Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1890 — HEIR TO A BIG FORTUNE [ARTICLE]

HEIR TO A BIG FORTUNE

LUCK OF JOHN WILLIAMS. AN EX-JOCKEY. He r«comai, with JBU Brother, Joint Owner of an Estate Valued at 87,000,I 000 A Modern Romance How the | t Money Came to Him. [Philadelphia dispatch. John Williams, coachman for E. C. Howell, of Bristol, is a happy man. He has just become heir to half of an estate of 87,000,000. He recently returned from a trip to California, where his uncle,Theodore Luderick, died, leaving Tiis estate to John and his brother William, who lives at Blackburn, N. Y. They are each to receive the interest on the $7,000,000 for forty-five years, when the principal will be paid to them. Theodore Luderick, the wealthy decedent, came to this country from Metz, Germany, in 1846, at the beginning of the gold excitement in California. He went to that State with only a little money. He went into the mining business and began to make money. He had previously been in the gold and mining business in Australia. As so6n as he reached California he began to accumulate iron, gold, silver, lead and copper ore and sold it at an enormous profit. In 1876 he was worth 810,000,000, but during the panic of 1877 he gave away 83,000,000 among the poor, He has left several millions to charitable institutions in this country. He was a bachelor and was 88 years of age when ho died—last August. He had been retired from business for three years. John, the coachman, was seen by a reporter in his snug little room in Mr. Howell’s barn. He said that he and his brother would receive the interest on $7,000,000 for forty-five years, when they would receive the principal. His uncle left 85,000,000 in personal property, consisting of bonds and mortgages, and $2,000,000 in real estate. The interest on 87,(01,000 at 5 per cent, would be $350,000 annually, and he would, therefore, have an income of 8175,000 a year. When asked what ho intended to do with so much money as that, he replied: “I am going to follow my uncle’s example. I have great desires to give to tho poor. I expect to spend $60,000 or $70,000 yearly for orphans, Sisters of Charity, hospitals, etc. I expect to travel about live years. 1 expect to seo all parts of tho world, if it costs me 88 or $lO a day. I don’t know what I shall do after I got through traveling. I shall not go into any business, and probably shall not do anything. I shall use good sound sense and stay with my employer until such time as the estate is settled up, which will be about eighteen months from now.” Williams has had a very romantic life. He was born at Fleetwood, Pa., May 6, 1865. He is the son of William and Martha Williams. His mother is dead, but his father is still living. “I have made myself,” said Williams, in giving a sketch of his life. “From my boyhood up I have lost no time, have met all classes of men, and have traveled over the United States more than five times. I am a professional horse-jockey, and have been groom and rider fifteen years, off and on. ” * Williams said that his brother William, who is to sharo the estate with him, is 14 years old, and is homo at Blackburn 1 with his father.