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WORLD'S WEALTHIEST
WOMAN IS 75
Strange Sidelights on a
Strange Personality
"The Age" Special Correspondent in New York .
The distinction of being America's and perhaps the
world's wealthiest woman belongs to a 75-year-old lady,
who, unlike her much more famous fellow millionaires,
Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton, shuns publicity and
glamor in favor of a life of quiet devotion to business.
She is Mrs.' Hetty Sylvia Ann
Howland Green Wilks. Her total
fortune is estimated at 101,000,000
dol.— more money than Miss Hut-
ton and Miss Duke combined, ac
cording to an article In the cur
rent "Colliers."
Mrs. Wilks's wealth came to her
as a result of patient accumula
tion by direct lateral ancestors,
principally from her mother, Mrs.
Hetty Green — the richest woman
in the world for 50 years, and
almost certainly the ; most
miserly. . ... '
The woman who- owned riiii-
lions went to bed at dusk to
save light bills, cooked meals
and washed dishes.
! The fact that Mrs. Wilks was
reared in such circumstances may
: explain partly why she some-
' times carries less than two dol-
lars in her wallet, keeps a num
ber of : country houses, in a state
of delapidatlon, maintains' only
three servants In New York and
has sacked' 97 of 99 people who
were employed on her brother's
estate at the time of .his death
10 years ago. » .
This brother/ flamboyant Colo
nel E. H. R. Green, left her one
of the most bizarre jewel col
lections ever known. Valued at
20,000,000 dol., it includes a
gold helmet, . ornamented . emer
ald peacock feathers, a diamond-
studded chastity belt and a. be
df'unset gems. Mrs. Wilks's pro
perty, apart from these more ec
centric items, consists mainly of
New York city mortgages, indus
trial securities, non-taxable
municipal bonds, oil lands and
real estate.
One Aim
Though childless, the one aim
of Mrs.. Wilks seems .to consist
in safeguarding her money. Her
activities and movements are
hardly well known, but if she has
ever given substantial amounts to
charity the fact has escaped all
public notice..
Her wealth,' she says, is a sac
red, trust, and the story goes that
her only friends are dogs and
birds. Every morning she drives
to her offices near Wall-street to
scan business papers and study
the financial news.
Caring little for her empty,
furnitureless mansions or the
pleasures her immense fortune
could easily afford her, she pre
fers the simple, inexpensive
pastime of window shopping along
Fifth-avenue.
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