The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1922-04-18
TWO CARRY STRANGE
ENIGMA TO GRAVES
DOC MOEN EXPIRES WITHOUT
REVEALING NATURE OF HIS
HOLD ON MILLIONAIRE.

NEW YORk, IN. LEW wilson
Moen, who gained national notoriety
thirtv-odd years ago as doc" Wilson,
central figure in the Mystery of the
Barbed Wire King" is dead. He sue
cumbed to old age in the Newark City
hospital after seventy-four years OF
life crammed with romance and adj
venture.
Wilson, or Moen-probably no one
alive knows which is his rightful
name-was born of lowly and OBJ
scure family in the village of Arnold
town, Conn. He passed his childhood
in cotton Irvine factory, his teens in
stable and his early manhood as a
horse doctor and landlord of an un-
savory roadhouse near Providence.
Suddenly he became the Monte Girls
to of Rhode Island"
In 1880 he was employed as host
Ter in Uxbridge One day he abandon
ed his position, and, going to the
Blackstone National Bank, presented
check for $4,000 drawn by Philip L.
Moen, his employer, on a Worcester
bank. With the check arrived a tele-
gram from Moen: PAY any check
bearing my signature that Levi Will
son may present"
Moen Was Millionaire.
The name of Philip L. Moen was
one to conjure with 1t belonged to
the famous millionaire barbed-wire
manufacturer, man of aristocratic
tastes and courtly manners, a leading
citizen of Worcester, a figure in local
and national politics, devout church
man.
The first check only marked the
beginning. In short time Doc" Viii
son developed into local Monte Girls
to, spending huge sums OF money
with a lavish hand. His methods were
typihed by the fact that he rebuilt the
local hotel because it did not please
him. And when he ran short of funds
he would send an order to Moen to
come over and bring your check
book" Moen always came. But no.
body knew why.
Doc Wilson, plentifully supplied
with money by Moen, bought fine
horses and equipages, entertained gov
errors of Rhode Island, and, after va
rious intrigues with women, married
the beautiful daughter of prominent
manufacturer. A curious condition of
the marriage, which later ended in di-
vorce, was that his bride should never
question him concerning his income.
Wilson finally brought suit against
Moen, and at sensational trial the
millionaire admitted that from time to
time he had paid his former hostler
$500,000, but insisted emphatically that
he had not been blackmailed. The
suit, brought for the recovery of a
considerable sum of money, ended in
a jury disagreement and Wilson dis
appeared for a time.
Leaves S3o,O0O,Ooo Estate.
The wealthy "barbed wire king"
died in 1891, leaving an estate of $780,
100000, of which $750,000 was set
aside in a special trust fund to be ex-
pended in protecting the Moen family
from any further inroads that might
be made by Wilson and to prosecute
him criminally, if the opportunity Of
fered, during the twenty years from
1887. At the end of that time, however,
whatever was left of the sum was to
revert to Wilson, and he was offered
$3.50 at a time when his fortunes
were again at low ebb.
Why Moen gave his former stable
man such huge sums of money on
demand had never been established.
1t has been said it was because Moen
was actually his father, a theory given
credence when Wilson assumed the
family name of Moen. Others said
Wilson was the rightful owner of the
lucrative barbed-wire patents. Neither
Moen nor Wilson, however, ever told
the full story, and now it will probably
never be known.