BROKER’S GHOST

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 February 1939, Page 11

BROKER’S GHOST

MILLIONAIRE ART COLLECTOR. LONDON, January 1. Strange tales that the ghost of John A. Holms, eccentric Scottish stockbroker, has returned to haunt his magnificent estate at Formakin, Renfrewshire, are circulating in Scotland. Recently buyers from all over the world flocked to Formakin to attend the sale of Holm’s £250,000 worth of art treasures. Some of them declare that since the sale began ghostly knockings have been heard at houses on the estate. A friend of the dead man says that he was sitting in the gardens of the estate when he felt a “presence” behind him. On turning round he found himself looking into the eyes of John Holms. The stockbroker, other friends say, has come back to be near his treasure house. For the mansion, full of rare art treasures, was the dream of his life come true. In his younger days his great tambition was to own •a home of surpassing loveliness. That dream took hold of him. He devoted his days to making money. When, he became a millionaire he confided 1 to his architect friend, Sir Robert Lorimer, his great ambition. Lorimer was given a free hand, and on the lovely hillside near Bishopton, in Renfrewshire, the dream mansion became a reality. Every stone that went into Formakin, as the mansion was called, was specially treated to give the impression of great age. Steps for the many staircases were carefully scooped out by machines so as to appear as if they had been worn by centuries of use. The entrance doors required no “faking.” Their antiquity was undisputed, for they had come from Newgate prison. From every capital in the world his agents reported to him impending sales of any art treasures which they thought would take his fancy. Once he had made up his mind to purchase nothing would stop him.

£25,000 FITTINGS. One of his purchases was the f amour “Garden Carpet,’ ’almost circular in shape, and reputed to be the finest example of Persian work. Holmes considered that no ordinary room was capable of displayingk its true beauty, so he had a special room built to fit the carpet. Holms himself Jived modestly and frugally, though it was his boast that on his dining table on special occasions were fitments worth more than £ 25,000. Suddenly work had to bo stopped. Depression had hit. the world, and with it the stockbroking business. Holms fought back and was on the way to making another vast fortune when a second slump hit the markets. This time the handicap was too much for him. No longer could he afford to pay for art treasures which still took his fancy. But he still declined to part with those which he had already bought. And so for years Holms lived in the little cottage where each day he gazed upon the unfinished masterpiece. In May last year John Holms died, and this week his treasures were sold. The mansion itself is likely to come under the hammer.