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Show -HFJTYGfiEEme IBB IT fiEfl HEW fOi HOI World's Wealthiest Woman Succumbs to Three Strokes of Paralysis Suffered Within Short Time. ENORMOUS ESTATE TO BE DISTRIBUTED Fortune of Multimillion-airess Multimillion-airess Variously Estimated at From Twenty to One Hundred Millions. M:V YORK, July 3. Mrs. Hetty Ore en, known as the world's wealthiest 'voman, who way 80 years old, died here today. fShe had suffered three strokes, of paralysis in the last two months and for several weeks had been practically practi-cally helpless. Her death occurred at 8:05 o'clock at the home of her son, Colonel Edward Ed-ward IT. E. Green, adjoining the plain Virick four-storv house on the corner of Central Park West, where Mrs. Green had lived lately in seclusion, except for her 'son and several Japanese servants and trained nurses. For several weeks Mrs. Green had been unablo to walk and had spent practically prac-tically all of her time in a '-wheel chair. The nurses occasionally lifted her into her automobile, where, propped up by pillows, and protected by furs, the mistress mis-tress of finance enjoyed a few afternoons after-noons in the park. Most of the time, however, she sat in the wheel chair at one of the front windows of her home and gazed over the park. Her son, Colonel Green, and her daughter, Mrs. Matthews Astor Wilks, 'who were the only children, had been with her much of the time, and it was recently reported that Mrs. Green had turned over all of her financial affairs to her son. Estimates Vary. Wall street's estimates of Mrs. Green's fortune range from $20,000,000 to $100,000,000. Officials of the Chemi-V Chemi-V cal National bank, in which Mrs. Green ouco made her downtown headquarters, declined to hazard a guess concerning the size of tier estate. Until a few years ago Mrs. Green was a' familiar figure in the financial district, but latterly her appearance there had been very infrequent. It is believed that a considerable part of her money was invested in first mortgage mort-gage and hib class railway bonds. Both Mrs. Wilks and Colonel Green were at their mother's bedside when she died. j Yesterday Mrs. Green seemed in better bet-ter spirits than for some time. Last night, however, a relapse, occurred. During Dur-ing the night Mrs. Green became uneon-Hrh&us uneon-Hrh&us at intervals and tho end came during one of these periods. Mrs. Green 's body will bo taken to Bellows Falls, Vt., tomorrow, where she lived for many years. Funeral services will be held there Wednesday. Will Release Fortune. The deatli of Mrs. Green will release for distribution among a large number of people scattered all over the United States and abroad a trust fund said to amount to about $ l.oOO.OuO. This is tbe residuary estate of her aunt, Sylvia Ann Howland, bequeathed for Hetty Green's life use, and after her death to bo divided di-vided among the lineal descendants of Mrs. Green's great-grandfather, Gideon lowland of Dartmouth, Mass. Gideon 1 lowland was born in 173 i and died in V2:t. and inasmuch as descendants of eleven of his children are living, some in the sixth generation, they probably constitute a small army. Some of the heirs intermarried and their children will inherit doubly, thus adding to the dilliculties to be encountered encoun-tered by the trustees in determining the complete list of those entitled to the monov. Life of Mrs. Green. In the decade before the civil war a pretly young: Rlrl I'mm New Bedford, Mays., used in come down to Xew York City some win tors fur the . social sea-soti". sea-soti". She was pay. vivacious and keen in conversation. She met mnny of the notable men of the time. She danced with Martin Van Kviren. Her admirers were ninny and her suitors even givaler In number. for was site not l he daughter nf l ho great oil kins:, Edward M-ur Robinson. Rob-inson. Known to he worth Slft.Oflu.Oflfi? But 1 le; i Robinson, while he tasted the delights nf thp 10. was not dazzled by I hem. She was an ex I re me ev run pie of New England thrift. Ei-rmumy for her was a pasMon, a vme, a hait from whose 'hit''h"s she could not escape. As the years went by her elnsenesp increased. Slie bf-came i he personification of money getting. She never relented. Sue lived its poorlv on ?.'0,iiH,Oml as she had on Jin. (jnti, Oiio. and when. In 1!U1. she finally turned a fortune vaiiondy estimated at $7.". 'Of. 000 to SlOO.Oun.rifHi over to her capable son. Colonel Edward 11. R. Green, she hud an unbroken record of steady self -enrichment probably never equaled by any person, man or woman, in the world's history. Father a Whaler. TIetty's father owned fifty whaling vessels ves-sels and controlled the sperm oil trade of his time as completely as John 1. Rockefeller ever did the petroleum trade in his. His ancestor. John Howland. had come over on the Mayflower, according to some accounts (others say il was Ids brother and that -John came later), and founded New Bedford. The family had always been wealthy and close. Hetty was sent to a Quaker school on Cape Cod and later to a Boston seminary. Her father and her aunt. Sylvia Ann How-la How-la nd, over whose form ne of severs 1 millions mil-lions the niece was later to fight a famous fa-mous lawsuit, educated her in the fine points' of Yankee finance. It was her 'father's idea that she se Xew York society. She smveeded in New York very well, from the point of view of Xew York, for site was not only invited everywhere, but wns liked. New York did not please her so well as she did the metropolis. When attending a party on a winter night Hetty would not spend money for a cab. Of stock which braved the rigors cf Bering sea on a tiny whaler, she simply pulled on a pair of wool stockings stock-ings over her shoes and plowed throng the snow. When she got back to New Bedford after her first trip to X'ew York she showed her father almost all of the $1000 pin money with which she had started out. The old oil king was startled, but not a little pleased. Married in 1867. Hetty did not marry until lSfiT. There is some dispute about the date of her birth and she herself was frankly uncertain uncer-tain concerning it when questioned once in court. She said she was born In November, No-vember, but could not name the day. So she was about 22 years old when she became the wife of Edward H. Oreen, who had made a fortune in silks while United States consul genera! In Manila. Hetty brought him more than he had. Her father, when he died in 1865. left her SI, 000,000 outright and the income from ?S, 000,000, the principal to he held in trust for her children. She had fought in court for her aunt's millions, been accused ac-cused of forging a will, and finally forced a compromise which probably meant a million or two to her. A prenuptial agreement was signed between Miss Robinson and Mr. Green which said that the wife's monev should never be used to pay any of their joint expenses or to settle his debts. Before his death, in 1002, Mr. Green had become a poor man by Wail street speculation, while his wife, running separate sep-arate accounts with brokers under her own name, had become fabulously wealthy. She lodged or many years in a cheap boarding house in Hoboken. To this she traveled from Manhattan in a ferryboat, walking- at both ends of the water trip. Her home was literally shabby and jf she herself was not so it was because she bought clothes which would stand an immense im-mense amount of wear. Her little black bonnet and somber suit were known to all Wall street i habitues. She was often to be noted in the subway by those who knew her face. |