Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-06
The JumeI Will Case.

The JumeI VIII Case.
One of the most remarkable suits that
ever came before the courts of this cOun
try was decided at New York, Thursday,
after occupying the closest attention of
judge, jury and counsel for over two
months. Alike in amount at stake-siX
million dollars-the romantic history of
the parties who have most prominently
figured in it, the character of the COun-
sci who nave had it in charge-eX-Attor-
ney General Hoar and Charles O'COnor
marshaling their forces for plaintiff and
defense-and the length of the trial, the
the Jumel VIII case takes a very high
rank in judicial annals. The suit was an
attempt on the part of George Washing
ton Bowen, a man nearly 80 years old.
to prove himself the illigitimate child Of
Madame Jumel, the testatrix, that under
a law of New York by which illegiti
mate children may inherit from their
mother, he might establish his right and
title to some property in New York city,
which was formerly owned by Madame
Jumel, and is now valued at $4,000, 600.
Madame Eliza Bowen Jumel, the daugh-
ter of John Bowen, a sailor, and Phoebe
'.
life, both before and after her marriage
with Bowen, was born at Providence in
1915. Commencing existence amid the
squalOr and filth of the vicious classes,
she came to minglein the highest society,
both in this country and Europe
been on intimate terms with Louis
XVIII. of France and ex-King Joseph
Bonaparte-and from a penniless child
e
the country has known. She lived dur
ing her girlhood at the home Of Major
Reuben BallOu, an officer in the revOlu-
tionary army, in Providence, and here,
{ is alleged, she gave birth in 1884 to the
plaintiff, George Washington Bowen.
his supposed father being Major Ballou.
Miss Bowen went to New York in 1910,
and three years afterward married Steph-
en- Jumel, with whom she lived until his
death, in 1888. After this event she
met and married Aaron Burr, both, be-
ing already in their old age and having
led lives in some degree similar. She
married him to crafty her ambition for
mingling in high circles, but she soon re-
pented her folly in joining herself with
such a broken down roue, and in few
years procured a divorce from him. She
lived more than thirty years after this,
dying in 1865 at the age of ninety, after
one of the most singular and romantic
careers on record.
The defendant in the suit, and the
present owner of the property in con-
test, is Nelson Chase, who first based his
claim to the estate on the ground that
he married the daughter of Madame Ju
mel, but finally abandoned this, and as
serted that his wife was madame's niece,
she having no children, as he claimed.
Bowen's story is that he lived at Ballou's
house until he was 10 years old, and
never heard his mothers name mention
ed until he was 90 years old he saw her
once at Saratoga, in 1928, and permitted
her to be grossly insulted, but refrained
from avenging the woman who gave
him birth because he did not wish his
wife, who was with him, to know that
he was base born. An important link in
his chain of evidence was furnished by
an entry of his birth in an old book kept
by his putative father, but about the au-
thenticity of this there was much dis
pute, the indications of forgery being
pretty strong The attempt of the plain
tiff to prove his descent from Madame
Jumel by the resemblance of his ears,
dimples, and way of smiling to hers, was
almost the only thing about this almost
interminable case that would bear smil
ing at This claim of transmitted per-
sonal peculiarities was made to look deci-
dedly ridiculous by the sallies of the
counsel for the defense. These latter
gentlemen succeeded in badly damaging
the majority of the propositions advanc-
ed by Bowen, and the weight of proba-
bility was decidedly in their favor 1t
is quite easy to believe that Madame Ju-
mel may have had illegitimate children,
but there is little plausibility in the the
rY that Bowen is one of them, since he
could hardly live twenty years among
the gamins of the street and 9TH
ers who must have been aware of his
parentage without having the disgrace
full fact often flung in his face, and few
mothers ever live and die without in any
way acknowledging their offspring, or
seeing or speaking to them. There is
pretty strong evidence that this Bowen
is the tool of one Tucker, who put him
forward in this vain attempt to reach
those millions. The case was robbed of
its pith and importance, as far as the
plaintiff is concerned, by the discovery
of incontestable documentary evidence
that Madame Jumel held only life in
terest in the property, and had no claim
or interest that could be transmitted to
her heirs, so that, though he has proved
himself her son, he could not thereby
claim one penny of the estate. For this
he may thank the old Frenchman Jumel;
it is quite probable that if he did marry
with his eyes shut, he died with them
open, and he made his will Sin accord
ance with the facts" The arguments
of the counsel were long, and the case
was presented in its minutest details to
the twelve much-enduring men who
were to decide 1t. The judge specially
charged them, whatever might be their
finding as to Bowen's parentage, to rem
der the fact stated above, that Madame
Juuel had not the power to bequeath
the estate to her heirs. This was not to
interfere with the main issue, however.
The jury found as instructed, in this
particular, and returned verdict in favor
of Chase, the defendant, which result
will be no disappointment to those who
have had the interest and opportunity to
follow the case through allsits complcas
tions.