HOARDED WEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17216, 6 December 1923, Page 1

HOARDED WEALTH.

RICHMOND MAN’S DEATH SURPRISING DISCOVERY BY POLICE. Though for years he had been looked on as hard-up and friendless, Christopher Clinton, an elderly single man, who died in Richmond on Tuesday, was not so poor as he made out. Instead of dying a pauper, he died worth £SBOO. Ot that amount £l5O was in sovereigns. The rest, was on fixed deposit in various banks. SURPRISE FOR POLICE. "When police and other Government officials entered the room in Stanmore Road, where Clinton had been living. they did not expect to find anything unusual. A search, however, revealed the sovereigns, tied up in brown paper and stowed away in a. brief bag Then the bank pass book came to light. They showed that Clinton could have ended his days in comfort had he wished. He had had property lor a long time. The sovereigns and the pass hooks, together with other documents were taken possession of by the authorities.

Clinton did not leave a will, and, after certaiu expenses have, been deducted. the small fortune will he divided between next-of-kin, some of whom are in Ireland and Canada. Although Clinton’s age was given at sixty-two years, his appearance was that of a much older man. A MYSTERY MAN. To people in Stanmore Road who know Clinton the news of his wealth came as a complete, surprise. “Wo thought he was very poor. He always said so,” remarked one man. 4 Sometimes lie complained of being hungry. 1 never heard that he had so much as a penny to himself, nor that he had any friends who might help him. He dressed in old ragged clothes. He would accept gifts of food or wearing apparel from anyone, ami generally he was an object of pity. As far as I could see he was a straightforward njan, and what his object was in hoarding I cannot tell. Perhaps he had a kink that Covered with an old quilt and sacking. Clinton died on his lowly bunk in the shack attached to stables at the rear of the premises of T. It. Harris, a grocer at the corner of North Avon and Stanmore Roads. In the little room, which was the kitchen of a house which once stood on the premises, there

was the bunk, several boxes and a Primus stove. For over twelve years Clinton had reside! there. Harris had told the dead man years ago that he could occupy the shack as long as he liked. To that hermit home, not even the most intimate of Clinton’s friends went often. lie cooked his frugal meals on the kerosene Primus, and at a tap above a horse drinking trough outside the door he washed himself There were no conveniences for ingNEVER USED TRAMS. A life of a miser had been lived by Clinton. He never travelled in the tramcars; not even when he went to the trots, where he would have his “ little flutter.” No one was ever offered assistance financially by Clinton as far as his friends knew. One suit he had worn for five years. “ He was as tight as a closed and bolted non door.” one Richmond man said Clinton had never taken great care of himself, a neighbour told a reporter. He had been under-nourished for the past eighteen months, when his health had been failing. Clinton had subsisted largely on tinned meats, but often he would frv some fresh meat on the stove in his mom. Only from his greatest friends would Clinton partake of hospitality. Me was exceedingly independent, and t hose w ho had lin'd ”.avuig' a «me'arm had often* 3 asked Clinton to have a meal. When the offer had been made, C linton would become indignant. Clinton's eccentricities were many. He groped deeply into other people’s business and piivate affairs, asking tions, and when he noticed ”he was would be raised. No one. ar. far as can be ascertained, could extract one particle of Clinton’s hiMory. or infer tlm’mnir ’on’bi™ i-raoiml affair"* Clinton was a- - I-- as a book :»! PPPL-E T<> H! r HD. YDS Iho finding of the hoard has been

an inconceivably great surprise for Clinton’s friends, save one. Clinton often visited the house of the friend, "bo had, last year, told Clinton that he could not save because of the up keep of two horses. To this Clinton replied : “ Why, I have saved £146 after living, this year.” As Clinton visited Fernside or Oxford regularly every six months, the man concluded that Clinton had landed interests or was drawing interest on loans. ODD JOBS IN GARDENS. Clinton was well known in Richmond. He had been there for many years. Till eighteen months ago he had been doing odd jobs in gardens, but in the interim he had done little work. He had spent his time strolling about, and chatting with the tradesmen. Some years ago, a resident had offered to provide Clinton with a good home, but he had declined to leave his shack. Since then repeated offers of a home had been made to Clinton. Every time he firmly refused. CLINTON’S RELATIVES. Over twenty years ago Clinton lost an arm by having it caught in a combine on Longbeach Estate, where his brother Joseph lost his life by being thrown from a horse seven years ago. •Since the accident Cl intern had worked , as watchniaii at the Belfast and Pareora freezing works before coming to Richmond. As was his manner, Clinton told nothing of his family, but once he mentioned casually that he then had a sister in New Zealand and several close relatives in America. A first cousin lives at a boardinghouse on the Main North Road, Belfast.

No complaints had been made by Clinton as to his having any ailment, hut he had suffered, for the last Year, from a had cold. He was a teetotaller. PREVIOUS CASE RECALLED. While talking over Clinton’s case to-day, a Christchurch resident recalled that fifteen years ago he. was mixed up with a similar case in .Auckland. An elderly man died there who for a long time had followed in esseutric fashion the occupation of a stockbroker. His office Was the street, and his customers varied from the nondescript to the well-to-do. He lived in a one-roomed whare, and his clothing was patchwork and poor. For his breakfast he frequently raided all the dust-bins in the neighbourhood, picking out crusts and other food refuse. When he wanted neck gear he would gather a celluloid collar from someone’s dump. V hen the top became frayed i he would hack off a strip, and keep on doing that until the collar was no more than a strip. Often he was shirtless and soc-kless. Yet that man was worth not £IOOO. or £SBOO, but £25,000. Searching liis whare, the police were surprised to see scores of cocoa tins and tea tins hanging by string from the ceiling. Thev took them down. Each tin was full of coins, gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins. Other coins had been secreted in bundles of sticks pushed into odd corners. Tn addition, there was valuable scrip, which showed that the old man had shares in mnnv lucrative concerns. When the final assessment was made his wealth was put down at £25.000. Tt went to next-of-kin in Ireland.