3562 Electric Chair In The Way
A young man by the name of Harry, 29, inherited one million dollars. He did not care about his fortune, however. The electric chair was in his way. He said, “I don’t care whether it’s one dollar or a million of them. I have something else on my mind.” The vision of the electric chair wouldn’t go away. Harry was sentenced to die for the murder of a six-year-old boy. In Statesville Prison he learned of his inheriting the fortune. Commenting on his crime, he said, “They tell me I did it. But in my mind, I don’t know. I’d do anything for the family of the boy, but I suppose money wouldn’t help them. No, not now!”
3563 He Died Before Million Dollars
Bristol, Connecticut (UPI)—Charles Kropp, a man who loved life in his modest way and remarried at the age of 81 with bright hopes for the future, would have become a millionaire but he died before getting the money.
A man of steady habits, Kropp liked to dream of the chance to make it big. He was a regular purchaser of Connecticut lottery tickets as well, buying a couple of dollars’ worth each week.
Nine days before he was married to Rose Paquette, 68, a widow, he picked up a $25 season ticket to the Massachusetts lottery. It assured him of a once-a-week chance at the million dollar top prize in the state’s big money game. Wednesday night his number came up for the first prize. But he had died 3 minutes before.
The cash will go to his estate and the courts will determine who among his survivors will receive the annual $50,000 checks for the next 20 years.
3564 Dying Of Gold In Parade
At a celebration in San Francisco, a young woman was coated with gold to represent the Golden State of California in a beautiful float. She died as a result. The pores of her skin were so filled that there was no giving out from the body.
A child once also died due to being covered with gold to impersonate a cherub at an entertainment function.
3565 Getting To “The Money Pit”
Off the coast of Nova Scotia lies tiny Oak Island, site of a feverish hunt for buried treasure that began in 1795. The center of the search is a pit, twelve feet in diameter, hopefully called “The Money Pit.”
Digging down, treasure hunters have found wooden platforms every ten feet. But no one has yet been able to reach the bottom of “The Money Pit.” The pirates who dug the pit built flood tunnels that have repeatedly sabotaged efforts to reach the bottom which is below the tide level.
Treasure hunters have spent one-and-one-half million dollars in a futile effort to find the treasure they believe is at the bot tom. The only treasure found to date has been three links of gold chain.
There are interesting theories about what lies at the bottom: Captain Kidd’s gold, the treasure of Blackbeard, Inca valuables stolen by Spaniards, or perhaps the French crown jewels which were spirited away during the French Revolution.
—Selected
3566 Government’s One-Third
The newspaper told of Khadiga Ali, 53, who was eating her supper of goat’s milk and dates at El Alamein, when she made a great discovery. Her hand touched a metal box buried in the sand. Inside the box she found 30,000 gold sovereigns worth more than $1 million. The poor Bedouin woman turned it over to the government officials, who rewarded her with one-third of the treasure.
3567 Florida To Get Quarter Of Find
Ten Spanish ships carrying 14 million dollars in gold and silver and other valuables, sank in a hurricane off the Florida coast in 1715, not far from “present-day Cape Kennedy.” That vast treasure has been under fifteen to thirty feet of water for the past 250 years.
In 1964 a professional salvage team joined up with Kip Wagner and his corporation, and made discoveries valued at more than a million dollars—with unknown amounts yet to be retrieved from five unexcavated vessels. The state of Florida gets one-fourth of the treasures, the remainder goes to the finders.
3568 Pesos Not Accepted
Informed that the Philippine peso was not valid currency to purchase goods at the Manila International Airport’s exclusive duty-free store, an American tourist tore his remaining 800 Philippine pesos in two and crumpled the sheets. Seconds before departure, he shouted: “What’s your money for if I can’t spend it in your own country?” Embarrassed, airport officials and other passengers just stared.
3569 Out Of Touch For Gold
Some years ago there arrived in the city of Los Angeles an English mining prospector named Courtenay, aged seventy years. For 50 years he had been hunting for gold in the deserts of Arizona. He asked about Queen Victoria and was astonished to hear that she was dead. As a motorcar passed along, he jumped into a doorway in alarm. When told about radio, he flatly refused to believe it and said people were trying to fool him! He had been out of touch with civilization while hunting for gold.
3570 Forgetting About Winter
Among the thrilling stories told in connection with the search of gold in the Klondyke is one which impressed me more than all the others. A prospecting party, penetrating far into the country, came upon a miner’s hut. All without was as quiet as the grave.
Entering the cabin, they found the skeletons of two men, and a large quantity of gold. On a rough table was a letter telling of their successful search for the precious ore. In their eagerness to get it, they forgot the early coming of winter in that northern land. Each day, the gold was found in more abundance.
One morning, they awoke to find a great snowstorm upon them. For days the tempest raged, cutting off all hope of escape. Their little store of food was soon exhausted, and they laid down and died amidst abounding gold! Their folly was not in finding and gathering the gold but in neglecting to provide against inevitable winter.
—Selected
3571 His Dad And Mom Had Gone
A miner returned from the Klondyke. He had made a fortune. He counted himself a millionaire. He had been away from home for fifteen years and during that time had not heard from his aged parents. He was looking forward to Christmas Day in the old home in Philadelphia. But the newspapers reported that he was the loneliest man in Philadelphia on that Christmas day, eating his dinner alone in one of the big hotels of that city.
Where was the father he had hoped to make happy in his old age? He was gone. He could not wait until the boy had achieved the career he had blocked out for himself. Where was the mother? She had waited, until a few months before the son’s return when she, too, had to go. When the returning man lifted the knocker at the door of the old house, it resounded with the harsh echo of empty rooms. The neighbors told him the story. The man had gained a fortune, but it was too late to do the things he had dreamed of doing.
—Aquilla Webb
3572 What Money Can Buy
Money Will Buy:
A bed BUT NOT sleep.
Books BUT NOT brains.
Food BUT NOT appetite.
Finery BUT NOT beauty.
A house BUT NOT a home.
Medicine BUT NOT health.
Luxuries BUT NOT culture.
Amusement BUT NOT happiness.
A crucifix BUT NOT a Saviour.
A church-pew BUT NOT heaven.
3573 The Titanic
It was reported that eleven millionnaires went down on the Titanic. Major A. H. Peuchen left $300,000.00 in money, jewelry, and securities in a box in his cabin. “The money seemed a mockery at that time,” he later said. “I picked up three oranges instead.”
3574 Losing Both
Some years ago the ship Shanunga, on her way from Liverpool to New York, came in collision with a Swedish barque named Iduna, from Hamburg, with two hundred and six persons on board. The weather was very foggy, and the Iduna sank in about half an hour after the collision. Immediately the Shanunga’s boats were put out, and, with one boat from the barque, picked up thirty-four persons only. One hundred and seventy-two persons, including the master, Captain Moberg, were lost.
Captain Patten, of the Shanunga, in narrating the catastrophe, said that no statement could exaggerate the horrors of the awful moment. All the survivors that were saved were picked up from the surface of the water. One cause why so few were saved was, almost all of them had seized their belts of gold and silver, and tied them round their waists. Thus those who attempted to save their gold lost both life and gold, being unable to remain afloat till the boats could reach them.
—Preacher’s Lantern
3575 After The Rolling Penny
An article in The Christian Observer refers to an interesting painting that portrays man’s sinister lust for gold and its consequences. Harry Montgomery says of that unforgettable portrait: “It depicts a narrow highway along which a gold coin is rolling. The road is crowded with men and women who rush madly after the treasure. Their eyes are aflame with greed and their faces drawn with intense desire.
“In their midst rides a man on a horse.
Clinging fearfully to him is his devoted wife. In his eagerness to reach the coveted gold, he is roughly pushing her aside, for she is a hindrance to him in his race for wealth. He tramples on all who block his way, leaving them crushed and bleeding.”
—Henry G. Bosch
3576 Lost Amidst The Gold
A museum in Deadwood, S.D., displays this inscription left by a beleaguered prospector: “I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I’ve got all the gold I can carry.”
—Washington Post
3577 Worthless Confederate Currency
After Jefferson Davis fled from Richmond, three wagons loaded with Confederate paper money, were captured on the edge of the mountains. With amazement, the handful of Union soldiers gazed at bills—bills piled up like bales of cotton. Being cold and cheerless, they pitched quoits that night for stakes. They played for one hundred thousand dollars a game—Confederate money. The next morning, one soldier bought a gray mule for three hundred thousand dollars and paid another hundred thousand to put one shoe on it. Meanwhile, the soldiers were cold and hungry and houseless. Lying money!
—Robert G. Lee
3578 Girl With “Gold” Hair
“Gold Hair” by Robert Browning, is a story of a French girl with beautiful golden hair, whose aristocratic family and friends considered her too pure and good for this earth. As the girl lay dying, she moaned, “Leave my hair alone—all the rest is gone or to go.”
So her abundant hair, which was braided about her head like a cap, was not disturbed, and she was buried near the altar of the church. Years passed by. The legend grew of the lovely girl who was meant for heaven not earth.
It finally happened about that time the pavement of the church needed repairing, and the workmen began to dig. Some boys poked around looking for possible souvenirs. They found a gold piece! Further digging disclosed the disintegrated coffin, and the girl’s skull, wedged amid a mound of money. She had thought she could take it with her in her hair!
—Selected
3579 Story Of “Baby Doe”
Years ago a social event of state-wide interest took place in Colorado—the wedding of Charles Tabor, a pioneer millionaire miner, to “Baby Doe.” Tabor had divorced his wife that he might marry the young, beautiful and popular socialite. It was a gala occasion.
One source of Tabor’s wealth was the Matchless Mine. For a while, things were rosy and pleasant for the newlyweds. Then reverses came. Tabor lost his vast fortune and succumbed to mortal illness. Before his death he said to his bride, “Cling to the Matchless Mine.” He felt that the mine would stage a comeback.
She took his advice, but the mine didn’t stage the anticipated comeback. She spent the last thirty-six years of her life in poverty, waiting for the mine to bring her wealth and restore her to her former position. She waited in vain. She died in poverty and without friends. Her confidence was misplaced.
—Ministers’ Research Service
3580 Cecil Rhodes’ Remorse
Cecil Rhodes was considered by many to be the instigator of the war between the English and the South African Boers. His main purpose was to obtain the rich natural resources of that area. When he was about to die, however, he cried out in remorse, “I’ve found much in Africa—diamonds, gold, and land are mine, but now I must leave them all behind. Not a thing I’ve gained can be taken with me. Eternal treasures that abide I have not sought; therefore, I actually have nothing at all!”
—Our Daily Bread
3581 Cardinal’s Last Walk
From the time he became a naturalized Frenchman until he died in 1661, Cardinal Mazarin, the successor of Richelieu, was supreme in the councils of the French court.
When about to die, he dragged himself through the rooms of his gorgeous palace. Pausing weakly at every step, he gazed first on one side and then on the other, letting his eyes wander over each of the magnificent objects which he had collected in a lifetime.
Someone hiding behind the tapestry overheard him saying—”All these must be left behind … and that, too, what trouble I have had to obtain all these things. I shall never see them again. Where am I going?”
3582 He Thought Every Man Had Price
When Hitler invaded Poland, one of the ten most important industrialists in France was Joseph Joan-ovici. He had come from his native Rumania a beggar. He ate scraps of food from garbage cans, then as he picked up a few pieces of metal here and there, he sold them, and finally bought a junkyard. He became one of the biggest dealer in scrap metal throughout Europe. In no small way he helped the Nazi cause by selling precious metal to Hitler. He became a multi-millionaire.
But the sin of bribery was his downfall. When the Germans occupied Paris, he bought off many of the German officers with big bribes. As a result he was implicated in the deaths of several valiant Frenchmen who resisted the Germans. This multi-millionaire seemed to think that money could buy anything. He believed that every man had his price. And he offered a very attractive price. But the law caught up with him and he was tried as a collaborator with the occupation forces.
—Selected
3583 King Croesus And Solon
Croesus, the famous king of Lydia had immense wealth and lived luxuriously. He filled his house with all manner of costly treasures. He thought he was the happiest of mortals. Solon, one of the seven wisest men of Greece, paid him a visit and was received into a magnificent chamber. Solon showed no surprise or admiration.
The king, angry at his indifference, asked Solon, “Why! do you not think me the most truly happy?” Solon replied, “No man can be esteemed truly happy but he whose happiness God continues to the end of his life.”
And Solon was right. When the king lay dying, he remembered his friend’s remark and murmured: “Solon! Solon! Solon! “
—A. Naismith
3584 Mahmoud’s Display
Mahmoud, the first Mohammedan conqueror of India, about to die, ordered all his costly apparel, his vessels of silver and gold, and his pearls and precious stones, to be displayed before him. In the royal residence at Ghuznee, which he called the Palace of Felicity, he touched the display and wept like a child.
“What toils,” said he, “what dangers, what fatigues, both of body and mind, have I endured for the sake of acquiring these treasures, and what cares in preserving them! And now I am about to die and leave them.”
3585 The Pope And The Angelic Doctor
The story is often told of how Thomas Aquinas the “Angelic Doctor” once visited Pope Innocent IV. The pope showed him the rich treasures of the Roman church and boasted that “the time has gone when the church was saying, “Silver and gold have I none.” ”
“Yes,” replied the saintly doctor, “and the time has gone when the church could say to the lame man at the temple gate, “Rise up and walk.””
3586 Temple Flute Was Ruined
“There was a flute in the Temple,” says the Talmud, “preserved from the days of Moses; it was smooth, thin, and formed of a reed. At the command of the King it was overlaid with gold, which ruined its sweetness of tone until the gold was taken away.
“There was also a cymbal and a mortar, which had become injured in course of time, and were mended by workmen of Alexandria summoned by the wise men; but their usefulness was so completely destroyed by this process that it was necessary to restore them to their former condition.”
—Walter Baxendale
3587 No Rest For Covetous
In The Fairy Mythology, Thomas Keighley tells about a peasant named John Wilde, who offended the fairies living underground by stealing a glass shoe from one of them. When they demanded it back, he agreed on condition that when he plowed his fields there would be a piece of money in every furrow.
As he started plowing, sure enough, there was the money in the furrows. He contrived all sorts of ways to get as much as possible. He made very short furrows, and worked from early morning until after midnight all year around, allowing no one to come near him when he plowed.
Although he became rich, he also became very tired. He had no time to be with his family and friends. At night he was busy counting his money, but he was never satisfied. Finally his health gave out, and one day he dropped dead. His wife found the money in two large chests, and the family enjoyed the proceeds of his labor, but John Wilde had no happiness while he lived because of his covetousness.
3588 Stocks Proved Useless To Him
One day a fairy came to a man and told him she would grant him any favor he might wish. The man thought a few minutes, and then said, “My wish is to see a newspaper published one year from today.”
Immediately the fairy handed him a newspaper printed one year advance. He turned quickly to the financial page, ran his fingers nervously up and down the list of stocks, and leaping from chair shouted, “Hurrah, I’m worth fifteen million dollars.”
Then carelessly turning over to the obituary page his glance fell on a report that made him gasp. “I died two days ago! “
3589 Ready To Retire
He always said he would retire,
When he had made a million clear,
And so he toiled into the dusk,
From day to day, from year to year!
At last he put his ledgers up,
And laid his stock reports aside,
And when he started out to live,
He found he had already died!
—Selected
3590 Alexander Burned Captured Treasures
Alexander the Great was marching on Persia, and it looked as if the great empire was about to crumble, as later it did, before his armies. There was a critical moment, however, which nearly resulted in disaster. The army had taken spoils of silver, gold, and other treasures in such quantities that the soldiers were literally weighed down with them. Alexander gathered all together in one great pile and set fire to them.
The soldiers were furious, but it was not long before they realized the wisdom of their leader. It was as if wings had been given to them—they walked lightly again. The campaign proceeded to victory.
—Prairie Overcomer
3591 Alnaschar’s Dream
The phrase “counting your chickens before they are hatched” is from the story of Alnaschar.
Alnaschar once dreamed he invested all his money in a basket of glassware. The profit he counted on making was to be used to make more money, and this was to go on until he grew rich enough to marry the vizier’s daughter. Being angry with his imaginary wife, he gave a kick, overturned his basket, and broke all his wares.
3592 Babel’s Last Word
According to tradition, the very last word uttered before the tongues were confused at Babel was the word “Sack” or bag. Money- consciousness apparently started early.
See also: Covetous ; Deaths.