St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-28
UNCLAIMED ENGLISH ESTATES

UNCLAIMED ENGLISH ESTATES.
Ex-Minister Lowell performed good
service for this country when he directed
an examination of the condition of English
estates which are claimed by Americans.
1t has been a favorite scheme with knavish
attorneys to work up fictitious cases of this
character and to excite the interest of sup
posed heirs OH this side of the water, and
by this means to cOncOct and carry on sys-
tematic Matchmaking. Just after the close
of the war the Southern states became a
villainous attorneys. The people of
that section were in poverty and
were eager to take chances in any,
thing that promised money Private
pamphlets were circulated all through
that section which purported to give
a list of thousands of large estates
which had been converted into cash and
were living in the Bank of England await
ing the call of rightful heirs The list con-
tanned the most common English, Scotch
and Irish names, and consequently there
were few communities where parties of the
same name did not live and were induced to
believe that they were descendants OF
wealthy old relatives who had died without
issue. An advance fee of $40 was de-
manded by the London or New York firm
which sent out the circulars. From time to
time reports of q most encouraging charac-
ter we're forwarded with the state
ment that an additional remittance
of $40 or $50 would be necessary to defra Y
expenses of further Investigation. In this
way thousands of people were bled by the
rascals until at last Mr.. JUDAH P. BENJA-
MIN of Louisiana, who had removed to
London after the war and gained distinction
as a barrister. addressed an open letter to
his countrymen, telling them of the fraudu-
lent devices of these knavsh attorneys,
and explaining the impracticability of re-
covering English estates, even if such
estates existed. But the game has been
kept up in other sections and played with
great success. We are familiar with
the history of the celebrated JEN-
MEMS Estate association. More recently
an attempt has been made to
organize the RICHARD TowNLEY Estate
of Minnesota people are interested in this
affair and all effort will be made to get them
into the association. The GLOBE respect
fully calls their attention to the statement
of facts contained in Mr. WHITES report
and transmitted by the president to con-
gress, and which was published in yester-
days issue of the GLOBE. Mr.. WHITE
says that not one claimant in a thousand
RECEIVERS penny of the wealth he seeks.
He explains that under the Eng
fish law the statute of limita-
tons bars recovery of real esta tie from the
crown. or from individuals, after lapse of
twelve years, and of personal property after
a lapse of twenty years. He also states
that the chief accountant of the Bank of
England informed him that there were no
large amounts of unclaimed stock or divi-
dends standing on the books of that institu-
ton, and that there are but few amounts
that would reach 81, 600, and none in ey-
cess of this sum by more than e100 or e200.
Mr. WHITE also makes public the fact that
the total amount in the custody of the
court of chanceryf at this time is
eS4, 200, of which esq belongs
to owners that are known. leav-
ing about 81, 900 only of unclaimed or
dormant funds. Consequently when it is
known that among the several hundred
thousand heirs of the Jennens. TownlY and