San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-09-30
JARNDYCE AND JARNDYCE.

Dickens Wrote "BIe ak House."
New York Times.
Something is likely to be heard
here in the next few months about a
legal contest in the English courts
over the possessions of Earl Howe.
which are said to be valued at from
500, 900, goo to $3.50, 100000. Two gen.
tlemen arrived in this country the
other day by the Alaska, and are at
the New York Hotel, who have the
case In hand for the plaintiff in the
contest, ana have come here to trace
lineage and gather family records aud
the like from alleged heirs of the es-
tate living in this country. There ere
said to be about 1870 OF these persons.
mainly residents of the Southern
States.
The plaintiff in the case is Bepja-
min Willis, and the lawyers who
have come over to work up the Amer
lean end of the case are Nicholas
Moody and Henry Bouchette. This
estate has been in litigation TOR near
ly a century. The case long ago be-
came so famous in England that it
was used az o subject for q novel by
Wilkie Collins, and furnished Dickens
the subject for the celebrated case OF
Jsrndyce and Jarndyce in "Blesk
House,
The property In litigation belonged
to William Jennens, who died in Lon
don in 1913. He was money lender
and the richest commoner in Europe
at that time. IL was not long after
his death when the courts were ask
ed to take charge of the estate, and
from that time various suits were
brought, all intended to recover the
property from the people who had
tax on possession of 1t, who have since
became titled. AlTsuits we're fruit
less. so far as the plaintiffs were con-
cerned, and such decisions as were
rendered invariably favored the de-
PENDANTS. The case has now been re.
opened on the alleged discovery of
new evidence. Pa oers were served on
Earl Howe In August, and immedi
ateIy afterward the attorneys started
to this country to collect evidence.
The suit Is brought not only to re-
cover the estate of Earl Howe. but
also to take from him his title on the
ground that it was obtained by the
ubC Vi ootoibCNs
A summary of the case as present
ed by the attorney for the plaintiff
shows that soon after the death of
Jennens, Sophia Charlotte Curzon, at
ter ward the Baroness Howe, took
possession of Jennens' property on
behalf Of her son, George Augustus
William CurZon; as heir at law OF
William Jennens. This child died
in 1905. 1t il claimed that q child, not
her SOD, was then put forward by her
as the heir of the estate. she said that
he was q younger brother. His name
was given as Richard William Cur
zon. The evidence discovered upon
which the case was reopened, goes to
show that the alleged younger bro
Their was not really q member of the
family at all, but was q child of Ann
Cakes, q spinster. This child on be-
coming of age in 1921 was created
Earl Howe. The present Earl is the
third in line.
1t is alleged, on behalf of the plain
tiff, that all three Esrls have known
the truth in this matter and have
concealed it. There Is said to be evil
derce that, in trying to conceal the
tEulh hOb W uo~
face gravestone inscriptions and to
destroy parish records.
The alleged new evidence appears
to have come to light through the
daughter of Ann Cakes, who wrote a
letter in 1879 to the uncle of BeDja-
min Willis 1.-The plaintiff, in which she
said that her mother had acknow-
lodged before she died that the origi-
nal Earl Howe was her son, and had
been substituted for the son ofSophis
Charlotte CurzoD for the purpose OF
securing .'JeDnens' property. In 1873
the present plaintiff was Is years old.
When he reached the age of q years
he began to make inquiries upon the
subject of this letter, and these inqui.
ries have resulted in the present
suit.
The estate of the Earl of Howe con.
sist ofActon Place, ChasfieId, Bulmer
and Cavendish in the County of Suf-
folk, property in Birmingham and
elsewhere IN the County of Warwick
and valuable poser siOns also in the
Counties of Essex and Leicester. In
the litigation that has taken place
fortunes have been sunk by claim
ants.
AID American woman living in
Philadelphia, is said to have spent
$50, 900, which was all she possessed,
in pushing on her suit. A man named
Willis, not the present plaintiff. be.
came so much worked up over what
he regarded as his rights that he
took forcible possession of one of the
estates and proceeded to demonstrate
his claim as owner by cutting down
some handsome trees on the grounds.
A suit for damages and trespass was
brought against him and he was heav.
lily mulched.
1t is said that there is evidence to
prove that George Ill. received a
handsome hsuorarium for bestowiDg