Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-04
MR.. GORDON'S WILL.
ITS PRODUCTION SETTLES A PRO-
TRAcTED CONTEST.
His wayward Daughters VIII In Favor of
Foreigner Is Set Aside and the Estate
VIII Go to tho Heirs
New York Times.I


waging over the estate secured by Mary
Agnes Gordon when she broke the will Of
her father. George p. Gordon, and who at
her death startled every one who knew her
by leaving the estate 10 prchigate for
eiener. Mr.. Beckett produced another viii
executed by George z. Gordon, thereby
showing that Mary Agnes Rad willed away
half-million dollars to which she really
never had any clam.
The production Of this document appa-
rently ends the famous Gordon VIII con-
test. some phases of which have had wide
publicity. and 1t calls up the story OF the
brilliant Gordon's unhappy life, his mystic
rious death. and the wild careers OF his
wife and daughter, both OF whom are sup
posed to be dead. No authentic proof OF
their death, however. has ever been FUR
nished.
George p. Gordon was a well-known
man in this city and vicinity. by his IN
ventive genius and business ability he de-
veloped from penniless youth into q man
who at hrs death was worth more than
million and half dollars. His property
comprised the great. Gordon Press WORKS
at Railway, N. j.. handsome country re-
sldence at Railway, several lots and
beautiful home on Columbia Heights, IN
| BROOKLYN, great tracts Of land, and the
Academy of Music, in Norfolk, Va, ana
several valuable patents on his own inven-
tons of printing apparatus. When
young man he married. and IN 1898 MARY
| Agnes Gordon WAS born. Her mother dled
few years later and left the child TO grow
| up without a woman's training.
MARRIED MrLLISEB.
A dozen years after his first wife's death
Mr.. Gordon met handsome young woman,
many wears his Junior, who was a milllner
| in a small Connecticut town and they
were married. They lived together very
unbappily. The young woman had tastes
| of which the husband did not approve,
and disparity in years tended to widen the
| gulf between them: ,,
Henry Du Bots Van Wyck, OF flshkiu,
N. Y. was introduced by Mrs. Gordon TO
| her husband. and he took up his residence
with the Gordons in their Railway house.
| lie was full of wildcat business schemes
and went about with walls of gOld-dust III
his pocket. said TO have come from
| mines owned by hlm in Colorado.
1t was not long before he infu-
eneed Mr. Gordon, who was mainly
| wrapped up in his inventions. to put
money into mining ventures. Although
! Mr.. Gordon lost a good deal OF money IN
| Van Wvck's speculations he did not lose
| faith in him and continued to advance
! him LARGE sums One of Van Wyck's pur-
! chases for his HOODWINKED patron was the
| Norfolk property, which has proved to be
! of considerable value
| Van WICK and Mrs. Gordon were much
! together. and their association changed
| Mr.. Gordon from an open-hearted, gene
| rous. and genial man, dear TO friends, TO
| one of melancholy. At times he drank
| heavily. Van Wyck and Mrs. Gordon con-
| Quoted the fine establishment TO suit them
/ selves.
HEADsTBoNG GIRL
Mary Agnes Gordon had developed into
| a headstrong, self-willed young woman,
utterly without training. AT twenty
one She was addicted TO incorporate
habits. and this added 10 Mr. Cor
don's bitterness. On winter trip to Nor
| folk made by the family Miss Gordon be
| came infatuated with man named The
riot. He proved TO be a notorious thief,
and while attending an opera with the
Young woman in her fathers opera-house
| IN Norfolk one night two officers attempt
| ed to arrest him. lie jumped IRON ms
| seat and eluded them, and was never heard
! of again. but the following day Miss Cor
don missed all of her valuable jewels ana
a considerable sum OF money, and That
| ended the infatuatiOn.
| In 1878 Mr.. Gordon, with his wife and
! Van WICK, went again 70 Norfolk. linen
! it was suddenly reported 10y Mrs. GORDON
and Van WICK that Mr.. Gordon was dying.
| Mary Agnes was in Alabama, and on hear
! inc The report at once telegraphed to her
! stepmother that she was coming TO see her
! father before he died. The answer was
| that Mr.. Gordon could not see her, and
! that she must not come Dir. Gordon
| died the next day, and the girl always
| tainted her stepmother with the mystery
with which his death was surrounded.
| Very shortly after Mr.. Gordon's death his
widow and Van Wyck were quietly mar
| ried.
Van WICK knew that Mr.. Gordon had
| left a will. and Just after his death tele-
| graphed 10 a. Sidney Doane, MIR. Gordon,s
| nephew and executor, to secure the Will
and keen it safely, and the next week the
| relatives gathered in the Brooklyn house,
| and the Will was read. 1t proved great
| blow to the wife and daughter, snd the
| latter made a scene The will left 100000
| in various lepacies to his first wife's rela-
| tives 100000 to his widow absolutely
| 800 900 to his daughter for life, 10 his wife
and daughter Jointly life income from
| the residuary estate. the balance OF which,
amounting to about Sl,OO0,0OO, was 10 De
| disposed of IN a codicil, which was never
| found.
| BREAK THE WILL.
Mary Agnes Gordon Immediately re-
| solved 20 break the will, and she succeed
! ed through her lawyer, General Josiah Por-
| ter. of BROOKLYN, the will beng set aside
on the ground that it was improperly exc;
| cuted, and the big estate was divided
| among the nearest of kin, the wife ana
| daughter coming in for much larger por-
| irons than before. Lawyer II. j. Cullen,
| Jr.. of Brooklyn, and General Josiah Por-
ter administered the affairs of the estate,
| of which they have never up to this day
| exhibited an inventory.
MIR. and Mrs. Van WICK built beautiful
residence in Fishkill, n. Y, and went there
his wifes property and squandered 1T.
Last winter she and her husband went to
California, and in December Van Wyck re-
turned TO Fishkill with his wife's dead
body. She had died, he SAID, OF pneumo-
min. and there was hasty burial at Fish
kill. Van Wick would not permit the cof-
lin TO be opened at the funeral, declaring
that the embalmer had made botch of
his work, and that the body was badly de-
composed. Mystery again surrounded a
death the circumstances of which Van
Wick alone knew. He went TO Norfolk,
Va. TO look after the property there,
which in the division had fallen to his
wife. and it is thought that he is still II
After her fathers death, Mary Agnes foI
time lived in the Brooklyn house and
| then took up ner reslueuce III 'no a. .
Flats. in west Twenty-third street, this
city. In 1882. with a woman named Pauline
Therese Reitz, the daughter went &c
Europe.
HER DEATH REPORTED.
Four years ago at Scheveningen, q
watering place on The Hague, Miss Gordon
met Samuel Richard Ruyssenaers OF the
Chateau de Volkenberg at Stegg, ,neal
Arnheim, III Holland. The woman's death
was reported in this country June "a, 1890
Her will was filed and Surrogate Ransom
cited her relatives to attend its probate
They were dumbfounded to find the great
nroperty left almost entirely to two per
sons of whom they had never heard
The will, after making few requests to
daughter of General Joshua Porter, gave
the balance of her estate to The Mercantile
Trust Company in trust. TO be paid one
fifth TO Pauline Reitz and the remainder
| ---is. en- Gftbe IN Samuel Richard