Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1902 — BOLTON’S LAST YEAR. [ARTICLE]

BOLTON’S LAST YEAR.

0 tie Way lie Spent Lt. Preparing For Hia Death. '•Billy Bolton, the Lq'nsingburg brewer, was a very rich man and ofie wjth a host of friends,” said an up state man to the New York Sun. “His brewery in I.a ns ingburg was a profl table con - cern, anti he practically p\yned about; all the saloons in that town. “One day after a eonshTtation his physicians told him that he had Bright’s disease and that he surely would not live-more t han a -year. —BrHy-took t heir word for’ it and made jup lyis. mind to make the fur fly while life was left, lie had never traveled much, and so he decided to go around the world. “lie took with him a congenial friend and plenty of money, and away they went. —They left a trail of fire and ashes through all the capitals of Europe and. the ...queer and strange.. places, of. Asia and Africa. After nine months they came back, and Bolton brought with him the most marvelous collection of souvenirs and presents that any man not a professional collector ever brought into this country. The duties amounted to $3,Q00. “Arrived in I.ansingburg. Billy hired the town hall, sent his packing boxes filled with these oriental and European treasures up to the ball and* had them all taken out and put on exhibition as though for a church fair. Upon each article he marked the name of some friend whom he wished to remember with a gift. There were hundreds in this category, but Billy had presents for them all.

“On the day appointed for the presentation he invited his army of friends to the town hall. To each he turned over the present selected for him, and amid the cheers of his grateful and admiring fellow townsmen the hall was stripped of its beautiful things. “When the last present had been placed in the hands of its recipient, Billy-went, back to his home and lay down to die. Within the year his physicians’ prophecy came true, and thb town gave him the finest funeral that any man ever had.”