Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-26

shares as the contestants might lose will be
made good out of the larger shares that will
fall to their co-partners in the agreement.
RUIN FOR HILTON.
If, on the other hand, the will is broken,
Judge Hilton will be probably completely
ruined. He will not only have to surren-
der his prospective share In the estate, but
will have, eventually, to make restitution
for the properties which, the contestants al
lege, he caioled the confding Mrs. Stewart
out Of As he would have to pay interest
since the time the properties came into his
possession, all his private fortune would be
swept away and he would be left in debt
to a large extent besides. That Judge Hill
toms lot is by no means happy one can be
further seen by the fact that even 1t he
should at the end of a long term of years
emerge successfully from the present con-
tests there will still lie upon his fortune
the troublesome shadows of other claims,
that now flicker almost unnotced.
Ever since the death OF Alexander I.
Stewart there have at odd times been varl-
Gus claimants to his estate. Stewart had
told his wife and friends repeatedly that he
had no relatives. When his will was
offered for probate, therefore, no relatives
were cited to appear. If there were rela-
tives this was a serious blunder, as the law
requires that they should be notified before
a will is probated. Since that time Judge
Hilton has been constantly receiving letters
from persons claiming to be relatives of
Alexander 7, Stewart Every person on
the globe whose name sounds like Stewart
appears to have been mitten with the idea
that he was a relative of the drygoods
prince, and that he was therefore entitled to
a share or the whole of his property. Let
tiers have been received in every language
OF the globe, and one Russian has written
atvarious times to know why he hasn't re-
ceived the millions that are due him. His
letters have assumed a very threatening
tone, too. His name is not Stewart,
but typical, unpronounceable Russian.
He advances the ingenious plea, how
ever, that Alexander 7. Stewart changed
his name when be emigrated to this country.
At first glance of course these letters
would seem to be unimportant; minor
nuisances on a par with the begging eplstles
which every wealthy man receives, but some
of them are more There are among these
claimants men who, in the hands of in
genious lawyers, might make out cases
strong enough to give them standing be-
fore the courts. Once they get that and they
can make life miserable for all the present
heirs of the Stewart estate and 1or Judge
Hilton particularly.
FIGHTING AHEAD.
Such was the suit of Alexander Stewart,
of Vermont, which, after dragging along
in the courts for tour years, was finally
withdrawn. Judge Horace Russell. Hill
toms son-in-law, said to me, in regard to
this: "Any man can come into court with
complaint charging this or that against a
wealthy man and put him to endless trouble
in employing counsel to enter his defense"
But there is something more in some of
these cases. 1t is only necessary for a claim
ana to produce family registers, burial or
marriage certificates to give him a legal
standing which would endanger the disposi-
tion of the entire Stewart property as lett bv
A T. Stewart. If such a claimant should
prove his case it would nullify a large part
of Mrs. Stewards will. That this is not a
fanciful danger is recognized by Hilton,
and its threatening shadows do not add to
his peace of mind. 1t is not so improbable
that Stewart had some distant direct rela-
tive of whom he had never heard and who
may vet turn up tc oust all the present war
ring heirs There are several cases of such
claimants held in allegiance at the present
time, and some have been pending Tor 13
years.
One curious and interesting result of the
present contests and the publication of the
Stewart agreement is the enmity that has
arisen between the Buffers, who are rela-
tives of Mrs. Stewart of the half blood, and
the Smiths, who are relatives of the full
blood. This enmity was caused, curiously
enough, by
THE RECENT DEATH
of one of the maiden Clinch sisters After
her death it was found that her will left her
entire property to the Buffers, thus be-
queathing to them also her share in the
Stewart property. 1t then came out, too,
that the two remaining Clinch women had
made similar wills because of some secret
This makes the Buffers
sure to win large proportion of the estate.
l! the will is broken they will eventually
come in for iour-fiths of the entire estate
and if it is sustained they will secure four
ffths of oue-half of the estate. The pro-
portion that will go to the Smiths, on the
other hand, will be only one-fith. The bit
terness that has arisen out of this condition
of affairs bids fair to make new and in
teresting complications before long. It has
been kept secret, hitherto, and 1 only
upon it by chance
Up to the present time there are 5000 |
folios Of testimony in the case OF Rosalie |
Butler against the will. Printed it will |
make ten volumes of ZOO pages each. There |
never has been will contest in this country |
in which the evidence was SO voluminous.
and yet the proponents introduced only six |
who all testified briefly to one |
tact. Although Judge Hilton's counsel |
profess q desire to have the cases disposed of |
speedily, that is within three or four years. vet
The indications are that it will pass into legal |
history as another interminable case, with |
a goodly share of the property in the hands |
Of the lawyers. More delicate legal oues- |
lions have already arisen than in anv will |
case ever before the courts of this country.
W neither the true story of the causes that
ed lonely, innocent Mrs Stewart to make
1er peculiar testament will ever be divulged
IS another question which time alone can
answer. JOHN HOE.