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Story
August 24, 1932
Smyrna Times
Smyrna, Kent County, Delaware
What is this article about?
80-year-old recluse Americus Baker loses his estimated $40,000 fortune, hidden in tobacco cans, when his dilapidated shack near Nelsonia, Virginia, burns down. A granddaughter saves $500, but the rest is destroyed.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
Savings of Recluse, Aged 80 Years, Amounted to About $40,000
Americus Baker, 80 years old, had resided for many years in a one-room dilapidated frame shack near Nelsonia, Va., on the Lower Eastern Shore, and denied himself personal comforts while accumulating a fortune from rentals of farmlands and other properties which he owned in the vicinity.
Wednesday he lost that fortune estimated at $40,000, when his shack burned. The aged hoarder was not there when the blaze started from a stove. A granddaughter, however, saved $500. She did not know where the other tin tobacco cans, containing the fortune in currency, had been hidden. Frantically Baker and neighbors sifted the ashes of the ruins. They found the tobacco tins, but in them was nothing but ashes. A picturesque recluse with long flowing beard had utilized flour sacks for shirts in Summer and otherwise denied himself popularly accepted necessities.
Americus Baker, 80 years old, had resided for many years in a one-room dilapidated frame shack near Nelsonia, Va., on the Lower Eastern Shore, and denied himself personal comforts while accumulating a fortune from rentals of farmlands and other properties which he owned in the vicinity.
Wednesday he lost that fortune estimated at $40,000, when his shack burned. The aged hoarder was not there when the blaze started from a stove. A granddaughter, however, saved $500. She did not know where the other tin tobacco cans, containing the fortune in currency, had been hidden. Frantically Baker and neighbors sifted the ashes of the ruins. They found the tobacco tins, but in them was nothing but ashes. A picturesque recluse with long flowing beard had utilized flour sacks for shirts in Summer and otherwise denied himself popularly accepted necessities.
What sub-type of article is it?
Biography
Disaster
Curiosity
What themes does it cover?
Misfortune
Fortune Reversal
What keywords are associated?
Recluse
Hoarder
Fire
Lost Fortune
Savings
Virginia
Tobacco Cans
What entities or persons were involved?
Americus Baker
Granddaughter
Where did it happen?
Near Nelsonia, Va., On The Lower Eastern Shore
Story Details
Key Persons
Americus Baker
Granddaughter
Location
Near Nelsonia, Va., On The Lower Eastern Shore
Event Date
Wednesday
Story Details
Americus Baker, an 80-year-old recluse, loses his $40,000 fortune hidden in tobacco cans when his shack burns down; granddaughter saves $500, but the rest is ashes after sifting ruins.