The story of the most greedy millionaire of the United States, whose son lost his leg due to mom's stinginess
'07.09.2019'
Source: Adme.ru
The heroine of our publication is a very wealthy American named Getty Green. She received a huge inheritance and managed to significantly increase it. And this is in those days when only men ran the money! It is not surprising that Getty's contemporaries sharpened her teeth and shared with pleasure the facts that exposed the influential millionaire in an unattractive light.
We are surprised at how bright the contrast between a person’s capabilities and his lifestyle can be. It would seem that there are funds - use it. Or is it still not? Tells Adme.ru.
Henrietta Howland Getty (Hetty) Robinson was born in a rich family of Quakers (from the English. Quake - "tremble") - members of the Religious Society of Friends. From 6 years she was taught to take care of her savings. Grandfather encouraged his granddaughter's curiosity by reading financial newspapers with her and discussing stock quotes and trading reports.
After Getty turned 13 years old, she became a family accountant. Her handwriting was careless, there were a lot of spelling mistakes in the words, but the numbers reigned in complete order.
When the girl turned 20 years old, her father bought her the most fashionable dresses so that her daughter could attract a rich groom. Henrietta sold all these outfits and acquired a package of government bonds with the proceeds. Money for the sake of money has become the meaning of her life. Having received an inheritance from her deceased father on her 30 anniversary, Getty, in spite of household objections, invested the entire amount, $ 7,5 million, in US Civil War bonds.
When Getty found out that her aunt bequeathed $ 2 million to charity, she went to court and presented an alleged earlier will. According to this document, the entire inheritance of the deceased relative went to Getty, and subsequent wills were declared invalid. The case received wide publicity and ended in failure for the enterprising niece: the court ruled that the will that was beneficial to her was fake.
After the openly mercantile gentlemen began to look after Getty, she decided to marry a man whose financial condition would be higher than hers.
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In 33, she met Edward Henry Green, a Vermont multimillionaire. Love is love, but Henrietta, even in the heat of pre-wedding efforts, has not forgotten her parents' instructions. The result was a prenuptial agreement, according to which the groom did not claim the money of the future wife. Later, the couple had two children: son Ned and daughter Sylvia.
Unfortunately, in 1885, Edward went bankrupt, and Henrietta left her husband, refusing to cover his debts. However, when Mr. Green's health deteriorated through 15, Getty helped take care of him and did so until his death.
After the death of her husband, Getty began to wear mourning clothes - a black dress and a black heavy veil, which contributed to the emergence of the nickname The Wall Street Witch. Another reason was the fact that in the era when women were sitting at home and engaged exclusively in housekeeping and raising children, Mrs. Green, along with men, built a successful business.
She repeated in her interviews: “My father had the idea that inherited money should be passed on to a new generation. A person who has received a fortune has the full right to use the income, but he should not spend the main amount. I think the same. ”
As mentioned above, Getty grew up in a family of Quakers, where she instilled thrift and unpretentiousness in everyday life. And with age, Mrs. Green raised them to absolute. Its extreme restraint in spending has become a byword among contemporaries. Caricatures of Henrietta were drawn in the newspapers, people told each other jokes about her, and the writer O. Henry even made the millionaire a recognizable character in his story “Magic Profile”.
According to rumors, Getty Green wore the same dress for years and even saved on the purchase of underwear. Also, the millionaire closely monitored so that the laundress spent laundry soap as carefully as possible. The gossip claimed that hot water was hardly used in her house: too expensive a treat.
The thrift of the "richest American" extended to children. When her little son Ned broke his leg, Getty took him to a free clinic for the poor. There the child was rendered all possible assistance, but the leg continued to hurt, the condition only worsened, and after several years of unsuccessful treatment the leg had to be amputated.
Getty often went to the local store to buy broken cookies there, which were cheaper than usual, and also to get free bone for her beloved dog Devi.
Mrs. Green constantly moved from one district to another, rented an inexpensive room and, in order to confuse the press looking for her, she recorded under other names, in particular, she could “borrow” a name from her dog.
The city was gossiped that so often Getty moved to escape from the ubiquitous press and from tax collectors.
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However, her son, in an interview with The New York Times, called this a fabrication defaming his mother. According to him, she never committed illegal acts, and hid only from beggars. And I didn’t change housing, but the location of the office.
“When it becomes known that a person has something to lend, you can’t imagine what kind of requests he is being asked: here are pleas for loans, and letters from all kinds of unbalanced people. In recent years, the mother often changed the location of the office in order to save herself from these “money seekers,” ”Ned Green told reporters after the death of Henrietta.
However, the gossip did not stop. One story claims that one day Getty dropped a brand in the back of the car at a cost of 2 cents and searched for it on the floor and under the seats at midnight.
It is no wonder that with the condition that Henrietta Green has accumulated over her entire life, in old age she simply lost her peace. Attackers everywhere seemed to her. According to the stories, the woman carried the keys to the bank cells on a chain wrapped around her waist and slept with a revolver tied to her hand with a fishing line.
In the same interview with The New York Times, Getty Ned’s son stated that the tales by his newspaper about his mother had greatly damaged her safety: “It was a false rumor that millions of dollars worth of bonds in the black bag she always carried with her deprived her of the opportunity walking along the evening streets alone and unarmed. She was always afraid that they would attack her. ”
There is also a story about how a few years before her death, Mrs. Green aggravated a long-standing hernia and she decided to see a doctor. Dr. Henry S. Pascal, who led the reception, stated the need for treatment. At the same time, Getty herself allegedly coped with a hernia in a very peculiar way: under her underwear, she laid a plate that pressed down the edema. The reception, according to eyewitnesses, ended with Henrietta, having learned the cost of the operation ($ 150), simply turned around and left.
Getty was called America's main meanest, but few knew that she was engaged in charity. Her son claimed that her mother never spoke about her donations, although there were enough of them. Getty often donated large sums - $ 500, $ 1000, $ 10 000. There was even a list of 3 dozens of families who received monthly payments.
Ned also shared a story about how Mrs. Green cared for an old accountant, Benjamin Lawton, who was still her father’s bookkeeper. When Henrietta entered the business, Lawton began to work for her. In his declining years, the accountant was completely decrepit, but he still came to the office every day and sat down at his desk. True, most of the time he was just dozing. Ned wanted to fire Benjamin, but Getty did not allow it: according to her, the old man admitted to her that "dismissal will finish him." She kept Laughton a job and until his death paid a salary.
The story of a miser millionaire whose son lost his leg due to his mother’s stinginess
According to Wikipedia, the Guinness Book of Records has an entry about “the meanest person in the world”, which says that Henrietta Green died of an apoplexy blow during a dispute with a maid about the merits of cheap skim milk. The son of a billionaire called another reason: his mother suffered several strokes, which subsequently led her to death.
Getty Green Quotes
- On the wearing of a revolver: “Basically, I wear it to protect myself from lawyers. I’m not really afraid of robbers or robbers. ”
- Valuable advice: "Never speculate on Wall Street, chew food thoroughly, sleep at night, do not drink icy water and stay away from drafts."
- About the principles of doing business: “When I see how something is being sold for nothing because of uselessness, I buy up everything that is and put it off until better times. And when they come, buyers already have to hunt for me and pay a tidy sum for my property. ”
- About the Vanderbilt jewels: “I borrowed money from the New York municipality, but when the Vanderbilt asked me the same request, I refused them. They came recently, just before the wedding, and then brought a box in 2 feet long, in which lay the very famous Vanderbilt jewels. They offered me them on the security of the loan. God have mercy, but I don’t understand anything at all in diamonds! ”
- About the banking panic of 1907 of the year: “Those to whom I lent my money received them at 6%. I could easily take 40% from them. But never in my life, no matter what they say about me, I was not engaged in usury, and those rich people who dealt with me know this best of all. ”
- The secret to success and well-being: “I get up at 8 in the morning and work late at night. I am very careful about food. I eat good simple food and do not practice snacks. I don’t eat sugar and butter, because I think that they do not suit me. But this is not a matter of saving, but of health. ”
It is amazing that a mother can save on the health of her own child. And that he, in spite of this, after years will take care of her reputation. What, in your opinion, is the reason for such an act of his?
