THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9823, 18 May 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD.

LIVES AS A MISER.

The distinction of boing the strangest (personage in the world belongs to Mrs. Hetty Green, an American, who is worth not less than £12,000,000, bub who spends on herself not more than £100 in any one year. The ordinary inmate of a workhouse who has not a shilling to call his own is probably far happier than she. Her father was chief proprietor in a large telegraph system, and left her all his money. She never wears good clothes; it is doubtful whether she is possessed of a piece of jewellery worth ten shillings. She is never seen at any place of amusement, and she is absolutely without luxuries of any kind. She has a husband, daughter, and son ; but they live apart from her and each other. This strange woman has elected to reside alone, generally in cheap boarding-houses. She has a mania for moving, always seeking to hide her identity. If there is any place she can call home, ib is at a lodging-house at which she spends perhaps a third ot her time. She and the proprietress are old acquaintances,* although there is no sentiment between them; for the rich woman has to pay her few shillings a week, like the other lodgers. This is very hard, of course, but she reconciles herself to her lot by taking the meanest room in the house—one only 9 by 6 feet—dispenses with all but the necessary articles of furniture, and has no fire. Then, partly to save further expense, and partly because the other,' boarders object to have her shabby figure at table with them, Mrs. Hetty Green takes her meals'with the servants in the kitchen.

At seven o'clock every morning she clears a place for herself at a plain deal table, gets a plate, knife and fork, and spoon, and then helps herself to a portion of whatever is being served. She gives no trouble to the people in the house, as she waits on herself. She eats heartily, and after breakfast she draws a chair up close to tho kitchen range and begins to read the morning papor. This is a luxury she cannot give up. Bosides, it helps to inform her about the fluctuation in stocks.

It is nob often that there are more than two or three buttons on Mrs. Green's shoes. She is her own laundress, and washes such trifles as stockings, handkerchiefs, etc., in her own room.

Her dress is a nondescript affair in faded black. Her best jacket is of no particular style. Ic cost her 53. It was originally marked 30s, but she managed to get it cheap after ib became shopworn. But, as if to atone for this unwarranted piece of extravagance, the eccentric multimillionairess walks from her lodgings to the city at 8.30 every morning, a distance of over a mile; for a car ride is a luxury she cannot bring herself to indulge in. Wealthy as she is, Mrs. Green's day is a harder one than that of the average shopgirl. A little office has been set aside for her at her banker's, and here she works some tan hours a day ; for she has her vast fortune to look after, stock to sell, and fresh investments to make. At one o'clock she dines with the bank employees, as that meal is provided free. This wealthy woman is haunted by a fear of Anarchists and robbers, and, by dressing poorly and living obscurely, and by changing her abode often, she hopes to throw off the track anyone who may have dangerous designs upon her. Certainly her appearance would not justify anyone in thinking her to be worth a sovereign. She generally lives in New York, or, if she thinks she is being followed more closely than usual by her persecutors, she will visit other of the big American cities, or she may run over to Europe. If this extraordinary woman has an ambition, it is to make her son the most wealthy man in the world. If she lives another fifteen years, she will do much towards realising this object, for in that time her £12,000,000 will have become £24,000,000. •,