SOME STRANGE SPECULATIONS

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 11152, 29 December 1896, Page 3

SOME STRANGE SPECULATIONS

(Tit Bits.) The following authentic incidents ahent speculations of an uncommon order, which have been fraught with weal or woe to thoir proprietors, are well worthy of record. Mr Henry Boys, of Walsall, made a fortune out of a disused and abandoned marlhole, or pit, under the following peculiar circumstances. The previous owner had given it up as useless, after lo§ing a considerable sum of money, and Mr Boys 'was able to purchase it out and out for a nominal sum.

For some time the speculation seemed doubtful, but in the course of a few yearn the bricks manufactured from the marl; in this particular hole gained quite a marvellous notoriety for their quality, andwere in great demand by the builders of the Black Country. In about a dozen years Mr Boys amassed a large fortune —large enough, indeed, to enable him to spend .£12,000 in the erection of handsome almshouses, which he gave to the town, and which now form one of its chief attractions.

Some forty years ago a gentleman ■ returned from the Australian goldfields with £SO. He consulted a friend as to the beet way to invest this amount, and was strongly urged to join his friend in the purchase-of a small but smart schooner, which was-to run contraband cargoes from France, ae, if they could make about a dozen successful trips, sufficient profit would accrue to enable them to retire for life. After some hesitation the two friends came to an agreement; the schooner-was purchased, taken across the Channel, and the cargo put aboard. On the homeward run, just before sighting the Lizard, they were noticed by one of her Majesty’s.ships and signalled to stop. The vessel being a pretty smart sailer, they resolved to'rua f6r it, when the man-of-war opened'fire \on them. The third shot carried away part of the schooner’s stem. Being in danger of sinking, she made for the land, but in a few minutes she sank, and all was lost. That first trip cost the speculator his life and his fortune. , _ , A young man was walking past Hyde Park one day when he observed a shabbily: : dressed individual in danger of being run over. He stepped forward quickly, and drew him back on the pavement, for which kindly act the unkempt stranger thanked him most heartily in a few, well-chosen, words. Something in his address convinced the young man that the shabby stranger was of gentle birth. They got into conversation during which the elder man reluctantly admitted his gentle origin and, with yet greater reluctance, his.present poverty. The young fellow offered him some money, which was at first courteously ref used / by 1 the shabby one, who, nevertheless, confessed that he was penniless and hungry. At length he consented to borrow half-arcrown, saying as he dicfcso« “ You must-regard this loaai-as a a>ld*iulation, which may presently-yield yomesghty times its value.” With these words, and his hearty thanks, the stranger went his way. _ Nearly a.year elapsed, and the young man had quite forgotten the- incident, when he received a letter one; morning containing a Bank of England note for £lO, and on half a sheefc of notepaper was -written: “From the stranger you saved and assisted at Hyde Park; Corner.. God bless you!” More than these words, there was no clue to the identity or address of ‘ the mysterious but grateful stranger.