Rush to Riches

   One day in 1895, Massachusetts laborer Edward Rush had what was apparently his last argument with his wife. Enraged, he left the house without further explanation and disappeared. Thirty-five years later, on November 15, 1930, his wife and daughters responded to a knock on their door and found Rush back on their threshold. He declared that he had been "around the world many times. It's a tale out of the Arabian Nights." During his thirty-five years away, Rush had sought his fortune in the Orient and the South Seas—and had found it. Displaying handfuls of jewels and stacks of cash, he announced to his amazed family, "I am rich. You are rich." When asked why he had abandoned them, Rush replied unrepentantly, "I left on impulse and returned on impulse. It's that simple."