The Arizona sentinel., 1888-04-28
SETTLING UP ESTATES.
How Vast Amounts of Money Vanish Tn
 Court and Lawyers Fees.

How Vast Amounts of Money Vanish In
 Court and Lawyers Fees.
 Property valued at tens of millions of dollars is at present in litigation in the Surrogate's court. Lawyers will not openly acknowledge that they de- sire to prolong this legal strife, but that this purpose is close at their hearts is we'll known. The estate pays the ex- penses of the litigation, and while any thing is left the conscientious at- torney finds that it is necessary 10 make some further move ''in the ill., terest of his client"
 It is the old story of dividing the oyster-each litigant takes shell and the lawyer takes the meat When man dies leaving his heirs S100, 900 to fight over, the proper division ot the estate according to the legal con- science is almost as follows: Legal fees and coss. 800 900; disburse- ments and incidentals, S7,000; heirs, SS.0O0
 The helrs are not always as fortu- nate as the extreme case would in- dicate. Facts from the record will show this:
 An Oriental merchant, who reioiced in the picturesque name of BomanJae Bvraniee Colah. visited in this city eighteen years ago. He went on spree and got locked up in cell. The police found $40. 900 in paper money and gold on his person. and an ex- animation of his room in the Hoffman House showed that he had an addi- tional S60, GOO there.
 He was stranger in a strange land and fair game for the lawyers. They charged that the Parsee merchant was a lunatic and that it was neces- sarv to appoint committee 10 take charge of himself and his money. Nathaniel Jarvis. Jr.. who is a lawyer in addition to being clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, was the man who got the S100 900 in charge The Par see was sent to Bombay, where he died, at cost of $25 900. MT. Jarvis reported to the court that the balance he had on hand was exactly $33. 63.
 Samuel Wood, after whom the town of Woodsburg. L. L, is named, died in 1878 leaving fortune estimated $2. 0000 900. By specific bequests he left S237, 900 to relatives. and the bal ance was 10 be expended in founding college of music The college will never be founded. for two good reasons the bequest has been declared it. legal, and the money has been eaten up by expenses. The little item Oi S1, 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 inc college of music' for ten years past, and this fact tells the story.
 Jesse Hoyt. the famous produce mer- chant of this city, died in 1882, leaving SS. 900, 900. He left the income o1 Sl 25O. 900 for the use of his widow dur ing life, and the same sum to his eccen- trio da,,etar Mary Irene, They were dissatisfied and half dozen lawyers were called in. among them Genera Benjamin F. Butler and Roscoe Conk. ling. A young attorney named Aaror Kahn, who was in the case, rendered little bill for $40 746. 6S. but how much the big guns will receive is no known. The estate is legal bo manga
 Mrs. Paran Stevens has enriched the lawyers Her husband died in 1872, leaving $4 000 900. She received 500. 900 outright besides the income on $1 000 900. a city residence in Fiftl avenue. and the villa at Newport where she entertained the Duke O. Marlborough last summer. She wa: not content and there has been a con stant scene of legal squabbles ever since. and there is no probability that they will be ended in her lifetime.
 The Duchess D Auxy seems to like the lawyers also. Before she became a Duchess she was Mrs. Charlotte Soutter. the wife of Robert S)utter. Her charges of fraud in the manage. ment of the estate occupied the courts for years.
 Litigation over the millions left by Samuel J. Tilden 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 cos of S4. 400. 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 penny is left.
 The fight over the $1. 900. 900 left by Cornelius S. " Roosevelt has jus been settled by the good sense of the relatives and to the chargin of the lawyers, ard the same is true of tho estate of Harvey Sheldon. N r Journal
 Reliable Statistics.