The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1886-06-13
AFTER 40 YEARS ABSENCE.
Err. FIELD TURNS UP 10 CLAIM his
DAUGHTEA'S PROPERTY.

He Says He Did Not Desert Her to Poverty,
bat that She Deceived Him, and that He
lie Merely Laying Claim TO nm Estate that
shsnld Have Been in His, Possession.
Counselor james F1emming, who repre-
SCENTS Thomas W Field, who has just come
from the West to claim the estate of Miss
Arabella Field, late Of Brooklyn, was
sought by TArTLER last evening for fur
Their information concerning the case Miss
Field was found dead in the bath tub OF q
hotel at Ell PAso, Mexico, last No
vember. She had been a successful
teacher in New York city, and
her will, when opened, was found to have
bequeathed the bulk of her property,
$4,000, to the Woman's Missionary Society
of New York city. Aftsr her death, Thomas
W. Field pat in an appearance, ciaiiAed to
be her father and set up demand Tor one
half of her estate, basing his demand upon
o Law of New York Stale prohibiting per-
sons having parents or children from be-
queathing more than half their estate to
benevolent institutions. By those in favor
of the enforcement of tue will it is said
that Miss Fields father abandoned her TO
her own resources when she was child,
and was in hiding till ne learned that she
left some property; and that now, after
nearly fsriy years, he turns up only to
claim share in her estate, hlch he lad
no hand in helping her to earn.
MIR. Fleming SAID that Fields wife having
died in 1886, he became inhamed with the
gold fever of 40, and that he determined
to go West to seek his fortune. He owned
at that time q large tenement house on
Walker and Centre streets that yielded a
handsome rental. He turned Ibis over to
trustees for the use of his two children
Arabella and her younger brother during
his absence, and started for the West. The
income of the property was more than
enough to support the children, and for
thirty years it was paid over to them. The
boy enlisted during the war, and was never
! heard from afterwards. About that time
rich relative of Fields died leaving
| $40, 900 to be divided among the child
rem. His daughter, he alleges thereafter
| kept him in ignorance Of her whereabouts,
and going lutte the Surrogate's Court
made affidavit that her father was dead;
| that she was the sole heir, and SO ac-
| quired possession of the property. Since
1852 be has lived in Orville, California but,
In ignorance of the bequest, he went on
struggling for wealth and is now the owner
of handsome rancho in the golden
State. He says that his daughter knew of
his location during all her life, and that
friends of his in New York have GORE
sponded with him continuously during the
forty years of his absence. He declares
that his daughter had written to him since
she came into possession of the tequest,
but bad said nothing in her letters about
the bequest. Even as late as 1865 she had
written to him that the city had made an
assessment for the opening of Canal Street
upon the trust property, and he says that
he sent her a drsft OF $500 to psy for it.
$50 you see" Mr.. Fleming went on,
'that instead of coming here after years OF
heartless desertion to claim the estate his
! daughter had wrought ont Of the poverty
in which his had left her, he comes here to
clain his share of property that Of right
belonged TO him."
Fields is stopping in North Bergen with
q friend. He Ii hale and hearty, though
he is 70 years old. The property bis
daughter left is located ia Nsw York and
Brooklyn, but Miss Fields will was pro-
bated in the Surrogate's Court here.