Good Day Humboldt County!
The following story is about a recluse who dies with his gold. It reminded me of someone I knew back in the mid 1980s – Harry O’Malley. I knew Harry for the last two years of his life. I was the editor of a weekly newspaper in 29 Palms, California, and for whatever reason Harry befriended me and my family.
He was what we called a “desert rat” and lived alone in a big rambling house he built over a period of years in Wonder Valley. That was exactly in the middle of nowhere. It took about thirty minutes of driving east of 29 Palms to reach Wonder Valley.
When he died the only two friends in the world he had were me, and a lawyer named Ralph Carrel. We had been helping him out for over a year with his finances (he was suffering from dementia) and Ralph had access to his bank account as a trustee. After seeing to his funeral Ralph discovered bank books in Harry’s old house. A dozen accounts in Harry’s name. They added up to over two million dollars!
An attempt was made to contact a relative, his sister in Greece, but she didn’t want any part of his money! What a story that must have been. Meanwhile, the county and state converged upon his estate, and gobbled it up!
And now Walter Samaszko Jr.s story:
“When Walter Samaszko Jr. died at his home in Carson City, Nev., he had $200 in a bank account. But as officials later discovered, Samaszko had about $7 million stored neatly around his home, the Nevada Appeal reported.
In late June, neighbors called authorities because of a smell emanating from Samaszko’s home. He was a recluse who had told them he hated the government and feared getting shots, but still, it had been a while since they had seen him, according to the Appeal.
According to the coroner, Samaszko, 69, had been dead for at least a month. He died of heart problems, the Las Vegas Sun reported. In came the cleanup crews, which discovered boxes of gold in the garage. They found gold coins and bullion, tiny dos-pesos, $20 gold pieces, Austrian ducats, Kruggerrands and English Sovereigns dating to the 1840s – enough gold to fill two wheelbarrows.” (Read the story here)
Time for me to walk on down the road…
No comments:
Post a Comment