July 1, 2008
chainchewinggum: I love stories of people like Hetty Green aka The Witch of Wall Street… stories of wealth and eccentrics that captivated (or infuriated) people across the world. She had plenty of money but was the thriftiest woman ever… never buying new clothes or even showering. She let her son’s leg get gangrenous, because she wouldn’t pay for a doctor after at age 9, he got into a sledding accident… and she would only eat dry oatmeal heated in someone else’s office. How much money did she have? Well, Hetty managed to to turn $7million inheritance into $200million (or about $4 billion in today’s market)… compare that with the $80million JP Morgan was worth when he died 3 years before her. Her son nicknamed The Colonel was also a lunatic. He married Mabel Harlow, a prostitue who was his first sexual experience… they ran a whorehouse together, and later funded teenage girls at Wellesley in exchange for scandalous visits to the Green’s Massachusetts estate. Scandalous. I too love stories of weirdness and wealth.

chainchewinggum: I love stories of people like Hetty Green aka The Witch of Wall Street… stories of wealth and eccentrics that captivated (or infuriated) people across the world. She had plenty of money but was the thriftiest woman ever… never buying new clothes or even showering. She let her son’s leg get gangrenous, because she wouldn’t pay for a doctor after at age 9, he got into a sledding accident… and she would only eat dry oatmeal heated in someone else’s office. How much money did she have? Well, Hetty managed to to turn $7million inheritance into $200million (or about $4 billion in today’s market)… compare that with the $80million JP Morgan was worth when he died 3 years before her. Her son nicknamed The Colonel was also a lunatic. He married Mabel Harlow, a prostitue who was his first sexual experience… they ran a whorehouse together, and later funded teenage girls at Wellesley in exchange for scandalous visits to the Green’s Massachusetts estate.

Scandalous. I too love stories of weirdness and wealth.