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BOY MILLIONAIRE TO SEARCH FOR POLE Aim iiv Life of William Ziegler, Jr., Is to Realize Ambition of His Foster Father. YOUTH UNSPOILED BY FABULOUS WEALTH Inherits $30,000,000 Through Death of His Uncle —Will Go Through College and Then Take Up Arctic Exploration Slowly Recovering from a Serious Injury. New York. —Through the will of his uncle a 14-year-old boy has come into a fortune of 130,000,000. The uncle is William Ziegler, the millionaire manu facturer of Noroton, Conn., baking powder king and projector of arctic expeditions, who died a short time ago; the fortunate youth is William Ziegler, Jr., his adopted son. Although but a child in years, young Ziegler has been unspoiled by the sud den inheritance of the fabulous wealth. By the time he becomes of age the es tate will have grown to more than $40,- 000.000. His income now is $1,000,000 a year. He is the richest boy of his years in the world and he will be among the world’s richest men. The boy has been brought up to un derstand that he is the sou of the man who fitted out polar expeditions. His books are volumes dealing with ad venture in the far north seas. He has been made to understand that it was always his father’s wish to have one of his expeditions locate the north pole. Wealth No Handicap. To some 14-year-old boys a fortune of $30,000,000 would be a terrible hand icap. To young Ziegler the money promises to be but a draw back; for the boy, few in years though he is, seems thoroughly to appreciate his unique position, to understand the responsibilities connected with the possession of so much wealth and, what is infinitely better, to have formed a definite object in life, toward the gaining of which he proposes to devote the millions left to him. He is a manly little fellow, ambitious to achieve heroic adventures. This is an ambition which the cherished dream of his foster father makes It possible for him to realize. He begins life now with and a mission, for he is the boy who must discover the north pole. The task is not imposed upon him in the will, nor is it even specified that he must prosecute the search for the Fiala expedition, lost in the frozen north. But the boy is thoroughly im bued with the spirit of the elder Zieg ler, and even now regards the search for the pole as his life work. Thought Father His Uncle. His father, George Brandt, whom he has been taught all his life to believe was his uncle, resides in Chicago. Brandt is half-brother to the elder Ziegler. When the boy was a baby his father gave him up to the million aire. then childless. The baby was le gally adopted, was called William Zieg ler and did not know' until the death of his foster father that he was other than William Ziegler’s son. The greatest care was taken with his preliminary education, designed to fit him for Columbia university. He will be given a careful business as well as a scientific education, so that he may not only prosecute the biographical re searches instituted by the elder Wil liam Ziegler, but may also be fitted to look after the vast business interests intrusted to him. His home, until he is of age, will be with his foster mother, Mrs. E. Ma tilda Ziegler. William J. Gaynor, a Justice of the supreme court, and Wil liam S. Champ, a trusted employe of Mr. Ziegler, will share with the widow the responsibility of directing the boy’s education. He will spend his summers in Noroton, and in the winter will re side in the Ziegler mansion in Fifth avenue. He will not be cooped up and held aloof from other boys of his years, but will be taught democracy as well as business integrity and scientific truth. He is passionately devoted to Mrs. Ziegler. His own mother died when he was a baby, and hi? foster mother has filled her place with complete devo tion. His own father is simply “Uncle George” to him. Suffers Severe Accident. Since April 1, when young Ziegler suffered from a distressing accident, he has been laid up. A few weeks ago he had only a bare chance to survive an operation performed by one of New York’s best known surgeons. To-day the boy, always vigorous and strong, is a w'aste of the sturdy young bellow who started a pillow fight on April 1 In his father’s home which since has taken him to the operating table on three different occasions. On March 31 Ziegler came home with two schoolmates in the Browning school. The boys anticipated the com ing of All Fool’s day. Several jokes had been planned for the benefit of Mr. Ziegler’s valet. The valet slept in the room with the boys, on a cot between the brass beds. The day had hardly begun when Ziegler awoke his companions. The valet was asleep, but he awoke quickly, a victim of the youthful jokers. Ziegler grabbed a pillow and the fight began. The instigator of the sham battle was soon exhausted and sat on the edge of the cot to rest. One of his friends jumped on him. Ziegler was severely torn by a long iron hook on the cot and fell wounded. From that moment he has been ill. But health is gradually returning, the cheeks thinned by. suffering are filling out and reddening, the “boy” is forcing the “invalid” into the back ground. When he is well again he will be the same “Willie” Ziegler, with one difference —when his injury sent him to bed and under the surgeon’s knife, he was just a 14-year-old lad, with boyish thoughts and nothing to do but enjoy himself; now he is Wil liam Ziegler, the possessor of a colos sal fortune and with a definite ai/n in |life. i Definite Aim in Life. That aim is the discovery of the north pole, the quest that has cost so many valuable lives from the time of Sir John Franklin down to the days of the Jeannette. The glory of the pur pose has been pictured to the boy; he has thought and read and talked of it since the iate William Ziegler began to be absorbed by it. And now, lying on his bed in the little room that faces the ocean, the boy watches the ships sailing away, and pictures himself as on one of them, some day, with her prow pointed to the north. There is something pathetic behind all this. Yet pathos and romance have governed the whole career of this lit tle boy. who was not the child of the man w'i om he knew as his father, ex cept by adoption. The* baby was Ijorn William Brandt, his father being a haU’-broiher of Mr. Ziegler, At an eany age it became necessary for rel atives to assume the support of one or more of the children, and Mr. Zieg ler took the little boy. He and his wife wchildless, and the little chap at one* filled the vacant crevices In their hearts as fully as their own could have done. He returned the affection and between him and his foster father grew t, love that was noticeable to the mer est stranger. Shared I'ather’s Confidences. They were Inseparable, the million aire and the schoolboy, and when, a few years ago. William Ziegler began to crave the distinction of being the founder of an expedition that should find the north pole, the lad was one of the few who shared his confidences, who listened to his ambitions and sym pathized with him in his desires. All this time, and until William Ziegler died, last month, the boy never had the slightest doubt that he w r as not the real child of the man whom he loved and who gave him all that a boy could ask. His actual father he knew as “Uncle George.” and looked on his brothers and sisters as cousins. He was fond of all, but fonder of ,’iis “father,” and it was on account of this very affection that they forebore from telling him of the actual conditions of affairs. Even when Mr. Ziegler’s funeral took place, and the little boy, worn and weak from his illness, was allowed to hear the services from an adjoining room, the tears that he shed were for his “father,” for it was not for several days afterward that he was told that Mr. Ziegler had been only a foster par ent. When the boy learned this, however, it did not weaken the strength of the loving memory in which he held the man who had done so much for him. Nor did it weaken his resolve to ca r ry out the wishes that Mr, Ziegler had ex pressed to him so many times. He set his lips and said to himself, “1 will do as my father wished me to.” To a reporter, who saw him at the Ziegler home at Noroton Point one day recently, the boy was as communica tive as could be expected of one weak ened by more than two months of snt fering. Mrs. Ziegler, the widow of the millionaire and as loving a mother as a small boy could wish for. was afraid that he would not like to talk. Were Like Boy Chums. “Willie was more overcome by his father’s death than I believed it possi ble for a boy of his age to bo,” she said. “He was very fond of ray hus band; in fact, the two were always more like two chums than father and son. During the early part of Willie’s illness, before Mr. Ziegler suffered tne accident that resulted in his deaih. Mr, Ziegler spent a great deal of time talking to him, their conversation hav ing a lot to do with Arctic exploration. f in which Willie took as great an inter est as he did, I do not know whether I entirely like the idea of his making that his life aim, but there is a long time between now and the day mat he shall attain his majority, and, per haps—” She spoke as though in the hope that time would change the little fellow’s determination; but the hope seemed to vanish as quickly as it came, for Mrs. Ziegler added: “No, I don’t believe he will change. He is a deep little fellow, and when he once gets an idea he is steadfast in carrying it out. Especially true do I think that will be in this case, for t*is love of Mr. Ziegler, it. nothing else, would be incentive enough to keep the matter constantly in his mind. But you may talk to him yourself for a lit tle while.”* The room occupied by Willie Ziegler faces Long Island sound. The louse is a long distance from the shore, on a high point of land which *tretcfii away to the beach. From the windows a clear view of the water Is glvep, and on this stormy, dark day the sea waa forbidding and ugly. Yt the little boy, propped up on his bed near the win dow, was looking out on the waves as his visitor entered, and there was no sign that the bleakness of the sea had affected his youthful spirits In any way. “So you are the fortunate young man with a fortune of millions of dollars?" said the repoi* er, as the boy turned toward him. Willie only smiled, as though the matter of vast possessions was of no consequence to him. Goes North When Twenty-One. “I don’t know anything much about that,” he said. “I only know that I wish it was a pleasant day, so that I could go out for a drive. I’ve been laid up here for two months and over, and now that it’s vacation I’d like to be out. The doctor was going to let me go out to-day if it was not rainy-. In a few days I’ll be able to walk." “But it will be some time before foil start on your Arctic exploring, won’t it?" “Not so long, perhaps; though tt does seem quite a while till I’m 21. Perhaps, though, somebody v will dis cover the north pole before I get ready to go." “Do you think there’s any great danger of that?" “No, not much. You see, It costs a good deal to fit out an expedition, and people don’t seem to bo very anxious to do that. My father would have sent more expeditions, and his plans, if they had been carried out, might have made the discovery possible before now." “What do you think of Mr. Flala’s expedition? he was asked. Anthony Flala, a young Brooklyn newspaper man, and a great of the late Mr. Ziegler, went out at the head of the second Arctic expedition projected by the millionaire, two years ago. after the first, under Capt. Bald win, failed of its purpose. The expedi tion has not been heard from for some time, and fears are entertained that it has ended in disaster. Mr. W. S. Champ, confidential secretary to the late Mr. Ziegler, is now at Tromsoe, Norway, ready to go in search of che Terra Nova. Fiala’s ship. Should tne death of Mr. Ziegler made him deter mine to return home, the expedition will continue under the direction of someone else. Sure Pole Will Be Found. “Mr, Fiala’s expedition may have succeeded for all that is known,” re plied th£ boy. “But I don’t think so. My lather's plans would not be called failures if it did lot reach the pole, or, in fact, if several expeditions failed to do this. Finally, though, after several expeditions have got further and fur ther toward the pole, one will reach It I am sure. 1 would like to be the one to do it.” The pale, wan face lit up with a worthy ambition, and the little body, which needs only the sunshine and the healing of time to become as stanch and sturdy as before the accident, seemed to take in renewed vigor as ae spoke. It was plain to see how firmly the idea of reaching the north pole has taken possession of this youth. “Did you and your father arrange anv definite plans for reaching the north pole? ’ he was asked. “We talked over it many times and in many ways. But there is nothing ao solutely certain about it, for people do not know much about the geography up there. By the time I am ready to go, though, there will be improvements in ships and more will be known, so that conditions will be different. I shall study all about it and follow everything connected with Arctic dis covery.” “You have already reach much about the north?” “I have read a great deal, all that has been given to me; but most of what I know’ I have learned from my father, who had studied the matter t horoughly.” “What good do you think the discov ery of the pole would be for human ity?” “Lots of good. It might show us a new passage in the northern seas, or —anything that is good for science is good for everyone, anyway. Beside, there w’ould be the glory of doing what so many others have tried to do and failed.” Will Go Through College. “In the meantime, before you become 21. what are you going to do?" “Go to college. I am advanced enough already, they say, to take the preliminary examinations for Colum • bia. but I shall not be allowed to till next year. Then, when I am 16, I hope to enter and take a thorough course." “Your fortune —have you thought what you will do with that?" “It doesn’t seem like anything real to me, for I couldn’t use much money, anyway, could I? I suppose when I grow up I will find I am very rich, and then I shall try to do as much good as I can. How? In every way I can think of." “You have not thought of any ca reer? profession?" “I don’t know. I should lik® to write —and then I should to be a But nothing that would stop my sping on the expedition to ti-s nor tii pole. * The following data, covering a per iod of seventeen years, has been com piled from the Weather Bureau rec ords at sixty observation stations in Mississippi. They are issued to show the conditions that have prevailed In the State during July for the above period of years, but must not be con. st rued as a forecast of weather con ditions for the month. Month of July for seventeen years: TEMPERATURE (in degrees). Mean or normal temperature, 81. The warmest month was that of 1901, with an average of 83. The coldest month was that of 1904, with an average of 79. Some of the highest temperatures recorded were as follows: 105 at Greenville and 107 at Batesville in 1901. Some of the lowest temperatures re corded were as follows: 55 at Duck Hill, Lake Como and Pittsboro in 1904. PRECIPITATION. Average for the month, 5.26. Average number of days with 0.01 Inch or more, 9, The greatest average monthly pre cipitation was 10.02 inches, in 1892. The least average monthly precipi tation w’as 2.19 inches, in 1896. Some of the greatest monthly amounts of precipitation recorded were as follows: 15.63 inches at Brookhaven and 15.83 at Columbus in 1892 and 16.67 at Magnolia in 1900. Some of the least monthly amounts of precipitation recorded were as fol lows: 0.13 inch at Hernando and 0.16 Inch at Austin in 1896. CLOUDS AND WEATHER. Average number of clear days, 14; partly cloudy days. 11; cloudy days, 6. WIND. The prevailing winds have been from the southwest. There has developed a good-sized sensation in regard to the arithmetics adopted by the Uniform Textbook Commission. These arithmetics are published by Sanborn & Cos., located at Biddeford, Me. Nine sample copies of the book were submitted to the commission, and in all the books sub mitted there were pasters all through them. After the commission adjourned someone got hold of one of the sam ple copies, and just for curiosity wet the paster and revealed to light the original example. The first one re vealed was something like this: ’‘There were 2CO w r hite children in a school. Each tenth child was colored. How many children were there in all?" When this paster was removed, other pasters in the book were loosened, and some just as bad were revealed. One question related to the yellow fe ver in New Orleans. Another related to .stock in a Texas oil well, running something like this: "If a man bought a hundred shares of stock in a Texas oil well, paying therefor $1 a share, and next day was forced to sell it at to cents a share, how much did his experience cost him?" Just what will be done about the matter is not known. Secretary Maxwell, of the Railroad Commission, has sent out a circular to the various railroads of the State, in operation or projected, requesting them to file with the commission as soon as possible a statement of their mileage actually in operation.branches in course of construction or for which contract has been awarded, and the projected lines which will be built. The object of the commission in se curing this data is to publish anew railroad map of the State, and when the information is received it is ex pected that the railroad map of Mis* sissippi will show some very striking changes, owing to the numerous new roads in prospect, and which are quite likely to be built within the next year or so. Congressman E. S. Candler has re cently been promised a complete city mail delivery for his home town. Cor inth; an extra railway mail service from Nettleton, between Tupelo and Aberdeen: a doub’e daily service be tween Tupelo and Fulton, and an addi tional rural route for Monroe county. The Secretary of Agriculture has also promised to order a complete soil sur vey for the entire First district, to be made at an early date. One of the biggest rains that has fallen this season fell in Panola coun ty last week, being a regular water spout. It did great damage to the crops, completely washing up the corn and cotton in low places. Creeks that have never been known to rise out of* their banks overflowed, doing consid erable damage to the portions of the crop along their banks. The iron bridge over a creek just north of Tal lahatchie river was so damaged by tha high water that it was unsafe for the trains to cross. President J. C. lijrdy, of the A. & M. College, says extensive prepara tions are being made for the Farmers' and Industrial Convention, which is tef be held there from July 12 to 14. Some of the most prominent farmers in the State will be present and deliver ad dresses. President Hardy says that pasturage will be furnished free for all stock belonging to those who may come through the country to attend the meeting, and meals may be had on the grounds for 25 cents each. Pat Geary, one of the oldest engi neers In the service of the Illinois Central Railroad, has retired and will hereafter receive a pension of SSB 50 per month. Mr. Geary is a resident ot McComb Citv