The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-04-21
ism, and if not outwitted, Cuba will be their
property in the end at heexpense of the
United States Government and of the people
there. 90 n b & - d
English Estates and Americas Heirs.

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LONDON, February 8, 1869.
To The Editor Of The Nep Orleans Times.
Will you permit me, through your CO.
lumns, to send a word of warning to the
public against a scheme of swindling which
is now extensively practiced in the United
States?
Since my call to the English bar hundreds
OF letters have reached mo from Louisiana
and other parts of the Union. written by
persons, many of whom are educated and
Intelligent, making inquiries relative to
estates represented as existing in this coun-
try unclaimed, and awaiting the appearance
OF heirs residing in America. In every in
stance that has come to my knowledge the
statements are false, and evidently made for
the purpose of defrauding parties out of
sums, large or small, under pretext of pay
ing the costs of records, copies, &C., said to
be necessary for the assertion of the pre-
tended claim
One case may be selected as IN example:
banker by the name of James Wood died
In Gloucester in the year 1856, leaving a
fortune of about 9S00, ,00O His will was the
subject of much litigation, but was finally
decided to be valid, and the estate was
ordered to be divided among the legatees,
under decision of the House of Lords, in
l047. Any one desirous of having particu-
lars of the litigation can trace it through the
different courts as follows: l. In the Pre-
rogative Court of Canterbury. reported in
2 Ourteiss, P. 80. 2: On appeal to the
Privy Council, in 2 Moore's Privy Council
Cases, at p. 355. And 3. Iu the House of
Lords, in the case entitled ''The Corpora
tion of Gloucester uS. Osborne" House of
Lords Gases, p. 272. Although his estate
has thus been finally settled and distributed
for more than twenty years. do not at nil
e1aggerate in stating that not q month
passes without my receiving one or more
letters from persons who are approached by
some pretended agent of some imaginary
great firm of London solicitors, engaged in
seeking for the heirs of the great intestate
banker, James Wood, whose fortune,
amounting to 1O,O00,O0O sterling, is lying in
the Bank of England awaiting claimant.
The usual mode Of proceeding adopted is
to propose to undertake the business free of
expense. the proposer to receive only n
share of what may be recovered This
seems so reasonable that in most cases the
dupe readily swallows the bait. A short
time afterwards he is informed that all in
quiries and researches have resulted favora-
bly,, and that nothing is wanted to insure
success except the cost of few copies of
records and other papers, and that the pro-
poser having already incurred great expense
in conducting the necessary inquiries and
researches, is left without resources ut the
very moment when few pounds would
suffice to secure the fruits of his labor and
expenditure Many are the victims from
whom sums, varying from 20 to $500, have
been thus extracted, and the number of
persons engaged in this system must be
very great, and the sums received by them
very considerable, if at all in proportion to
the number of letters received here on the
subject. Many thousands of pounds are
known to have been expended by those who
could i'll afford to bear the loss in the pur-
suit of the great Jennings estate; and some
of those who have spent money in this way
have actually been deluded into writing to
me their conviction that they were entitled
to dislodge the present Duke of Marlbo.
rough from Blenheim Castle, by virtue of
their descent from the famous Duchess
Sarah Jennings.
Most of the persons who are duped are
ignorant on two points, which, in nearly
every instance, would satisfy them at once
of the utter folly of the hopes they indulge
The first is, that an alien cannot be an heir
in England when there is no will, and that
he cannot take real estate even if left to him
by a will. The second is, that in England
estates devolve upon the oldest son alone,
and on his eldest son in succession, and are
not divided in shares among all the chill
dren, as in Louisiana and other States. Yet
hoIuiHS IS luoIe common Inan lOr persons
to assert heirship to the supposed shares of
younger brothers and sisters, or claim, as
natives of the United States, heirship to
Englishmen who had left no wills.
In the hope that this exposure may be of
some use to my fellow citizens, in whose
welfare I retain the deepest interest, and
may protect them to some extent from the
sharpers who are plundering them, I re-
main, very respectfully, your obedient SER
want, j. 2. BENJAMIN.
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MODEL DOCUMENT paper, of which
the following is an exact copy, was served
upon colored man working on the estate
OF Campbell Bryce, near Columbia, by