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RICH MISER a PADDY KEARNS DIES IN SQUALOR OF STARVATION 1 An Eccentric Characte* of Tarrytown, N. Y., Who lived on Garbage, Refus- a I ed Medica Aid and Thought it e $ Shame to Waste Money on a Coffin for His Wife. e TARRYTOWN, N. Y., Aug. "Paddy" Kearns, miser, hermit, is and an eccentric character, in dead. He died at his home has North Broadway, where he the lived for over fifty years, and doctors say he starved himself last to death. Kearns was taken ill week. He lived alone and had to care for him, Mrs. Thomas his no one cousin, while excepting Fallon, to see who called once in a him. He refused to call in af- a doctor, saying he could not he ford to spend the money, and was stubborn until the end. The cause of death was "starvation." Kearns was one of the charac- He ters of North Tarrytown. came to this country from Ireland in 1849 and settled in Tarrytown. His home was a rickety and a half story building, was an eyesore to and one the people neighbors. Many wealthy lived near him, and he was often offered more than the value of his property, but he stoutly refused, saying, "not if you offered me $10,000." In the room down stairs he had stove, table and two chairs. a He bought bread once in a while, but generally he ate his neighbors' garbage. He always pleaded poverty and was a mean man. He owned one of the best wells in the village, yet he would allow no one to take a pail of water from it. If any one attempted it he would throw dirt in the pail. Many stories are told of his miserable ways. Kearns always was a laboring man and worked hard as long as his age permitted. During the panic in the early '70s Kearns went to the Westchester Savings bank in Tarrytown, where he had his money, and He drew out every cent of it. went to the bank with his dinner pail, The money he placed in the lower part and his dinner in the upper section. He thought no one would suspect that he had money. After he drew the money out he was in terrible dread of everybody, and he walked the floor all night with the dinner pail in his hand. At sunrise next morning he started to walk to New York, and he deposited the money in the Bowery Savings bank. Mrs. Fallon, his cousin, once rented part of his house, and as she stayed two days over he asked her for 60 cents for overtime, and she paid him. He even regretted paying his wife's funeral expenses when she died eight years ago, saying it was a shame to put so much money in a lovely coffin to put under ground. He had good health up to the last year. Not long ago he wanted to get married, but would only consent to taking a young girl. It was expected when he died that he had big sums of money concealed about the house. A search was made today and not 1 cent was found. He always carried a pocketbook and two silver watches, but these were missing. His bank books were found, showing he had $7,000 deposited in New York and Tarrytown banks. Kearns' property was assessed for $2,000 personal. This he swore off last year.