A USURER'S MILLIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8329, 30 September 1898, Page 4

A USURER'S MILLIONS

2 . » i INHERITED BY HIS DAUGHTER, 1 A MAID-OF-ALL-WORK. 1 Vik>wa. August 21. v The death has occurred of Ferdinand s Linkc, tho king of Austiian usurers, and L . a conspicuous liqure in Viennese life. I-iinke stinted a money-lending business ' s in ISCO with a capital of £10, and by the exorbitant rates of interest which ho j charged, us well a.s the ciilloiiMicss with which he cstiMuled his pound of flesh from j. his victims, he soon amused a large foi•j tune, luirl died worth over X-,000,000. | f Linkc's method:, frequently exceeded the K liniilb of tin: law, and lie was ncnteiicori to i , .-seveiai terms of imprisonment, iiwoiinliug I in all to upwards of ten years. His for usury, however, remained un- ] cooled, and on his release from prison lie t always returned to his work with renewed zca). In his private life the usurer was . eccentric in the ex I iciiiL'. HckeptoneoWl man over eighty years of age to manage the household affair!-, and lived as if he uerc in need of the necessities »l life. He c , closely barreil his doors ami windows, and v had v body-guard of tierce bloodhounds. c After his death, several hundred thoust , .iiid pounds, in bank notes and gold, wore (, found hidden under the floor, in carefully , concealed holes in the will, and other curious pliiccs. His daughter is the s-ole heiress to the „ usurer's immense fortune. She lias lived r iv perfect ignorance of her father's wealth, c find has earned lior living as ;i domestic s servant. When she inherited her fortune B of 12,000,000 sterling she was maid-of-all--1 work in a struggling tradesman's house, with an annual wage of £5. Linke lias imposed on his heiress one ' very characteristic condition, viz., that do portion of the inheritance shall at any time I, be devoted to charitable purposes, j ■ (Some \reeks ;i£o the body of a dead !■ infant Mas found iv the three, near M.itub take, Thames district. A tingle woman, i Khzabeth Cook, gave birth to it. As the i> result of an imjuest the mother has been arrested on a charge of munier.