The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-01-06
SEEKING LOST FORTUNES.
Adventures OF Claimants to Estates
Heirs and Specie Lost ut Sea,

supply by looking over some Of thc
letters and papers I receive and keep for
reference" said a lawyer of New York,
whose chief labor consists in looking up
claimants for English estates, to a re.
porter for the MnH and Erpress. 81
receive any quantity of curious com.
munications from claimants, many OF
which contain hints of personal hard.
ships and adventurous experience which
could not fail to gladden. the heart of a
romance writer of realistic tendencies.
For instance, here is one of a woman
who went from England to the West
India islands. After living there some
time the governor married her. At his
death he left a large estate with 800
slaves. Soon after this the widow
died, leaving her property to her brother,
who was a drunkard. He was killed in
a riot. This man left a son who in
herited his fathers passion for drink,
who tried to get the estate, but didn't
because he could not prove his fathers
death. The rightful heir now offers
e. 900 to any one who will get the
estate for him. Another writes that a
mother who hod had a quarrel with her
daughter shortly afterwards received a
letter stating that her son had died inthe
West Indies and had left a large fortune
to his sister, the one with whom the
mother had quarreled. The mother tore
off that part Of The letter before showing
it to her daughter, and thus the latter
was prevented from learning of her
good fortune. Not until she was on her
death bed did the mother confess her
act, and the claimant now writes that
all efforts to trace the property have
been unavailing.
"One person writes: I don't know
anything at all about law matters, as
I've been buried in the coal pits ever
since I was nine. lam told that my great
grandfather was a very wealthy
painter and left his relatives a lot
of money, but, being pitmen, they were
too poor to 60 to the country where the
property was and look after it. Not one
of them could read or write Here is a
romantic person who writes that a young
lady of good family ran away with an
officer at a ball, given in honor of some
regiments officers in 1869. They were
married at Grctna Green. The lady's
family never acknowledged her. After
her death her husband received a letter
stating that his wife's fortune was lying
N the bank for her children. He was
still so angry at the treatment his wife
had received at the hands of her people
that he threw the letter into the fire and
refused to have anything to do with
them or their money. The fortune is
still in some Scotch bank"
"Do you not learn of many heirs hav-
ing been lost by ~shipwreck2"
Eyes, many. A curious case and one
of a very adventurous experience that
has come to my notice was that OF the
heirs of Alderman Swan, mayor of Hull.
Alderman Swan left estates to the value
of go, 900 per year. The last surviving
heir was named William Swan: He was
found dead in his bed one morning at
an obscure lodging house in London.
He had been trying in vain for over
twenty years to recover these estates.
His father before him, whose name was
Richard Swan, went through o terrible
experience because Of them. At nine
years of age he was abducted from home,
in order that he should be disinherited,
and put on board a brig. This was
wrecked on the rocks of Scilly. He was
afterward taken prisoner by an Algerlne
vessel and sold for a slave. After
four years. imprisonment he was set at
liberty, but on his attempt to reach
England he was again shipwrecked,
carried off and sold for a slave. He
finally returned to his native place IN
172G, after an absence of about twenty
years. Here he vas Identified by his
nurse in childhood and his fathers foot
man. He laid claim to the estates at
once, but having neither money nor
friends was unsuccessful. After his
failure he married and settled in an OBJ
u village near Hull. He had only
one son, the one who spent his Life try
ing for the estates and who was found
dead in the London clearinghouse"
"Do you hear much Of specie lost at
sea?'
''Yes, frequently; the case of the Eng
lish ship Lutine is one of the most re-
markablc. She sailed from Yarmouth
Roads on October 9, 1899, with several
passengers and an immense quantity OF
treasure. A heavy gale sprang up and
the ship was driven on the outer bank OF
the Fly Island passage and wrecked. AT
DAYLIGHT not a sign Of the vessel was to
be seen. She had gone to pieces. The
money she had on board was said to
have amounted to over GAO, 600. This
has been consigned to Hamburg,
by certain mercantile houses. The SAL
wage operations which followed tor the
next eighteen months resulted in the
recovery of els, 900 through the efforts
of divers and others. From 1914 to
1921. seven years, hard work was spent
mon the wreck, but all that was re.
covered was a small quantity of silver.
In 1922 o company was formed Tor the
express purpose Of continuing the search
for the treasure. Several thousand pounds
were spent'in diving and other opera
tons, but nothing was found. Inc
Llovd company then obtained the priv,
lege but only on the agreement tnat
thew would give the Dutch government,
on whose soil the wreck was, hall OF
what they found. From this time up to
1857, despite many efforts, nothing OF
consequence was found: But in 1851
great GOOD fortune attended the patient
Ssearchcrs in the recovery of nearly 950,
600. Even to this day all the specie has
not been recovered from the wreck
Possibly some day a violent storm may
shift the bed of sand now covering the
wreck, and thus afford scope for further
operations"