The Portland daily press., 1885-01-12
NOTED LITIGANT.
Sixty Years Spent In Obtaining
Legal Title to Property.
SKETCH OF THE LHFE OF mYRA
CLARK GAINES.

NEW ORLEANS, La, Jan. 10.-MFs. Myra
CLARK Gaines, who died last night, spent the
last sixty years of her life In a struggle to OBJ
tain legal title to the immense property left
by her father, Daniel CLARK. In 1908 Daniel
CLARK, an Indian trader in Mississippi, went to
Philadelphia to spend the winter and enjoy
the pleasures of what was then the metropolis
OF America. While there be fell in love with
. French woman, Zulime Carrier, and private
ly married her. The only child by this union
was Myra CLARK, who was born in 1905. About
this time Clark became tired ef ZGlime, sent
her to New Orleans and lived as a bachelor.
he denied that he had been married and mar
ried again and had children. Zulime returned
to Philadelphia and claimed to be his wits, but
was unable to make out her case in the courts.
While Clark would have nothing to do with
the mother, he took care of the child and she
was we'll educated. He went again into In.
dian trading at New Orleans and amassed aa
immense fortune. In 1918 he died, and will
was produced showing that his property was
left TO his mother aud to the city of New Or
leans.
When Myra was 20 sears of age, in 1926, shs
married Mr.. Whitney aud then began TO con-
test the will. She claimed that she was this
only legitimate child of Daniel CLARK and that
the property was hers. Mr.. Whitney died and
the widow married Gea. e. 2. Gaines in 1889.
he entered warmly into the case 1t was tried
and lost at New Orleans. 1t was appealed to
the Supreme Court at Washington and again
Qus
died. The first suit had been brought against
the will of 1911 which had been probated. Mrs.
Gaines now claimed to have discovered evil
dence of a later will, in which she was named
as the sole heir of Daniel Clark. This will was
never produced in court, but mau named
Francis Dusnan de la Croix, an intimate friend
of Clark testified that it had been read to him
by Clark himself short time previous to his
death. He was told that it would be found
after Clsrk's demise in littls black box in the
FrNvr1 ha rs-rl te L..
De Ia Croix locked 10 the box for the will but
failed to find it. This was the basis of the
claim which Mis-. Gaines prosecuted for forty
years against the city OF Nav Orleans and
against those ~ho had purchased the property
of Rolf and Chem, the administrators of tbe
will OF 1911. The Louisiana court decided
againsr her on this claim, but on appeal to the
Supreme Court at Washington, in 1861, she
won her case, obtained a Judgment confirming
this undiscovered will and giving her the
whole property left by her father. Justice was
delayed by the civil war but in 1874 Mrs
Gaines had recovered possession of several
millions and minor suits for the recovery of
the rest were going on. The value of the
property before the war was estimated at
about thirty million dollars.
This was one of the most remarkable cases
on record. 1t is more than fifty years since
the litigation began. 1t was after contest
which had lasted for nearly 80 years that Mrs,
Gaines finally established her claim. She was
20 years old before she came into possession of
any considerable portion of her property. That
she succeeded at all vas due to her indomita-
Bile perseverance, and her thorough mastery of
the law and the facts in the case.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10.-A number of law
yers i'll tbs Supreme Court this morning dis
cussing the death of Myra Clark Gaines, ex-
pressed the opinion that one result would be
to cause o compromise of her two million dol
lars suit against the city of New Orleans. Mrs.
Gaines aTQcfiuQ with har los a
yielding. New Orleans attorneys think the
heirs will compromise. The record in the case
is the largest ever brought to the Supreme
Court.