Evening journal., 1892-01-25
GOLD AND BONDS GAL ORE
An Old Lady Dies and Leaves
Her House Wealth Laden,
AND SIZE Vas THOUaHT 10 BE POOR

east from mere on the blackhAll foaui ther0
stands big rambling house, surrounded
BY many acres Of ground, overlooking tho
sound. Here for many years lived Mrs.
Jane Kingshury She died a week ago Of
grip at the nge Of eighty-two She was
buried from the house two days later She
had lived a rather solitary life She was
supposed to 30 living upon an annuity left
her BY her husband, the late Major Julius
Kingsbury, 81 the regular army
This quiet little village was astonished by
the announcement that 100000 in cash and
securities TO the amount ol $4,000 more
had been found hidden in the house which
Mrs. Kingsbury occupied.
Mrs. Kingsbury had spent more or less Of
her time in Lyme. Her sister, Adeline,
married Captain Champlin and came to
Lyme to live Captain Champlin died soon
after His widow then married Mr. Thomas
Cunningham, who also took up his residence
here. Mrs. Kingsbury visited her sister a
great deal
Upon one Of these visits she met AIaisr
Kingsbury OF the regular army. He was a
native Of Waterbury. They fell in love and
were married That was in the early
forties Whom they We're married Mrs.
Kingsbury always accompanied her hus-
hand. In 1919 he was sent to California.
He got the gold fever and did a little
prospecting on his own hook Before he
had Ind any luck at t9ss however, he was
| ordered to proceed to Chicago.
she Commenced TO Get Close.
Major Kingsbury bought large block of
| land there very cheap, and almost before he
/ knew 1t he was a wealthy man. Again he
was changed This time the governments
sent him to Florida to help snbdue the Sem
inoles. From then until just before ths
outbreak Of the war Of the rebellion Major
Kingsbury was kept on the move. His wife
always accompanied him. They had two
childran born TO them, a son and q daugh-
ter. Tho former followed Ia the footsteps
Of his father and entered the army.
He was colonel Of the Eleventh Connecti-
cut regiment, and was killed at the battle
/ OF Antietam. The daughter married Gem
eral Simon b. Buckner, OF Kentucky. just
before the war began General Kingsbury
died He was a very wealthy man. He
died intestate. This led to a series OF law
suits which were upon the court calendars
! for more than dozen years. No one up
1 here seems 70 know just what il was all
8 about The lawsuits were not brought
2 until after Colonel Henry Kingshury, the
{ son Of the major, was killed Upon the
death Of Major Kingsbary his widow came
2 70 Lyme to live with her sister, Mrs Cum
Z ningham About six years ago Mrs. Cum
ningham died Her husband died a few
years before About this time it was no.
ticed that Mrs Kingsbury was getting
CLOSE She disposed Of the horses and
{ carriages. She also discharged all the help
= about the place except one woman servant.
a These two lived all alone in the big ramb-
ling house until Mrs. Kingsbury's death
j But Mrs Kingsbury did not take her COM
e panion into her confidence by any MEANS
4 She was just as ignorant Of the wOman's
9 hidden wealth as anybody else until it was
discovered.
A year after the death Of Mrs Kiugsbury's
sister she made a viii. She sent for Judge
K Grswold and told him she wanted her prop
e erty equally divided between her grand
. daughter, Mrs. Lily Belknap, Of Louisiana,
1 a daughter Of General Bucllner, and a grand
r son. Henry w kingsbury, a son of Colonel
o Henry Kingsbury. But she had named no
a sum and none was mentioned IN the will
. The executors Of the document We're Judge
GIiswold and Louis Cunningham, nephew
OF her dead sister
a When Mrs. Kingsbury was taken with
r the grip several weeks ago She sent word to
r her granddaughter, Mrs BelSnap, that she
o would like TO see her. But before Mrs
/ Belknap could arrive Mrs kingsbury fell
+ upon a stove in her room and cut her head
badly. She bled profusely, and sank almost
instantly in a state of Inconsistencies, in
which condition she remained for four days,
4 when She died. Mrs. Belknap, accompanied
; by her husband, arrived the day after this
4 accident.
Money, Money Everywhere.
I After the funeral services the body was
: taken to Waterbury The Belknaps then
returned to their home. On last Wednesday
Judge Griswold appeared before Probate
I Judge Sweeney, Of Old Lyme, and had Mrs.
. Kingsbury's win probated- Then he and
I Louis Cunningham went TO the old home
I stead to prepare an inventory.
i They rummaged around in the drawers Of
the bureaus for a second or SO and were
thunderstruck to uncover pile Of glittering
gold. It was piled up in nice piles on the
4 bottom Of the drawers. In some instances
: 1t was all covered with dust
0 They looked In other places about the
Q house and found it literally running over
+ with money. Before they left the house
they had found $4,000 in money. OF this
sum $4,000 was in gold pieces, ranging in
denomination from $40 to $50.
! They gathered it up in improvised begs
q and trundled it to New London, where they
y locked it up in the storage vaults Of the
y bank The money was found hidden in the
]. bottoms Of old leather trunks bureau
drawers and in the mattresses of the beds.
Where or how Mrs. Kingsbury was able to
|, collect this large amount her lawyers are
X unable to explain. They say that they
y figure that she had between 100000 and
y sI25, 900 in money and securities in the
house at the time Of her death, and not a
soul in the whole township even suspected it
1t is surInised that the money was the TO
r suit Of a settlement OF the lawsuit after the
4 twelve years OF litigation, as it has mys-
> leriously disappeared from the court cal
!. sndar.