Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-05-04
MILLIONS EATEN UP.

New York j Ournals An now many
are rioting on dead mems millions!7
This was the exclamation of a con
sentative lawyer of prominence in speak
ing of the management of large estates
which the machinery Of the courts is in
vOked to settle.
Behind the names of Stevens, Stokes,
Cutting, Stewart, Anderson, Hamers-
ley, JumeI, Colah, Hoyt, Wood, Sout-
ter, Tilden, Gilman, Paine, Lennox,
and Sheldon lie recitals of more en-
trancing interest and of strange situa-
tions than any portrayed by the
novelist.
Property valued at tens of millions of
dollars is at present in litigation in the
surrogate's court. Lawyers viii not
openly acknowledge that they desire to
prolong this legal strife, but that this
is close at their hearts is we'll known.
| The estate pays the expenses Of Itiga-
ton, and while anything is left the
conscientious attorney finds that it is
necessary to make some further move
''in the interests of his client.
! 1t is the old story of dividing the
! Oyster-each itigant takes a shell and
/ the lawyer takes the meat. When a
man dies, leaving his heirs 100000 to
! fight over, the proper division OF the
| estate according to the legal conscience
| is almost as follows: Legal fees and
| costs, go 900; disbursements and Incl
| dentals, 81 900; heirs, 50, 600.
| The heirs are not Away as fortunate
| as this extreme case would indicate.
/ Facts from the record viii show this:
! An Oriental merchant, who reiOiced
| in the picturesque name Of BOmanJee
/ Byraniee Colah, visited IN this city
| eighteen years ago. He went on spree
| and got locked up in a cell. The police
| found S4U, 900 in paper money and gold
on his person, and an examination OF
his room in the Hoffman house showed
! that he had an additional $50, 600 there.
He was a stranger IN strange land,
| and fair game for the lawyers. They
/ charged that the Parsee merchant WAS
| d lumatic, and that it was necessary to
! appoint a committee to take charge OF
/ himself and his money. Nathaniel
! Jarvis, jr., who is d lawyer IN addition
| to being clerk OF the court OF common
/ pleas, was the man who got the 500, 600
I Il
! Bombay, where he died, at a cost OF
| S25, 600. Mr.. Jarvis reported to the
! court that the balance he had on hand
was exactly $33. 63.
! Samuel Wood, alter whom the town
! of WOOdsburg, l.. l., Is named, died IN
/ 1873, leaving a fortune estimated at
] g, 900, 900. By specific requests he
/ left $23l, 600, to relatives, and the bal
/ ance was to be expended in founding
! college Of music. The college viii
never be rounded, iOr two good rsa-
( sOns-the bee ucst has been declared
! illegal and the money has been eaten
/ up Dv expenses. The little Iiem Of
/ 81, 400, 900 Of the estate has vanished.
/ Eight different attorneys and AS many
/ eminent counsel have been operating
on the estate IN the interest OF the col
/ Iege of music" for ten years past, uni
/ this fact tells the story.
Jesse HOyt, the famous produce mer-
I chant OF tins city, died IN 1882, leaving
! 50, OOO, 900. He lett the income OF
| 81, $50, 900 for the use Of his widow dur
/ ing life, and the same sum to his ecCen-
/ trio daughter, Mary Irene. They We're
| dissatisfied and half dozen lawyers
were called in, among them Gen. Ben
/ iamin f. Butler and Roscoe COnkIing.
/ A young attorney named Aaron Kahn,
/ who was in the case, rendered little
/ bill for $40, 746. IS, but how much the
/ Dig guns will receive is not known.
/ The estate Is a legal bonanza.
! Mrs. Paran Stevens has enriched the
/ LAWYERS. Her husband died In 1872,
| leaving 81, 600, 900. She received $780,
| 900 outright, besides the income on
/ 81 600, 900, a city residence In Fifth
/ avenue and the wills at Newport, who're
/ she entertained the Duke of MarlbOr-
\ Ough last summer. She was not con-
( tent, and there has been constant
/ scene of legal squabbles ever since,
/ and there is no probability that they
4 viii be ended in her lifetime.
/ The Duchess D'Aury seems to Ike
! the lawyers also. Before she became d
duchess she was Mrs. Charlotte SOut-
/ ter, the wife of Robert SoutteF. Her
( charges of fraud IN the man cement of
I the estate occupied the courts Tor years
! Litigation over the millions left by
I Samuel J. Tildcn IS likely to occupy
+ the balance OF the present century,
( The contest Is over the clauses provid-
/ ing for Tilden libraries IN this city,
! Yonkers and New Lebanon, at a cost of
/ $1,000, 900.
The famous Nathaniel Gilman estate
has been before the courts for thirty
years, and the lawyers are not likely to
tire as long as a penny Is left.
The fight over the 81, 600, 600 left by
Cornelius S. =. Roosevelt has just been
settled BY the good sense Of the
relatives and to the chagHn of the
lawyers, and the same is true of the
estate of Harvey Sheldon.