OCR Text |
Show Tiie Most Unique Heiress By Marie De Hetty Green, tho world's most tint-quo tint-quo heiress Is undoubtedly tho most shrewd business woman living today. Although she Is not self made, as her modo of living has led many to beliovo, she has succeeded In Increasing In-creasing her original fortune of $10,-000.000 $10,-000.000 to ten times its sl7c In llfty years of her business career. Despite her mammoth fortune Hetty Het-ty (ireeri lives almost as frugally as a shop girl For moro than a half century she 1ms not been establish ed In a real homo but has drifted about In cheap hotols or lodging houses, sometimes registering under the namo of her pet dog and putting his namo on tho door plato. Occasionally Occas-ionally she takes a flat In somo ob-scure ob-scure corner or New York. In her garb she is no unpretentious ns in hor abode She invariably wears black a worn rusty black. Her costumo consists of a black dress of an obsolcto cut, a short i black capo and n littlo bonnet of a design calculator to glvo tho greatest great-est amount of service. Tho face of tho holrcss of millions Is so unfn-miliar unfn-miliar to tho public that sho Is seldom sel-dom recognized on the street. Hetty Green Infrequently rides any where Sho nover appears In a car-rlago car-rlago or nutomobllo and sho will not rldo In n street car when Bho can walk. Her whereabouts Is a constant problem to tho tax collector, whom sho freely admits that she dodges. I whenever possible Her assessed property however Is generally limited. limit-ed. Sho maintains very Uttlo real estato. Tho property of stocks that sho acquires sho sells quickly. Her slmplo formula for business success is to buy when cheap and sell when high. Sho will sell at a small profit rather than run the slightest risk for a higher ono. Much of hor fortune sho has tnado by the lending of money nnd tho sale of tho properties secured through foreclosures. Sho has nover lost money In lending. Sho invariably Investigates mortgages In person and will accept only unquestionable so-curlty. so-curlty. Ono of tho most successful foreclosures in which Hetty Green figured was that of Chicago property. proper-ty. She sold for millions of dollars hundreds of acres of land In tho heart of tho city that sho had ob-talned ob-talned as a mortgage for a few thousands thous-ands of dollars. Sho made a fabulous profit from tho panic of 1907, when sho lent money to wealthy Now Yorkers, tiding tid-ing them dvor tho crisis nnd later reaping a rich Interest. Hetty Green was born In 1831 In Now Dedford, Mnss., of Quaker parentage par-entage . At tho ago of thirty she becamo heiress of 110,000,000 by tho death of her father. During hor early girlhood sho was a bcllo of Now York. She would go to great social functions on foot with woolen hoso drawn over her Bhoes to keep tho snow out, rnther than to Incur the expense of riding. Sho was married In 1SC7 to How-urd How-urd II. tlicen a wealthy silk trader, with the i mlerstnndlng that Green should not share his wife's fortuno They both played Wall street heavily heavi-ly on separate accounts. Tho wife won and her husband lost, dying almost al-most penniless. At one tlmo Hetty Green rode Into Now York on n special spe-cial engine to transact n deal of hundreds of thousnuds of dollars. Sho chose tho engine rather than to pay $5 moro for n coach. Hotty Gieen Is tho mother of a son, whom sho hopes to make tho richest man In tho world and a daughter who Is tho wlfo of a prominent promi-nent New York banker. To develop her son's business qualities sho has forced him to Bell papers on tho streets when n child. |