Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-27
WRITTEN BY WASHINGTON,
Whereabouts of a Volume of Letters On
the Object of a Lawsuit, Now Unknown

Whereabouts Of a Volume of Letters Once
the Object of Lawsuit, Now Unknown.
The Historical Magazine. August 1861. page
256 says: The curious case of Eyre agains,
Higbee is again brought into the supreme
court Of New York. This .>-.- ersy grow.
out of a claim to a volume of original letters
and papers written by Gen. George Washing.
ton to Col. Tobias Lear. who was for rnany
years the generals private etary. Col
Lear died interstate and the letters PASSED to his
son benjamin, who died in 1882. leaving q
widow. Apesthumous child. Louisa, vino married
Wilson Eyre, III 1856. WAS the sole heir and ne II
OF Kin to benjamin. From the decease Of Col.
Lear until some time during the last
illness of his widow. who died in De
cenbe.. 1855. the widow, LEILA. had re-
tanned possession o. the papers in controversy
During her illness the defendant. Mrs. Higbee,
took them i'll custody. and the defendants have
since retained them. The defendants claim the
utle to the papers as tho legal representatives
OF the writer.
The main question involved in the case is
whether the writer Of q letter has property i'm
it after he las sent it. The case was referred TO
q referee, who reported IN favor of the plaintiff
from which the defendant appeals. The appel
iants contend that the writer has property in
his letters. The respondents, on the other
hand, insist that the receiver OF the letters has
u right to their possession against the world
and has property in them, the only limita-
ton being the rights Ut the writer to publish
and to restrain the publication of them by the
receiver or others. The decision WAS reserved! -
The reporter OF the supreme court of New
York as an introduction makes the following
synopsis:
OF the receivers administrator. And not be-
ing assets they cannot be sold by him in the
course of administration to pay debts.
Where letters were at the time of the re-
ceivcr death In his house. and they remained
thereafter during the life of his widow in her
possession. she having the custody Of the same,
and exercising acts of ownership over them for
period Of forty years, with the knowledge and
assent OF Is. Q.ear). the only son and heir of
tho receiver, it was held that as against u. and
his personal representatives grant Of the let
tiers from u. to the widow would, after SO great
Lapse of time be presumed, aud that she thus
became the legal owner of them.
Held also, that the plaintiffs. claiming such
letters under a sale thereof made by the adj
lninistratof of the receiver, acquired title
to the same by their purchase. because the adj
ministrator had no authority to sell them.
Held farther, that the defendants being law
fully in possession Ms against all the world ex-
cept the legal Representatives Of the receivers
widow.
Whether the receiver Of letters has any prop
erty in them which will pass to his executor?
Quere.
1t is probable that these were the letters Of
Gen. Washington 10 Col Tobias Lear from
which Richard Rush, esq. made extracts for his
publication, entitled ''Washington in Domestic
Life, from Original Letters aud Manuscripts"
published by him in 1857. The following para
graph from his introduction IL TO some extent
descriptive of the letters he had access to and
which 1t IL surmised were the ones in litigation:
Il returned the original letters, in number
more than thirty. in the state / received them
from her (Ars. Lear). 1 never allowed any
one Of them to be copied, but gave one
away. or two, for am not at this day
certain which. to Mr.. Polk while he was Presi-
dent OF the United Staten, having FIRST asked
and obtained Mrs. Lear's consent for that pur-
pose. She also gave me- Two Of them not very
long before her dsccase, which prize the more
as her gift have other orfxinaI letters from
the same immortal soarcs, tie valued dona-
ton in 1880 Of the son Of Col. Lear, Lincoln
Lear, esq.
Can any one inform TIM arAR what has be-
como OF the volume of autograph letters of
Washington mentioned in this controyersy3