Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 8, Number 1, DeMotte, Jasper County, 2 December 1937 — WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK... [ARTICLE]

WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK...

By Lemuel F. Parton

NEW YORK. —Oberlin M. Carter, eighty-one years old, again appeals to the Supreme court in his incessant fight of 39 years for re-

admission to the army and the voiding of the court-martial verdict which sent

himto prison for fraud. Powerful influence has backed the former captain and his friends call him “the American Dreyfus.” The case against him, on charges of fraud involving many millions, was one of the notorious scandals of the McKinley administration. He had been in charge of river and harbor reclamation at Savannah. Handsome, gifted, of a distinguished family, Captain Carter was second in scholarship only to Robert E. Lee in all the history of West Point. A newspaper account of March, 1889, reveals him at Savannah just before the turn of his fortunes:

“Captain Carter was an exceedingly popular man in club circles and among his numerous female acquaintances. He was polished in his manner, exceedingly cordial to all and ran toward the rapid set. He was a very fashionable dresser. “He generally appeared in three or four suits of clothes daily and

never failed to don his evening suit for dinner. In the morning he wore his business suit,

but by lunch time he appeared in his bicycle suit. After taking a spin about the principal streets of Savannah for a couple of hours, he next appeared in his driving suit. Late in the, afternoon, he would appear in his riding suit. “In the yachting season, he was far in the lead of other followers of the water. He had seven distinct ways of shaking hands.” The quick-change record, or the hand-shaking or something upped him to the job of helping man the teacups at the American embassy in London. As he prepared to leave Savannah, there were routs, assemblies, fetes and army blow-outs to honor him on his departure.

Seeing him off at the boat was Commander E. Gillette, a salty, weather-beaten old sea dog. Captain Cartel’s gush of affection embarrassed him. The captain insisted that the commander make use of his house. The old ommander was inclined to suspect over-generous persons.

He pondered the captain’s conduct and then went to the office of the engineering corps.

On a map, he saw a retaining wall of masonry spotted up as having been built at a cost of $7,000,000. Then he strolled down the river, looking for the wall. It wasn’t there. He kept on exploring. He reported to the war office that $7,000,000 had been spent for nothing more than marks on paper.

THE courts awarded to Mrs. Mat thew Astor Wilks, daughter of Hetty Green, the entire estate of her brother, the late Col. Edward H. R. Green, estimated as between $60,000,000 and $80,000,000. This, with a similar amount inherited from her mother, and the fortune bequeathed by her husband, makes her, according to all current estimates, the richest woman in the world. She is much like her mother. Six-ty-six years old, she lives in an unpretentious house on “Electric hill,” in Greenwich, Conn., with a few servants and a ten-year-old collie dog named Prince—as did her mother in her later years. And like her mother, she does her own marketing, driving to town every day or two in a small car. * * * The late Matthew Astor Wilks was a great-grandson of John Jacob As-

tor. When they were married in 1909, in her mother's flat in Hoboken, Hetty Green

was quoted by the newspapers as saying to the groom: “Matthew, you are sixty-five years old and you have the gout. Some day my girl is going to have $5,000 a day. I want to be sure that she is marrying a man who will help her take care of her money.” She has managed nicely. If her $160,000,000 is bringing 3 per cent, that's not $5,000 but $13,178.10 a day. For twenty-seven years she has lived in the house near Greenwich. Her husband died in 1926. Her fortune consists of many blocks of real estate in St. Louis, Boston and New York and railroad and other securities. She has no box at the opera, assumes no grandeur of the reigning dowager and lets Greenwich—highest per capita wealth in America—run itself without her aid. Her participation in public affairs consists mainly of her annual contribution to the Greenwich Firemen’s association. © Consolidated News Features. WNU Service.

Capt . Carter Again Seeks Vindication

Changed His Suits Four Times a Day

Commander’s Suspicions Are Aroused

Hetty Gives Advice to Bridegroom