A MISER'S FORTUNE OF £6,730,000.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 211, 4 September 1915, Page 22

A MISER'S FORTUNE OF £6,730,000.

■ ■ MONET LEFT TO THREE BISHOPS. The romance of a Madrid miser who died worth £6,730.000, but went about the street in rags, is uufolded by a Paris correspondent. A few months ago there died In Madrid a man about sixty years old named Romagosa, who In the opinion of his neighbours and few friends was poor. He and his wife lived a miserable life. They both dressed almost In rags, and the old man spent most of his time in prayers in the churches. With the couple lived Romagosa's aged mother, who bad an even more miserable appearance. The old woman used to go every morning to the market to buy food, but generally she returned with her basket filled with detritus which she picked up on the ground in the market. "What do one ever imagined was that the miserable-looking Romagosa was one of tho richest. If not the richest, man in Madrid — and that he possessed a wetilth which Is more considerable that that of the Duchesse of Sevillano, and that he was a richer ninn than the Count di Romanones, th» Spanish ex-Premier. Komagosa's fortune. Including money Id the banks, bonds, properties in Spain, France. Cuba, Argentine, Chili, amounted to 170 millions of pesetas labout £6,730,000). He had large Finns of money and considerable amounts of bonds deposited in London banks, at the Bank of Fran.-e. and in several Spanish banks. He owned a magnificent louse in the Champs F.lysees, in Paris, which Itself is valued at £-HO,OOO. One shop In the ground floor of this house is alone rented for £2,000 a rear. By bis will Romagosa has left his whole fortune to the Bishops of Madrid, Barcelona, and Buenos Ayres. To his wife the miser left the use of his houses and land properties, which after her df-ath will go to the three bishops, in equal parts. The executors are the Bishop of Madrid and the dead man's wife. But the widow! has disappeared since her husband's death, after going for a few days to Sarrla, near Barcelona. The Bishop of Madrid nasi written to her several letters asking her to come to Madrid to look after the Inherltagc together with him, but she made no reply. It Is rumoured that the widow Is determined to fight the will |