MISERS' HOARDS

Evening Star, Issue 23833, 13 March 1941, Page 7

MISERS' HOARDS

£SOO IH ARTIFICIAL LEG Two recent items in the London dailv papers must have given sane men food for thought, writes Captain W - Jt. Johns. A man found dead from starvation was later discovered bo have £»,Ow in the bank. Another, a cripple, taken to hospital dying from exposure was found to have more than £SOO hidden in his artificial leg. ■ , Economy is an excellent thing, and saving a wise and natural precaution, but this extraordinary mania .of risking self-destruction for the sake of amassing wealth is one which no normal person will ever understand. It is not uncommon in Britain, so wo can only conclude that it is a disease, an obsession brought on by avarice. Consider, for example, the insane miserliness of John Hopkins, who was known locally by the unpleasant nickname of the Vulture. He lived a miserable existence, and was never known to give anyone a penny. When lie died, his will was proved at £300,000 —tied up so that it could not be spent until the second generation. He could not even bear to think of his money being spent after he was dead. Well might we ask, what did he hope to gain ? . . . One of the most notorious misers ot all time was John Elwes, of Suffolk, who lived in the last century. He inherited £150,000 from his uncle (also a miser), and £IOO,OOO from his mother, who actually starved herself to death. It looks as if the trouble ran in the family. This lunatic—he could hardly have been less—always went to bed at dusk to save lighting a lamp. He would never have a fire, but in cold weather walked up and down to keep warm. He ate only odd scraps of bread. He would not have bis shoes cleaned because he said it wore them out. The only hat he ever had was one which he picked out of a ditch—and he did not keep that long. Being offered a shilling for it by a rag collector, he took the money. In this wretched state he lived to* be 90, and died leaving £BOO.OOO.

“ Shanky ” Williams as he was called—took some beating. He amassed a fortune, but could not find it in his heart to spend any of it on his own comfort. He lived, and died, in a cheap losing house. His last act, a few hours before he died, was crooked. He sent for the agents of three anatomical institutions, arranged for them to arrive at different times, and sold his body for three guineas—to each of them. Why did he do a thing like this on his deathbed? He could not take the money with him. It is an odd thing, but more than one miser has tried to save money on bis own’funeral. Edward Nokes, of Hornchurch, bought his own coffin, and to save money arranged for cord to be used instead of screws to keep the lid on. There was no coffin plate, just the two letters, E.N., being carved in the wood Yet he was a wealthy man. Thomas Pitt, of Warwick, also visited several undertakers in order to pick up a cheap coffin. He died leaving £4,000.