MILLIONAIRES UNAWARES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 166, 7 August 1909, Page 3

MILLIONAIRES UNAWARES.

MODERX T CROESUSES WHO lIAV LIVED LIKE MODERN CUUSOES.

"Be dressed simply, but rather shah bily, never took part in any functions and never, apparently, was proiuiucn in financial or commercial enterprises.' So runs an extract from the oliiluan of the late Mr. Charles Morrison, wh'i died a few weeks ago at his homo, liasi! don Park, near Heading. So timissmii mg was his manner, so shabby his drcse in fact, that, it is said, a certain inn keeper indignantly refused to let hin have a horse and- trap to get home with late one night, when, owing to a mis hap, he had returned by a late train. And yet this quiet, unostentatiou. gentleman left a fortune of over tci millions; in other words, his income must have been something like a thou sand pounds per day!

THE LUCKY CHANCELLOR. He would be a rash man indeed who professed to 'be able to give a list o living millionaires. Your millionaire hnot by any means always the publn personage which he is generally sup posed to be. There have been many men whose enormous wealth has nevei been suspected until after their death. Not longer ago than November lasi the Chancellor of the Exchequer received a pleasant surprise in the shape of r. ram of £280,000 death duties levie. upon the estate of the late Mr. John Stefanovitch Schilizzi, who died in tin previous October. Mr. Schilizzi was ; Greek, who came to London at the a«< of eighteen, and joined his uncle's business in Austin Friars. In the coursi of years he became head of the firm ol Schilizzi Brothers, who were importer? of general goods. But he lived so quiet Iy that no one credited him with more than a moderate fortune, and the who]. City got a shock when his will \va. proved and he was found to have left upwards of two million pounds. There are many wealthy Greeks ii London, and as a rule they are anything but ostentatious. Although tilt iate Mr. P. A. Vagliana was known tc be a rich man, everyone wa6 amazed when his will was proved at £2,888,005!

GOLDEX GREEKS. Speaking of unknown Greek million, aires, there lived some years ago in Cul cutta a Greek with the strange name o. Mandratzoglori, whom no one suspectec' of having more than a few thousani' rupees. The man was a miser, and livci in the very quietest way, denying him self even such a necessary luxury as t punkah coolie, and eating the same food as the ordinary native. He died suddenly, leaving no will. When investigation "was made into lm affairs, he was found to own property of the estimated value of t:SOO,000. The question was, who were the heirs' AI. that was known of him was that In came from Philippopolis, in Eoumelia. The Government of India took up th. matter and sent an agent to Europe, and after much difficulty the heirswho were all poor peasants and farmers —were discovered and apprised of their fortune.

Air. Louis Spitzol, a member of th< London firm of the same name, wa.better known in China than in England. He was a great friend of the famous Chinaman, Li Hung Chang, and assistei' him in the making of the treaty witl Japan after the ■Chino-Japanesc War He was also responsible for introducim the first Alaxim guns into China'. Prob ably no one except a few business ao <iuaintancc9 credited Air. Spitzel wit! one quarter of the fortune which lie actually possessed. When he died n' Carlsbad in September, l!)0(i, a ehequ for ovci; i'l.iO.liOU was received as duf by the Treasury.

One of the biggest surprises whicl ever befell a British Chancellor was th huge windfall at the death of Air. Georg' .Smith, of Elgin, X.8., and of Chicago U.S.A., who was known in America a'Chicago" Smith. For nearly forty years Air. Smith had lived in a West End club at a total cosi *' about five pounds per week. lie ■ever left the place except for a shorl .walk, and was.always intensely indig nant when the annual spring or rather, autumn—cleaning turned him cut of his quarters for three or fon. days. He dressed slmbbilv. hardly eve spoke to anyone; and, although' then were rumors that ho was rich, yet n one erudite 1 him wi!h live thdusan, ; ct alone fifty thousand, a year. Then, in 1000, he died, and of his estate, that nortion invested in England paid duty ,'o the amount of £IIOO,OOO.

In oilier words, his British propcrf was worth five millions, nml at the sunn *ime In; owned estates in America of at least an equal value. All this vast fortune Mr. Smith had made himself durinjl the first half century of his lons life. It is a curious fact that, as a bov, In told a friend that he was going to America to make a fortune; after which he would return home, build a palace, and live at leisure.

£20,000,000 APIECE. One of the world's most startling for tunes was left by the, late Mr. Marshall Field, the founder and owner of the greatest shop in Chicago. Of course everyone knew that Mr. Field was ii millionaire; but when, in January, lDOti. his death was announced, there wagcueral amazement and incredulity when his wealth was stated to be thirty millions sterling.

A week or two later the newspapercorrected their former statement. His fortune was not thirty, but sixty millions, and Mr. Field was, therefore, ncx' to Mr. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world. The bulk of his wealth was left to three grandchildren. A hermit frequently obtains the local reputation of being enormously wealthv. but in nine cases out of ten these rumorare quite without foundation. The late Mr. Johnstone, of Lallirisk, in Fifeshirc lived as though lie had barely enough to purchase the absolute necessaries of life, yet stories of hi* wealth were current in Ihe neighborhood, lie died without making a will, and his heirs got the surprise of their lives 'when the value of his estate was proved at three thousand pounds over the million mark. THE WORLD'S WEALTHIEST WOMAN. "I thowt he looked like 'Old Flv."' remarked a laborer, when the late Lord Ijiimthorpe was pointed out to him. •"Old Fly" being a disreputable character who spent bis life in and out of tin workhouse.

Of course, people knew that Lord Clrimthorpc was a rieh man. for his estates covered seventy square miles of English ground. Hut to see liiui silting under a hedge in a rusty old suit, without collar or tie, unci discussing a lini-h of bread-and-cheesc, lie was as little like the popular idea of n millionaire as a man well could he. Yet Lord Grimthorpe's income largely exceeded tIOII,1)00 a year. In oilier words, he was u millionaire three times over.

Another enormously wealtliv person who is unknown lo the world as a mil iionaire i« Madame. Creel, wife of tin Mexican Ambassador to Washington She owns mines worth over two millions, Jiesides 280,000 acres of farm land: and (100.000 cattle, and other pronerlv She buys three dresses a year, and pays three pounds apiece for t'lieni. The will of Madame Creel, who is now a grand mother, will very ponsibly show her ti: he the riehest woman i» the world.Home paper.