The Irish standard., 1895-03-09
MYTH l Ri / 4 q N |
improbable Stories OF Great Hsng-
dsh5 Legacies. d

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 80 ~ - - g
lish Legaoies II
An ola Letter Thst Reysais tho scurril-
ops scheme Employed by Sharks Ii
This Country for Dipping Cred
uloua Americans. &
Some recent roma tic tales about I'M
mense English estates which belong to
American heirs suggest repu blication
of an opinion written by Judah p Ben
iamin twenty six years ago, says the
Chicago Herald. Foil lowing is the great
lawyers letter: .
.'La1nb Building, Temple, London,
FEB. 3, 1859 Editor New Orleans
Times: Will you permit me through
ssyour columns to send a word of warning
to the public against q scheme Of
swindling which is now extensively
practiced in the United States?
s:since my call to the English bar
hundreds Of letters have reached me
from Louisiana and other parts of the
union, Written by persons, many OF
whom are educated and intelligent,
making inquiries relative to estates
represented as existing in this country
unclaimed and awaiting the appear
ance of heirs residing in America.
In every instance that has come to my
knowledge the statements are false.
and evidently made for the purpose Of
defrauding parties out Of sums, large
or small, under pretext of paying the
costs of records, copies, etc, said to be
necessary for the assertion Of the pre-
tended claim. [
Zone claim may be selected as an ex-
ample A banker by the name Of
James Wood died in Gloucester in the
wear 1886, leaving a fortune of about
100000. His will was the subject Of
much litigation, but finally decided to
be valid, and the estate was ordered to
be divided among the legatees under a
decision of the house of lords in l847.
Anyone DESTROYS Of having particulars
of the litigation can trace it through
the different charts, as follows: l. In
the prerogative court of Canterbury
Canterbury reported in 2 Curteiss,
p. 49, Q. On appeal to the privy coun-
Gil in 'Moore's Privy Council Cases, :
at D. 1856; and 8. In the house Of lords,
in the case entitled The Corporation Of
Gloucester VS.. Osborne House of
Lords Cases. p. 272. Although his es-
tate has thus been finally settled and
distributed for more than twenty years,
i do not at all exaggerate in stating
that not month passes without my re-
ceiving one or more letters from per-
sons who are approached by some pre-
tended agent of some imaginary great
Arm Of London solicitors engaged in
seeking heirs of the great interstate
banker, James Wood, whose fortune,
amounting to $40, 900, 900, is lying in the
Bank of England awaiting claimant.
''The usual mode of proceeding adopt
ed is to propose to undertake the bust,
ness free Of expense, the proposer to
receiver only a share of what may be
recovered. This seems so reasonable
that in most cases the dupe readily
swallows the bait. A short time after
ward he is Informed that all inquiries
and researches have resulted favorably,
and that nothing is wanted to insure
success except the cost of a few copies
of records and other papers, and that
the proposer, having already incurred
great expense in conducting the neces-
sary inquiries and researches, is left
without resources at the very moment
when few pounds would suffice to
secure the fruits of his labors and expen-
dit,1re. Many are the victims from whom
sums varying from e2o to $500 have
been thus extracted, and the number OF
persons engaged in this system must be
very great, and the sums received by
them very considerable, if at all in pro-
portion to the number Of letters re-
ceived here on the subject. Many
thousands of pounds are known to have
been expended by those who could i'll
afford to bear the loss in the pursuit OF
the great Jennings estate; and some OF
those who have spent money in this
way have actually been deluded into
writing to me their convictions that
they were entitled to dislodge the pres
ent duke of Marlborough from the
Blenheim castle, by virtue of their de-
scent from the famous Duchess Sarah
Jennings. Most of the persons who are
duped are ignorant on two points,
which, in nearly every instance, would
satisfy them at once of the utter folly
Of the hopes they indulge. The first is
that an alien cannot be an heir in Eng
land when there is no will and that he
cannot take real estate even if left to
him by will. The second is that in
England estates devolve upon the eld-
est son alone, and on his eldest son in
succession, and are not divided in shares
among all children as in Louisiana and
other states. Yet nothing is more com
mon than for persons to assert heirship.
to the supposed shares Of younger
brothers and sisters, or to claim as ma
tives of the United States heirship to
Englishmen who had left no wills.
"In the hope that this exposure will
be OF some use to my fellow citizens, ia
whose welfare retain the deepest in
terest, and may protect them to some
extent from the sharpers who are plum
dering them, / remain, very respectful
", your obedient servant, 5fI 3sis
y. p. BENJAMIN. III
An Old Japanese hank. 81 g5
japan has 4 banking hnI1sea that has