Arizona silver belt., 1886-01-09
WILLING DUPEs.
So Called American Heirs to Vast Estates in
 England FIeeced by sharpers-

tates in England, prepared under the
 direction of Minister Lowell by MT
 Henry White, one of the American
 Secretaries of Legation, has been sent
 by the President to Congress, with
 other state papers:
 "There seems to be no doubt" Mr.
 White says, "that many are led to be-
 Iieve themselves heirs to vast estates
 in Great Britain by designing persons
 on both sides of the ocean who, with a
 view to personal gain, insert notices
 in local newspapers in the United
 States to the effect that large prop
 erty left by a person of the same
 name with that of some well known
 family of that district, or of some ex-
 ceedingly common name likely to
 occur anywhere, such as Smith ol
 Jones, or who distribute far and wlde
 lists of unclaimed estates which do not
 exist. Large sums of money are an
 nually thrown away by the dupes of
 these advertisements and fictitious
 lists, and handsome revenue Is made
 by the agents, as they call themselves,
 for the discovery of lost heirs and the recovery of unclaimed estates. The
 moduS operandi usually adopted by these agents is to ask first for remit tance of e 5r s, to cover the cost of copying the will upon which the claim purports to be based; then a larger sum for the expense oflnsti- tuting inquiries; and at each successive stage more blackmail Is levied, the correspondence being so cleverly con- ducted that several years frequently elapse before the fraud Is discovered. None should contribute a dollar to unknown agents, especially toward any expense connected with establish ing claims to estates in thls country, until inquiry has been made of coun- sel here, first as to the existence of the estate, and then as to the chances for its recovery. l am told by reputable solicitors that not one clam in thous- and of all those referred to them by the Legation has had any validity whatever, and very few during their long experiences of claims IfrpaA- {, ,'1-. lea have been successful"
 The paper is long one and the subject is treated exhaustively. Mr White says the archives of the Lega- ton show that a considerable propor- tiOn of its foreign correspondence is composed of letters upon thls subject. Mir. White describes the results of in quiries relating to the clemens es- tate" to which there were many American claimants, showing that the property went to the heirs at law long before American claimants were heard | of, and that the latter never had a shadow of title to it. Moreover, had l the title once been good one, it would | long since have become worthless by l the operation of the statute of hmi- tations.
 Any attempt, therefore. continues MT. White, "to recover real estate | from the crown or individuals after a lapse of twelve years (which may be thirty under certain clrcum- stances), and personal property after a lapse of twenty years, however valid | the claim of the person making the 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 | thrown away-if their object be the recovery of the Jennens estate. Recently a letter was received from a of the aforesaid Jennens As sociation, who had just been notified that a general assessment of S5 had been levied for the year ending June 30, 1884, and who before paying the same inquired whether the Legation could furnish any information regard ing the Jennens estate, said to be pending before the Court of Chancery in England.
 With regard to large sums supposed to be awaiting American claimants in the bank of England, MT. White quotes from a letter by the chief ac- countant of that institution, as fol- lows: "There are no large amounts of unclaimed stock or dividends stand ing on our books. Speaking general ly, without having made an exhaus- tive research, which would involve l some considerable labor, there are very few amounts of G1,0 ,0O0 and prob- ably none that exceed this sum by | more than G1O0 or G200.
 And in regard to the fabulous for +unes locked mn in chancerv. he says: |