HERMIT’S QUEER HOARD.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 16 December 1925, Page 9

HERMIT’S QUEER HOARD.

MUCH GOLD AND CIGARS, A fortune of more than £2OOO in gold, notes, and securities was lately discovered in the house of David Jones, a well-to-do recluse in London, who feigned the direst poverty and died practically of starvation. The old man, who was 75 years of ago, was a milkman and teaSliop proprietor in Farringdon Street, E.C. At the inquest it was shown that he had a stcck of expensive cigars and a current banking account with more than £IOOO to his credit. The post- mortem examination revealed that Jones was emaciated and • badly nourished. A verict of “Death from natural causes” was returned.

David Jones, imperious in his bearing, upright as a sapling, and industrious until the day of his sudden death, was a mystery figure in Farringdon Street. Without warning, he renounced the world. This strange old man of the sealed lips, who never spoke of his early life in London or 1 regarron, Cardiganshire, was known to the entire neighbouihoodj but none suspected that behind the cloak of poverty was hidden wealth. Jones had one passion in his life; he was devoted to music. In the privacy of his room he poured out his soul at his piano. Once lie was accounted a pianist genuis. Neighbours unlearned in the ways of classical music, but responsive to its appeal, would heal' the stupendous chords of Beethoven, or the liquod notes of a Chopin waltz. Towards the end, however, even tho piano remained untouched. It is said that a great disappointment over some matter musical, made the old man silence his piano, never to wake it into life again. The old man was a bachelor and owned to no relatives with the exception of a nephew, who has not been traced, until the day of bis death. The only person present when tho end came was a woman, the wife of a fel-low-Welshman, his friend. His sister,' believed to bo dead, posed for the Statue of Science, which stands on the Holborn Viaduct. The room in which Jones died, after an obstinate refusal to see a doctor bad been finally overcome, bore every evidence of extreme poverty and l neglect. The bedclothes of bis rickety bed were tattered and worn, and in the Inst stages of decay. Tho furniture was dilapidated and falling to pieces. The forsaken piano was covered with the grime of years. The closing scene was tragic. The woman visitor, who bad taken pity on his great loneliness and helplessness, asked if lie would like some tea and toast. He consented. It was prepared' and taken to him. He smiled his gratitude and ate and drank ravenously. Soon afterwards bo died.