The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-01
BILLIONS UNCLAIMED.
From the Hartford Times.

the llIleS
Do you know that there is nearly half
billion of dollars lying in the English
court of chancery. awaiting claimants?
Do you know, moreover. that more than
half that vast amount rightly Belongs to
individuals somewhere in America, many
of them, probably, in poor circumstances.
and destined to remain forever I'm ignor-
ance of the good fortune that might be
theirs? What an immense thing il would
be for trade if only these heirs could
come into their owni
How on earth can 1t be that such an
enormous sum of money has to go a-beg-
ging, we are prone to ask. In this money
seeking age such a statement is almost
beyond belief. Well. there are many req
sons. The principal one, perhaps, is the
facility with which lightning rail-
roads and ocean greyhounds can
put worldwide distances between the
members Of a family. A man leaves his
home in Yorkshire. let us say, and comes
to America; he goes out west to grow M,
with the country; new life and assOci;.-
tlons crowd out OF his mind all though,
of the old; after a while he ceases to cor
respond with the folks at home a move or
two from one town TO another, and pres
emily he IS as enectually lost to them az,
II the earth had opened and engulfed him
Through the death of a relative perhaps.
his people become rich, they die their bei,.
cannot be found, and the money goes into
chancery
once on the track. many other solutions
of the missing heir problem viii readily
. suggest themselves to the reader. Here is
case, however that is deeply mysterious.
In the north of England there is large
estate at present unclaimed, owing to the
following peculiar circumstances: One af-
ternoon, six years ago, the dissolute son
and heir, after a quarrel with his father.
started off to collect the rents with the in
tentiOn of applying them to his own proni-
gate purposes. After him in hot haste
went the irate parent. but neither Of them
ever returned, and what became of them
is an unanswerable question to this day.
Did they fall over the edge of the world in
interecine conflict like the stays In
the Himalayas? Perhaps they fought each
other into Kilkenny regiments
Not long ago a gentleman applied to a
neXt-of-kin agency for aid in recovering
money under these circumstances: II an
peared that in 1863 young lady of good
family, while attending g ball given in
honor of some military officers, suddenly
eloped with one of them who had previous
ly been paying her attention They We're
married. and she was never afterward rec
ognized by her wealthy parents After her
death her husband received a letter in
forming him that his Wife's fortune was
lying in certain bank for her children
He was so incensed, however, at the treat
ment his wife had received that he threw
the letter into the fire, saying that Meth
er he nor his children desired to have anv-
thing whatever to do with either them
or their wealth. The money, therefore for
nearly a hundred years remained in the
bank unclaimed
Let US glance at few successful cases
of chancery funds recovered by Ameri-
cans Some years ago William Banks died
in Lancashire, England, leaving a valua-
bic estate He had a son in this country
who, after leading dissipated life and
deserving his wife and daughter died in
a cheap lodging house in New York tIls
daughter married soon after and lived I'm
humble circumstances in GreenpOint
when. changing one day to see an adver-
tisement for her grandfather's next-of-l1in
she put in her claim and recovered over
$500. 900.
John Lawrence died Il England IN 1874
leaving q large property Half a century
later an American. his next-of-kin mt in
a claim and obtained So, coo Abotit the
same time "A family Of natiVe-born Aneri-
IN Maryland, recovered $4,000 from small
fortune left by Rlchard Yerbery as far
back as l75i
A case which viii be read with more than
ordinary interest is that OF William feline
the villa~e blacksmith Of Stockton Il i
who a few years ago fell heir 10 an earl
dom in England and an estate valued at
father had become enamOred cf a pretty
gin. FAR beneath him socially. indeed siru-
ply q blacksnith's daughter He married
her and so brought un0n himself lie an
ger Cf his parents. on their refusing no
recognize him hn went 10 London and
der MS wifc's father. soon after he came
20 america, and. procuring q steady Job.
hf- sent for DIS Wlfc and child Here mo
laffer grew uD 10 De "a sturdy lad learn
nt tia fathers trade also. and in fufa ION
.rd rarr'"1. Ono oyonirg - le