AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1087, 15 May 1882, Page 2

AN ECCENTRIC CHARACTER.

« A very eccentric character lias, it seems, lately passed away in Holland Mr Klacs, known liy the same of the

" King of Smokes," died the oth<T day near Rotterdam. Mr Klaes had, according to the Belgian papers, amassed a large fortune in the linen trade and one portion of a mansion he had erected near Rotterdam was devoted to the selection of pipes according to their nationality and chronogical order. By his will, which he executed shortly before his death, he directed that all the habitual smokers then in the country should be invited to his funeral, and that each should be presented with lOlbs of tol>acco and two Dutch pipes of the newest fashion, on which should l>e engraved the name, arms, and date of the decease of the testator. His relatives, friends, and funeral guests were strictly enjoined to keep their pipes alight during the funeral ceremony, and afterwards to empty the ashes of their pipes on the coffin. The poor of the neighborhood who attend to his last wishes were to receive annually, on the anniversary of his death, 101 bof tol»acco and s small cask of beer. He further directed that his oak coffin should be lined with the cedar from his old cases of Dutch tobacco and be placed at the foot of his coffin. His favorite pipe was to l>e placed by his side, with a box of matches, a flint and steel, and some tinder ; for, as he truly said, there was no knowing what might happen. It has been calculated that the deceased, during his life, smoked more than four tons of tobacco, and had drunk about 500,000 quarts of beer. It is said to reflect (says an American paper) that one evidently possessed of such nob ] c qualities should have been prematurely cut off at the early age of 80.