The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-08-28
WASTED MONEY.
Detuded Americans Who Believo
Themselves Heirs to Wealth.
Thousands of Dollars Thrown Away In
tho Hopeless Endcavor to Push
Claims Which Have No Toun-
dctiOn Whateycr.

In spite OF tho repeated warnings
which have been sent out from ti1nc to
time by the United States legation hero
and by the press of America concerning
the fraudulent character Of so-callcd
English estate agents In America, re-
cent developments have shown, says
the Chicago Times, that the warnings
have been UNDECIDED, and that tho mum
Der of dupcs Is increasing instead of de-
creasing. During the last few weeks
moro letters than ever before have been
received from America inqu iring after
imaginary estates of fabulous sums
awaiting tho writer's In tho banks OF
England. This correspondence, as far
back as Mr.. Lowclls time, grew 10 such
enormous proportions that oil letters of
this description Ind to be answered by
printed circulars. Mr.. Lowell, IN his
circular, said:
Tho pretended prosccution OF these prctcn1ex;
American Claims to English property Is carried
on with such persistence ind ingenuity by the
mon onangcd IN 1t that We despair Of being
able TO make their credulous victims under
stand whet OH utter imposturo ond GesustOu
the whole business L. cannot too strongly
advtso you, since you have addressed US on the
subject to have nothing to 90 with such
schemes and especially 10 remit no money TO
their agents
In the case of many estates, such es
the Jennings, Lawrcnco-Townley, or
ChGsc-Townlcy, Hyde, IIernc. Bradford,
Hedges and others, special circulars
had to be printed to answer tho numcr-
Gus applicants. The plan generally
adopted by the estate agents Is 10 in
sert advertisements In the country
papers to the effect that large prop
nr-ft- hoe fNn0,, 1oft !, n
same name as that of some well-hnown
family of the district or Of some exceed
ingly common name likely 10 ooo1r any-
where.
The motfus operandi usually edoptcd
by these agents Is to ask first for re-
mittHncc of 81 or CD to cover tho costof
copying tho will upon which the clnim
purports to bc based; then u larger
sum for the expense of instituting In
quiries, and at eoch successive stage
more blaclz1aail is levied, the corre-
spondcncc being so clcvcriy conducted
that several years frequently clapse be-
fore the fraud is discovered
During Mr.. Lincoln's term Of office
as minister nearly all the let
tiers have como from small country
towns, showing that the agents find
them the most profitable field Texas,
Kansas, Iowa and the far west seem to
be especially productive Of them, al
though letters arc received from all
parts of the United Statea Among the
letters recently received ut the legation
are communications from claimants to
some thirty-ive estatea OF oil the
clnims investigated by English solicitors
| not one has been found to have uny
validity whatever. In every caep tho
legation Is utterly powcrless to
help claimants or even investigate these
cases, as under positive Instructions
from the state department no ono Ut
tached to the legation con take any
part in the investigation OF claims of
this character, and in report drown
up by Mr.. White. secretary Of le1a-
ton, it is plainly stated that tho time of
anyone wishing to prosecute Claims
will be wasted by addressing the lezga-
ton on the subject.
Claimants should Also bear In mind
that statute of limitations n1cs q
period within which. unclaimed ostatcs
revert to the crown, and this period ia
twenty years, The limit within which
action can be brought for tho recovery
of reo1 property is twelve yeara
There arc no largo sums OF money
awaiting claimants In the Bank Of
England There are very few amounts
of 81 900, and mono exceeding that sum
by moro than el0O or e20O. Tho amount
of money In chnnccry belonging to Tn
known heirs is altogether less than
Ct, 000y0 900.