FORTUNES NARROWLY MISSED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10306, 13 March 1895, Page 6

FORTUNES NARROWLY MISSED.

of Buccleuch, at Dalkeith, Mr Thomson in 1871 established the Tweed Vineyard aft Clovenfords, and made himself a national reputation as a grower of grapes and orchids, and quite a little town sprang up around hiß establishment. He frequently wrote^ in the newspapers on horticultural subjects, and bis opinions were always held in the highest respect. Frovost Rutherford, of Cupar, died suddenly on January 15, from failure of the heart's action, at the age of 61. He began life as a militiaman, and was entirely the architect of his own fortunes. The very largely attended

public funeral which he received, when the whole town went into mourning, testified to the esteem in which he w»s held. Mr Alexander M'Kay, of Thurso, who was known throughout Caithness as factor of several estates acd as a burgh official in Thurso, died on January 15. He was much esteemed and liked by all classes. Some years ago he bought the estate of Blackheath and greatly improved it. Mr John Gibson, stationmaster of the Central station, Glasgow, died on January 12 from the effects of an accident he met with while

engaged in his duties during a denße fog. He was 44 years of age, and had been 26 years in the service of the Caledonian Railway Company. The d«aths of the following persons are also announced: —Dr Lawrence, of Cumnock, a medical practitioner, widely known in Ayrshire; Lady Home Stirling, of,6lorat, Stirlingshire; Mr J. C. Macdonald, Glasgow, a well-known Scottish comedian; Lady TonDant, wife of Sir Charles Tenn&nt, of The Glen, Peeblesshire, whose death is mourned by a wide circle of friends, and by none more than the poor on her husb&nd's estate. GENERAL NEWS. The annual report of the Clydeodala Bank, which has just been published, saya that the net profits for the year amounted to £117,000, and it is proposed to declare a dividend, as usual, at the rate of 10 per cent. It is added that the bank hss incurred special losses at Dundee, amounting to £IH,OOO, and it is proposed to take this amount from the reserve fund, which will then stand at £4-30,335. Tidiugs having been receivad that Principal miller, of Madras, is under medic&l orders not to accept ths proffered modevatorship of the General Assembly at its annual meeting in May, the Rev. Dr J. H. Wiison, of the Barclay Church, Edinburgh, is .to he nominated to the post. Mr Skinner, town clerk of Edinburgh, having retired, h\i place has beeu filled by the ap- I pointment of Mr Thomas Hunter, W.S., of the j firm of Micandraw, Wright, and Murray. The salary attached to tbo post is £1500. Mr ■ Hunter was born iv 1850. He hao already had some years' experience in acting as t!ie corpora- , tion's law adviecr in railway matters. Br W. Peduie, in a paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, stated that about i per cent, of mankind were colour blind, the )

It is quite conceivable that nearly every person, at some period or other of his life time, allows to slip by bim more or less valuable chances which, if he had seized them, would no doubt have made incalculable difference in his worldly affairs. In most cases, ignorance of the fact constitutes bliß3, but not always so; and sometimes the prize happens to be of so rich a nature that the loser is forced to taste the bitcereat dregs of chagrin. Occasionally, indeed, persons nave to realise the stupendous fact that they have been actually within a hair's breadth of a I solid fortune —and have missed it. Qnil.e a number of authentic instances of this kind have been placed on record, and very curious some of them are; while, doubtless, thers have been many others which have never publicly transpired. It woald be interesting, for example, to know the exact sensations felt by a man whose strange experience in this respect was noticed in some of the Australian daily papers a few months back. As an instance of the unaccountable perversity of destiny at times it is, perhaps, unique. He was a Melbourne bank clerk, with fairly favourable prospects, but the gold fever overtook him, and official routine grew distasteful. Making for the fields, he boldly invented all his savings in the purchase of a newly-opaned "claim," the price of which was ran up at auction on the strength of the fact that gold was being found in abundance in its immediate vicinity. He took a partner, and for weeks they worked feverishly, in the hope of becoming rich at a stroke, until patience and resources alike were exhausted; and, as it seemed, the whole thing proved a fiasco. One day a prospecting party came along, made an offer which was eagerly closed

with, and cook instant possession. Within 2-i hours of the bargain something occurred which set the ex-bank clerk dancing—but it was the dance of delirium. Word went after him that hia despised mine had yielded up a nugget worth hundreds of potmdß. He hurried back incredulously, to find his successors chuckling over a yield, the richness of which wa3 simply beyond estimation. There had been, it could literally bo said, but a few inohes of rock and earth betwixt himself and a vast

fortune, and it so chanced that he had left them unturned. The human brain is not always proof against a blow of this description, and the ex-bank clerk lost his reason on the spot. The writer can vouch for the truth of the following instances, in which, to twist an old metaphor, a iperson strained at a gnat when she might have made sure of a camel. This person kept apartments for letting purposes at a seaside town, and these apartments were one day hired by a gentleman who, after a short stay, departed and left behind him

three mysterious-looking trunks, for which

he said he would call at his convenience. This he never did, for the simple reason that he met his death by drowning the same day, and tha body was not recovered. Several years went by; nothing was heard, and the trunks remained unclaimed, till at leDgth the holder considered herself justified in selling them as they stood for the sum of £10, the buyer—a visitor whose curiosity was awakened by the story—taking all

The farmer in question had sweated and slaved all his life to amass £10,000, and in the process had come to conceive a violent prejudice against " white-fingersd gentlemen." He therefore gave his two sons plainly to understand that tha money would be divided between them solely on tha condition that they stayed at home and worked the farm. All went satiafsctorily for a time ; then the yonnger of the twain found his immediate inclinations stronger even than the distant prospect of the money, and one day

he was rash enough to shake off the dust of ths farmyard. "Very wel!," said the old man grimly, " that hankering for gentility will cost yon £5000." And so it did, although not exactly in the way the farmer had intended. He altered his will, and held co communication with his wayward son for nearly two years; then, being on his deathbed, he relented, and telegraphed for him to come and be forgiven. He aloo sent for his lawyer, and caused a

fresh will to be drawa up on the original lines, but did not sign it. " I've done my part; let him do his," he announced. "If he gets here in time to show he repents, well and good, I'll pnfc my name there. If not—so much the worse for him." The hoars wont by, and the son did not appsar. As it afterwards turned out, he had repentedlong enough before; bat the telegram had not come into his hands in time. Meanwhile the old man seemed to be making a superhuman effort to liva, and carried his determination to Bach a point that he persisted in holding the pen in readiness. That will was never signed. Presently the pen dropped, and he fell back. " He's too late," ho said. While they were listening to hear whether he still breathed, the door opened, and in rushed the breathless prodigal. He was in time to realise the fact that ho had missed a fortune of £5000 by no more than five minutes.