HAD £500 IN HANDBAG

Chronicle (Levin), 9 July 1949, Page 5

HAD £500 IN HANDBAG

' Press Association)

Elderly Spiijster Boarded Free FarFour Yprs k *

(Per

V.- WELLINGTON, Jffiy 8. Am * elderly eccentric ' . spinster) Miss Janet Jack, wh.QW Jftd-II-f \fifio kniw "fier tjipughfi to' be appar ently earried .£590 Qf $$ bf ;"the aVailable mpjiey kiidwn "tovhave possbssed fjjvJier bag. This, it was reported boh today, -wap Tfie when slie coilapsed in 'tfiq hfiine qf • a, friend a few 'wppks fte?.. 4^4- !" in hospital ohl Marpfi, % &P-- agefi q|" ' 78." It uhderstppd thgt ing £500 was lpdg,ed yrjtfi $ Auckland, Tljp sto^'y ' pf .tfie qpparent , paupqr 'p weaith. |>ecapife''';gen6rail^* a sucoessful cfaiin >agpi|ist .i^efTeStatp was madp pn Thm'^day by Mr. an3 Mrs. S* ^zusteriiian wno ' had" boarded her free for four 'and a half years be; cause they were' convineed • she was penniless. . One who knew something of tfi^ secretive old lady now hplds tfig bejiqT that she visited friends and toQfi with them t0 avoid spending gny qi her own wealth. Some pf thqpi aj: least eould ill afford the hospitality buj made the sacrilice. because they regard.ed her -in her unchapging ontdatefi clothing* as hard up. He said Miss Jack Iqft the Szustermans last October and staved at an hotel for about three mon'tfis before she was t.aken to hospital. ^fie was nrged there by some qf fier friends to make a will buf •gre\y" alniqst wr.atfiffil aly the suggestiqn, ref jising tp : acpepi that she might die. As far as is known she has left no will, and her est*ate"ip being dealt with on that assumbHqm That she had customq,rily earried notes in her bag is indieated by th(e statement of ojie aeqnamtance, Miss Ethel Hughes, who said she had often seen rolls of notes when Miss Jack had opened her bag. She did not see the denomination of the. notes, but on.e that once unrolled was Australian. ."'She was rather neglectful ovpr fier elothes," said Miss Hughes, "but old maids are sometimes like that wfien they get over the 70 line." Miss Jack was an adherent of the • Pehtecostal Evangelical Mission. She attended its services rather erratieally and very oecasionally pressed half a crown or two into tlie hands of the pastor wjth tlie whispered words: 1 ' This is for the missions. ' ■ She visited sick folk about tlie city, but on her, own account and not on behalf of the eliureh.- Several wpmen, including her landladv, gave her garnients of onter and underclothing. Some she refus.ed, but some she accepted. Mrs. Szusterman said she had even givpn hei' v money for tram fares. \ fv All Miss Jack's aequaintanbes' rb-'v garded lier as an honest, religious and kindly woman who was also extremejy well spoken. It appears she was a school teacher, also a teaeher of elqcution. She was widely travelled and is known to have spent some time teaching in Canada. Her family was appar,ently Seottish and a brother's large estate in which she had an ihteres't'fis in Scotland. Relatives live" in Melijourne and Brisbane, and the Pente-V •ostal Mission has had a letter from a •lieee .in Australia thanking them for arranging for the burial of lier aunt.