The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-12-28
UNCLAIMED ENGLISH ESTATES.
How Many Americans Are Duped by
Designing Persons.
interesting Paper from Secretary
of Legation White of London, Eng.

WASHINGTON, Dec. pa paper on the
subject Of unclaimed estates in England pre-
pared under the direction of Minister Lowell
by Henry White, one of the American
secretaries of legation, has been sent by the
President to Congress.
There seems to be no doubt" Mr.. White
says, "that many are led to believe them
selves heirs to vast estates in Great Britain
by designing persons on both sides of the
ocean who with a view to personal gain in
sert notices in local newspapers in the
United States to the effect that a large prop
erty by person of the same name as that of
some well known family of their district or
of some exceedingly common name likely to
occur anywhere such as Smith or Jones, and
who distribute far and wide lists of unclaim-
ed estates which do not exist Large sums
of money are usually thrown away by dupes
of these advertisements and fictitious lists
and a handsome revenue is made by agents
as they call themselves, for the discovery of
lost heirs and recovery of unclaimed estates,
the correspondence being so eleyerly conduc-
ted that several years frequently elapse be-
fore the fraud is discovered. None should
contribute a dollar to unknown agents,
especially toward any expense connected
with establishing claims to estates in this
country until an inquiry has been made to
counsel here first as to the existence Of the
estate aud then as to the chances of its re-
eovery. l am told by reputable solicitors
that not one claim in thousand OF all these
referred to them by the legation has any
validity whatever and very few during their
long experience of claims from America
have been successful. y.
Mr.. White says the archives of the lega-
tion show that a considerable portion of its
foreign correspondence is composed of let
ters on this subject. He describes the result
of inquiries relating to the "Jennens estate"
to which there were many American claim
ants, showing that the property went to the
heirs at law long before the American claim
ants were ever heard of. Moreover had the
title once been a good one it would long
since have become worthless by the opera
tion of the statute of limitation.
Amy attempt, therefore" continues MI
White, ''to recover real estate from the
crown or individuals after the lapse OF II
years (Which may be extended to thirty un-
der certain circumstances and personal
property after a lapse of 90 years, hewever
valid the claim of the person making the at
tempt may have been originally is certain to
end in failure" All members, consequently
of the Jennens Association of the United
States of America may rest assured that
their subscriptions are simply money thrown
away if their object be the recovery of the
Jennens estate.
Similar to this case arethose of the Hedges
estate, Bradford estate, Hyde estate, !"
'Horne estate, and many others which are
described as among the ordinary myths by
which so many of our countrymen have been
beguiled." With regard to the large sums
supposed to be awaiting American claimants
in the Bank of England, Mr.. White quotes
from letter written by the chief accountant
of that institution as follows:
There are large amounts of unclaimed
stock or dividends standing in our books,
but speaking generally without having made
an exhaustive research, which would involve
some considerable labor. there are very few
amounts of one thousand pounds and proba-
bly, none that exceed this sum by more than
one or two hundred pounds.
In regard to the fabulous fortunes locked
up in chancery, he says; "T0 judge from
letters received at this legation from the
United States in reference to unclaimed
funds in chancery, many of our countrymen
must imagine that institution to be a deposi-
tory of incalculable millions, g0odly share
of which can be easily withdrawn upon the
mere institution of claim to the same by
the American minister and without a re-
quirement by the court Of any particulars as
to the name of the suit, relationship of the
claimant to the parties mentioned therein, or
to the original of the estate claimed. 1t is
very rarely that in any communication sent
us on this subject asmaller sum is mentioned
than several millions and frequently our
correspondents state they are entitled to 20,
so and even more millions. 1t will doubtless
cause some surprise and disappointment to
such as these to be informed that the whole
amount of money in the custody of the
court OF chancery at the present time is about
$S4, 100000, of which $S3,000,000 belong to
owners who are knolvn, leaving about one
million only of unclaimed or dormant
finds"