MINER'S DEATH

Shannon News, 11 June 1926, Page 4

MINER'S DEATH

PERISHES ON HIS MONES BAGS

Greed of gold lias been an outstanding feature in some men's lives ever since that precious yellow metal was given pride of place in the world. ' Records of misers and their miserable existence that they might hoard up

and gloat over their gold have been celebrated in song and story right down the ages. Modern days have seen a slight improvement in the miserly tendency, but now and then a grim story comes to light of a man or woman who to all appearance was poor and needy, yet whose death has revealed quite a heap of treasure. From the village of Moillesulacj in Switzerland, comes such a story. A man named Marmiar, living in that village, was noted for his avarice, and

bis mean mode of living. In an •s English-speaking community h© would have been dubbed "poor as a

church mouse." He lived in a miserable shed, and all his actions were those of a man in great need, It was rumoured from time to time that he had money, and that his begging and miserable mode of living were due entirely to his greed. It was known that he owned a piece of land, on e of the best sites'in the village, but beyond that' little /was. known of his circumstances, either financial or otherwise. Suddenly taken ill, he was advised

to call, in a doctor, but pleaded pite- ( ou3ly that he could not afford v the' fee, which would have been abo%''6&-in British money. H e persisted in A|s refusal, and pretended that-" he ! wa's. getting better;, * - Vi One morning be did not appear; as the day drew on, and he still did not

appear, the authorities were informed, and an entrance was effected, There, stretched across his moneybags, which he loved so well.iwas the dead body of Marmjar. It was not difficult to reconstruct the story of his death* \ Underneath ,the floor of his shed was a cellar, and in this his money—gold, silver, copper and paper--had been secreted. Feel-' ing his end approaching, the miser had brought up bag after bag of money, and then, thoroughly exhaus-; ted, had died with his body on his beloved gold, which he had been fingering and counting at the time of his death, even as Gaspard, the famous miser in the comic opera "Lea Cloches de Corneville." When the whole place was search- * ed aiid th© treasure collected it was found to amount to over half a million francs, or over £20,000.