WEALTHY CRANKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 88

WEALTHY CRANKS.

' CURIOUS STORIES OF RICH MEN’S j ECCENTRICITIES. ' That possession of much of the world’s goods is frequently attended by the manifestation of the weirdest eccentricities on the part of owners is amusingly illustrated by the following curious instances: j In Vienna there lives a wealthy man, a Pole of noble origin, occupying sumptuous apartments in the heart of the capital’s fashionable quarter, who, when he : wishes to summon his servants, does soby means of bugle calls. A favourite ■ pastime of this eccentric is to drive an ■omnibus, attired like any ordinary driver of such a vehicle, wherever he may find artistocratic equipages to bo most numerous. i The Viennese assert that, while he spends a fortune each year upon clothes, yet he is never clad in any save the discarded garments of his valet. On one occasion the Pole astonished the guests at a ball by appearing in a costume of 1 pure white, with the notable exception of shirt and tie, which were entirely black. To complete the oddities, it may be added that when dining—which he invariably accomplishes alone at a table d’hote—he maintains his. reputation for crankiness by reversing the usual order of things and beginning his meal with a demitaSjSe, working backward to the soup. It was not long ago that there died in an American town a wealthy eccentric, who, though he had never for years been outside the grounds surrounding hi« residence, was accustomed to boast each day that he had walked to certain towns, at a great distance from his house. What he actually did was this: Whenever he decided that it would bo an excellent idea to visit a distant town he ascertained its exact distance from his home and covered .it on foot on a. care-fully-measured walking track maintained on hie premises for this purpose. Should he desire to call on his friends near by he would do so by proxy, at the same time conducting a conversation with them by means of the servants whom he sent in relays with certain questions, with strict injunctions to bring the answers as speedily re possible. A well-known Parisian, according to his own statement, has for many years defied the weather by drinking a solution of camphor, which, in his opinion, is an excellent substitute for clothing. It is said that winter and summer alike finds i him sleeping without a particle of doth- I v ith the windows of his apartments ! thrown wide open. It has been his cus- | tom also to stroll in the garden, even | on hittel-iy cold- lays, in , a garment much resembling that ordinarily worn by normal psonle only at night. Among the wealthy eccentricities of this country was a, man who lived in a certain town in the south of England. His iacl excited much attention and amusement among his neighbours. Punctually at noon each day he would appear in his , ont with a crimson turban on his nead his feet covered with richly-em-brudered and jewelled sandals, and with a coolie cloth round his waist Then, absolutely indifferent to the hoots of the people in the street, he would first prav aloud to the sun, “the father of light and good, ’ an< 3 immediately afterward prostrate himself before a quaint miniature temp le _ wherein was enshrined a grotesoue idol with diamond eves. What made hie eccentricity remarkable was the fact that he was not of Eastern origin, nor had he rules S&5? to “ y ielisiora wih