BIG WINDFALLS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 31

BIG WINDFALLS.

I heard the other day of the sudden death of an old lady aged 86. She had for many years lived in comfortable circumstances, and, as she was remarkably bright and active, none of her friends would have been surprised if she had become a centenarian. She was killed by a shock such as I confess would, in all probability, not be fatal to most people. One morning a solicitor's letter arrived and informed her that a distant relative had died and left her a fortune of £20,000 a-year. The legatee received the news very quietly, and at once sent for her own solicitor and asked him to draw up her will. He did so, and a very few hours after she had signed it she was seized with an attack of heart disease, which speedily carried her off. The joy occasioned by the news of the windfall had proved too much for her.

The story of this old lady's sudden and unexpected fortune reminds me of some very extraordinary instances of rapid transition from comparative poverty to great affluence. My mouth always waters when I write about large sums of money, and my readers must excuse me if in humouring myself I tantalise them.

Naval men, especially in the last century, have often grown rich on the proceeds of a single successful expedition, or even on those of a single captured hostile ship. In 1743, during Commodore Anson's cruise, for example, the Centurion, on June 20, took the Spanish galleon Nostra Signora de Cabadango which had on board bullion and cargo to the value of £400,000 ; and, before the commodore returned to England, his squadron captured other vessels which were worth £600,000. Anson's share of this sum was, I believe, over £70,000. Again, on July 30, 1745, the Prince Frederick, Captain James Talbot, brought home prizes which, with their cargoes, were worth over £1,000,000. The treasure and plate alone filled 45 waggons, and the captain's share of the plunder was about £120,000. In the same year another English vessel took a Spanish ship with £400,000 on board, and a third, the Surprise, captured a French East Indiaman worth £150,000. Other captures in 1745 were the Charmante (£200,000), the Heron (£140,000), the Notre Dame de la Delivrance (£600,000), and the Conception. The latter's cargo — I take the details from a contemporary account — consisted of a large quantity of cocoa, 68 chests of silver, gold and silver coin to the amount of over £200,000, much plate, a two-wheeled chaise, the wheels and axletrees, &c, of which were of silver set with diamonds and other precious stones, and a ]uantity of gold in bars. "When the ship was put up for sale the French captain, upon the promise of a reward from Captain Frankland, the captor, discovered to him 30,000 pistoles, which were concealed in a place where no one would have ever dreamt of finding anything." This ship was one of the richest prizes ever taken ; but its value was exceeded by that of the Hermione, a Spanish treasure-ship, Avhich was taken in 1762 by Captain Pownall, of the Favourite. The three lieutenants of the British vessel received a3 their shares £13,060 apiece, and the captain obtained £65,000, while £64,000 went to the flag officers on the Mediterranean station, where

the capture Was made. The admiral was at the time miles away from the scene of action, and had very little more to do with the capture than I had.

I wish I had participated in the capture of the town of Havana in that same year. The value of the stores and treasure taken was over £3,000,000. Admiral Pocock, who was in command, received as his portion £122,000, and Commodore Keppel was enriched by £24,000. Unfortunately there is very little prize-money to be gained in these piping times of peace. An occasional slavedhow is taken on the African coast, but a vessel of that kind is not worth much, and if the capturing captain makes £100 by the business, he may consider himself lucky.

The Crown frequently comes in for big windfalls, owing to the reversion of the estates of people who die intestate and without known next of kin ; but someone always appears to contest the reversion if the sum in dispute be at all considerable. Such was the case on the death of Mrs M. Brown, who died worth over £200,000, and on the death of Mrs Helen Blake, who left personalty worth £140,000. Still more often does a big windfall descend to some unexpectant person by the death of an unknown relative, or even of a stranger who has, peiiiaps, been once seen and then totally forgotten by the legatee. A well-kiiown living politician received a foitune of £800,000 in this way, the testator being a fourth or fifth cousin vrhom the legatee had never either seen or heard of ; and, not long ago, the newspapers contained accounts of how a labouring man in the North of England succeeded to an estate worth £15,000 a year, under the will of a remote connection by marriage. A much more extraordinary instance occurred some years before the beginning of the present century. A wealthy French gentleman, who had held Government appointments from which he had derived enormous profits, retired, and went to travel in Greece. While he was there he was captured by brigands, who carried him to a solitary house in the mountains, and swore to kiil him unless he were ransomed by his friends before a given day. The messenger who was sent by the prisoner to Constantinople to obtain the required sum was waylaid and murdered. Consequently he never returned ; and, as the limit of the period of grace approached, the Frenchman resigned himself to death. But' on the eve or the day which way appointed for his execution, he was enabled to escape by the young daughter of the owner of the house. He went back to Paris, where he lived for some years afterwards. Ere he died, having no near relatives, he willed the whole of his property to his deliverer. For a, long period she could not be found, and in the meantime the property accumulated. At last, however, it was discovered that she had married a Russian and was living in St. Petersburg. The estate, which was worth £1,200,000, was then handed over to her and her husband, who, thanks to this substantial sum, eventually becarre the founders of one of the largest banking businesses in the Russian empire. The family flourishes to this day, and is now of princely rank. I daresay that the origin of its fortunes is not generally known.