrs. Hetty Green Passed Away July
8, Leaving Immense Fortune
Mrs. Hetty Green, the worlds most
famous woman of wealth, died at
1.-THE home of her o in New York
lat 8 O'Clock in the morning of July
Is. For several months she had been
ill and had suffered three attacks
of paralysis. She remained in strict
seclusion awaiting her end. Her two
children, Colonel Edward H. Green
and Mrs. Matthews Aston Wilks, were
with her much of the time.
Many stories have been written
and related about Mrs. Green . Her
eccentric ways marked her out for
attention, even tho she constantly
made every effort to remain incog-
lnito. Until the last few years she
attended to her vast fortune per-
sonally, but of late has left q good
deal of the management to her son,
Colonel Green. She would not ride
in a carriage, mol have a fine house.
Her clothes were always simple, to
say the most. And many less favored
ones ridiculed her because she made
so much difficulty about living, was
so economic, and so careful about
the handling Of her millions. But
she was made that way; she did not
enjoy notoriety or show. She was
never seen at the theater. Only a
few ever recognized her on the street
and for many years she lodged in
remote districts in cheap rooms. On
the door plate she placed the name
of her pet dog, Dewey, to avoid being
known. She even admitted lodging
the tax collectors. and they confessed
it was a hard task to keep track OF
her.
Belonged to Old Family
Hetty Green was descended from
a line of Puritan town builders. Her
grandfather, John Rowland, crossed
to this country in the Mayfiower and
founded the maritime village of New
Bedford, Mass, where she was born,
November FL, 1885. The Rowland
family grew wealthy in the shipping
industry, in whaling and oversee
trade. Her father died when she
was 80 leaving her $1,000,000 out
right and $8,000,0O0 in trust funds.
At about the same time a rich aunt
died and left several millions to Miss
Hatty. And SO, at the close of the
Civil war, Hetty Robinson became
known as the greatest heiress in
America.
In 1867 she was married to Ed
ward H. Green, who was United
States consul general at Manila. He
had amassed a big fortune in the
silk trade. Before their marriage an
agreement was reached between
them and signed, to the effect that
never should his wife's fortune be
used to meet any of the husbands
debts or any of their expenses. He
died in 1902, having lost most of
his money in Wall street speculation.
Involved in LitigatiOns
From the time that she had to
make a long fight to secure her
aunt's fortune, when she brought to
court a substitute will, drawn by her
self, and spent $4,000 on the case
altogether, until recent years, Mrs.
Green has always been involved in
some law suit or other. She hated
lawyers, and thought they were try
ing to get her money away from her.
She said once: II would rather have
my daughter burned at the stake
than to go thru what I have with
lawyers"
This almost gives a picture of her
mental attitude; how she lived on
as guardian of her millions, watch
ing them with a jealous care that
kept her from knowing life's usual
enjoyments.
Then it became her ambition to
make her son the richest man in
America. She put him thru severe
training and finally sent him out
west, where, in Texas, he got a start
in r~ailroading and rose to be presi-
dent o fthe Texas Midland road in
1898. AS she had hoped, he raj a
big financier, thru his own efforts,
altho there is no telling what help
full backing it was for him to have
the Hetty Green millions standing
behind his name. For two or three
years he has directed all his mothers
financial affairs.
Her Fortune
Wall street estimates of her pres
.nt fortne run from $4,000, 900 to
500, 900, 900. 1t is said there is a
trust fund left from her
aunt's estate amounting to $780,
900, which will now be scattered to
many persons thru the country, the
lineal descendants of Mrs. Green's
great-grandfather, Gedeon Rowland.
POLITICAL GOSSIP
John M. Rider, of Woodville, has