The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-01-08
Mythical Millions,

ed estates in England, prepared under
the direction of Minister Lowell by Mr.
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, 'rhat many are led to be-
lieve themselves heirs to vast estates
in Great Britain by designing persons
on both sids OF the ocean, who inesrt
notices in newspapers in the United
States that. a large property left by a
person by the same name with that of
some well known family of the same
district, or of some exceedingly COM
mon name likely to occur anywhere,
such as Brown or Jones, or who dis
tribute far and wide lists of unclaimed
estates which do not exist. Large
sums OF money are annually thrown
away by the dupes of these advertise
ments and fictitious lists, and hand
some revenue is made by the agents,
as they call themselves, for the dscov-
cry of lost heirs and the recovery of
unclaimed estates. The modus oper-
andi usually adopted by these agents
is to ask first for remittance of f2 or
t3, to cover the cost of copying the
will upon which the claim purports to
be based then a larger sum for the
expenses of instituting inquiries and
at each successive stage more black
mail is levied, the correspondence being
so cleverly conducted that several
years frequently elapse before the
fraud is discovered. None should con-
tribute dollar to unknown agents, es-
pecially towards any expenses con-
nected with establishing claims to es-
tates in this country, until inquiry has
been made of counsel here.
first, as to the existence of the estate,
and then as to the chances of its recov-
cry. am told by reputable solicitors
that not one claim in a thousand of all
those referred to them by the Legation
has had any validity whatever, and
very few, during their long experience
Of claims from America, have been
successful.
Mr.. White describes the results of
inquiries relating to the clemens Es-
tate to which there were many Anne.
rican claimants, showing that tho prop
erty went to the heirs at-lawlong before
American claimants were ever heard
of, and that the latter never had the
shadow of title to it." Moreover,
had the title once been good one it
would long since have become worth
less by the operation of the statute of
limitations.
"Any attempt, therefore, continues
Mr.. White, ito recover real estate
from the Crown or individuals after
lapse of twelve years (Which may be
extended to thirty under certain cir
cumstances), and personal property
after lapse of twenty years, however
valid the claim of the person making
the attempts 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.
Recently letter was received here
from member of the aforesaid Jen-
mems Association, who had just been
notified that general assessment of
So had been levied for the year ending
June 80, 1884, and who, before paying
the same, inquired whether the Le-
cation could furnish any information
reg arding the Jennens estate, said to
be pending before the Court of Chan
Gerry in England. >"
Similar to this are the "Hedges
estate the Bradford estate, the
Hyde estate, the Horne estate" and
many others which are described as
among ''the ordinary myths by which
so many of our countrymen have been
begulled."
With regard TO 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 no large amounts
of unclaimed stock or dividends stand
ing on our books. Speaking generally,
without having made an exhaustive
research, which would involve some
considerable labor, there are very few
amounts of $1,000, and probably none
that exceed this sum by more than
f100 or f200."
In regard to the fabulous fortunes
locked up in chancery, he says: "To
judge from the letters received at this
Legation from the United States in
reference to the unclaimed funds in
chancery, many of our countrymen
must imagine that institution to be de
pository OF incalculable millions, a
goodly share of which can be easily
withdrawn upon the mere institution
of claim to the same by the Ameri- |
can Minister and without requirement
by the court of any particulars as to |
the name of the suit, the relationship |
of the claimant to the parties mention |
ed therein or to the original owner of |
the estate claimed. 1t is very rarely |
that in any communication sent us on |
this subject smaller sum is mentioned |
than several millions, and frequently |
our correspondents state that they are
entitled to twenty, fifty 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 pres
ent time is about fs4 ,0OO,OO0 of which
fS3,0O0,000, belong to owners who
are known, leaving about one million
only of unclaimed or dormant funds