MILLIONAIRES IN HOVELS AND ATTICS.

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 63

MILLIONAIRES IN HOVELS AND ATTICS.

It is not many months since there disappeared from the streets of St. Petersburg a familiar and very pathetic figure in whom only very few recognised one of the wealthiest subjects of the Czar.

As the "Grashdanin" said in an obituary notice : "The whole city knew him, for everyone was pretty certain at one time or another that the old man, bent vrith age. .poorly clad, going everywhere on foot, looking like a beggar tc whom one felt impelled to give alms ; or a miser, whom.

cne felt like reproaching for his _ thrift while (pitying him for his bodily infirmities." This seeming beggar, miser, and cripple was possessed of many millions, and the owner of vast properties in the capital, one of the largest markets of which bears his name.

Many amusing stories are told of this millionaire in tatters, and of the mistaken charity of w.hich he was the object. He rarely refused alms offered to him, and in ca^es where people offered him of their poverty he would track them to their homes, and on the following day would send them back anonymously their charity increased a hundredfold.

•The fact was that his life was one long search for objects of his great benevolence, and the most pitiable beggar of St. Petersburg was really its greatest benefactor.

While the Russian millionaire Count was exciting pity and alms in the streets* of St. Petersburg another noble, equally rich, fl'as leading a sordid, solitary life in an attic in a Berlin slum. Jt is 30 years since Baron yon R , then one of the leaders of fashion ,nd the most prodigal of spendthrifts, 'stired froan the world of society fco the squalid room in which he spent the remainder of his life.

' From this room he never stirred for a generation. His few wants were attended to by a faithful body-servant, who occupied an adjacent attic, and he received occasional visits from the agent who managed his A r ast estates. During these 30 years he Avore the same, faded dressing gown, and he allowed 'himself no luxury apart from his books, which were his only companions.

None ever knew die reason for this strange hermit-age ; but, as the Baron refused under any pretext to see a woman, vven of his own kin, it is fair to assume that woman ■was in some way responsible ?or his slrange life. Schultheis yon Meiss, who died two years igo at Zurich, was a similar millionairehermit, who led a pauper's life while enjoying the revenue of a prince. He 'had, however, one extravagance : for while he would grudge the meanest coin for any article of personal necessity, he <vould spend thousands of pounds to secivre an addition to his gallery of pictures. This marvellous collection, which was bequeathed to the State on his death, included no fewer than 12,000 paintings, of which 291 were by Rembrandt, 158 by Lucas de Leyde, 111 .by Durer, and 89 by Schcengauer. When the Countess Balsch of Roumania died 1,610,000ir were found secreted in her zooms ; and in a bundle of moth-eaten curtains was found a box' containing 40,000 ft more. And yet this strange woman lived on a few shillings -a week, and grudged a halfpenny for a candle to light her to bed. • The richest man in Southern Arizona is an eccentric, plain-living old party of nearly "70 years of age, whose vast possessions in ■mines, cattle, and lands are valued at 2,000,000d01, and yet this douible-dollar-millionaire lives with his family of a wife and several sons and daughters in a mud ■hovel, which, with all its contents, would be dear at £50.

The floors are of hard-packed adobe, the ■windows and doors are of the cheapest pattern, and a drop of paint was never applied inside or out. The old Jinan's only raiment consists of "overalls and a gingham shirt," the only books in his house are a "Cattleman's Guide" and a book of recipes for cattle diseases, and his solitary luxury is "plug tobacco." Another Arizona millionaire is an Irishman, who owns vast estates and many valuable mines. This millionaire bachelor, a man of 60, lives alone in a tiny cabin, cooks his own m&als of "flap-jacks, pork, bacon, and oatmeal," and sleeps in a bunk 3i redwood filled with straw, v/ith a.- covering of blankets. And yet this "pauper with millions," whose entire personal expenses cannot exceed £1 a week, is the most lavishly generous man in Arizona, and will give a cheque for £1000 to a deserving charity while grumbling at the necessity ■af spending a shilling on himself.