The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1890-04-19
He FORGOT HIS GOLD.
Left n Fortune in San FranCisco to De
come Rich in South Africa.

come Rich in South Africa.
Another strange discovery has come to
light In TN" Uibernia bank deposits that
have been neglected for many years by
thciT wners 1t appears that Jeremiah
PrenGcrgast, long mourned as dead, is
alive and prosperous in South Africa,
where he has made n fortune. 1t Is
learned that he has apparently forgot
ten that $I2,O 0O await him in the Hi
hernia bank of San Francisco.
The history of Prendergast's deposit
is Ii of rhc most interesting Of all the
O'd estates that have laid unclaimed for
years in the vaults of San Francisco
vaults. In the first place it now
amounts t 0 $4,000. being the largest
sum Of all the unclaimed deposits and
in the next place it has perhaps been
more widely advertised and mote gen
orally claimed than any other sum in the
list. Strangely, however. nearly all the
PrPndcTgaSts, save the real owner, seem
to have heard of this money and laid
claim to it, while the original depOsitor
has lived quietly in South Africa all
thes" years, needless Of he fact that his
gold lies in the bankawaitingits owners
orders. Attorney Os. ar T. Shuck has
Just located the original Jeremiah
prendcrgast in the Congo Free State,
where the old man lives in great lux
urv, having amasscd a large fortune
since he went there as n of the pio-
necrS of nearly 20 years ago.
EEpr,r,1,-OIr+ r,D ., Gath NFr;o, -,
1873" said Attorney Shuck yesterday,
being one of the leaders Of q California
colony. lie left a good sum in the bank
here, since which time no one has ever
heard from him or OF him until ! got
word that he was we'll and rich. The
nearest trace we ever got of him here
was that he was at the old Empire hotel
on I4rifc street some time between
1865 and 1870. Hundreds of alleged heirs
have been after the estate, but it will,
no doubt, soon reach the original de-
positor."
\ strange fact about the case is that
the public administrator recently pc.
titiOncd for letters of administration,
alleging in a general way that Prender-
CAST died some years ago in Nevada,
Judge Slack went so far rs to appoint
Attorney J. J. Dwyer to represent the
absent heirs, but Attorney Shuck sug,
gested that Prendergast still lived
whereupon the letters of administration
were withheld.
It is quite probable that the claimants
were really induced to believe that thei1
ancestor died in Nevada, where IN oil
miner named Prcndergast expired il
a fire that destroyed his cabin and him
self at midnight in a mountain fast
ness. They will 500 learn, however
that the true jeremiah Prendergas,
who left q few thousand dollars In tn
Hib, rnia bank in 1868 went to Sout
Africa with only a little money, an
is now grizzled with age, but glide
with gold, also. The real heirs to thi
, strange pioneer live in Massachusetts.
The bankers and attorneys, as we
as tne public administrator, are wnr
dering why the pioneer of 40 deserte
5 his gold here, wen to become a PiOnee
in the African gold fields. At any rat
the money is safe. The distribution c
: a living mans funds has been ~prevente
! and $4,000 now await the owners oil
der.-San Francisco Chronicle.