Generous millionaire flat broke at the end

The eccentric Texas oilman sat in a dark theater on Oct. 4, 1926 watching overpaid stagehands try to make “The Ladder,” a play about reincarnation, presentable for Broadway audiences. Edgar B. Davis, whose generosity ultimately landed him in the poorhouse, was born in Massachusetts in 1873. The six-foot-three, 350-pound giant would have made Harvard a mighty fine lineman, but he chose to sell…