The herald., 1895-03-03

David King, appeared upon the scene.
Edward King was the father of George
Gordon King, at present one of Newport S
prominent society men, and one of the
chief litigants in the present case.
King went back to Rhode Island with
his brothers. and was confined in the Nc
Lean Asylum. He was sent there on
commitment, the legality of which is
questioned, and which, it is alleged, was
signed by Charles Bradley, Chief Justice
OF the Supreme Court of Rhode Island.
From that day to this, William H. King
became the guardian of his imprisoned
brothers. millions and remained so until
he died. Then Edward King, another
brother, secured the appointment, and
his control Of the property was only ter
minated by DEATH Following him the
third brother, DR.. David King, was made
guardian. He died in 1882.
Then quietly and without warning the
woman in the case appeared and persist
emily and earnestly she has labored until
she has opened the doors of the King
closets and exposed what she claims are
the skeletons of the household. She start
ed with petition for writ of habeas
corpus, which was presented in Boston.
She asked that King be released from
a reason for the request. The petition
United States Circuit Court of Appeals.
There the case is still pending.
May |, 1894. Wi liam H. King was re
moved from the Mclean Asylum to the
Butler Asylum in private car by George
Gordon King, his presumed nephew, of
made an application to the Rhode Island
Supreme Court for appointment as guard
ian ad Item of the estate of William III.
King. Then it was that the mysterious
woman appeared. 1t was done without
any advance sign. She opposed the ap-
pointment of King and asked that she
herself, as next of kin, be made guardian
of the estate of the man in the asylum.
The name at the end of the petition was
Mrs. e. A. Webster Ross.
According to her recital the search for
the alleged William H. King had been the
sole business of her life, engrossing her
whole time and attention since 1876.
II have made repeated visits for this
purpose, she says, Ito nearly every state
in the Union. | have made two trips to
Europe, and l have had attorneys and
other assistants engaged in the search.
During all that time had no knowledge
of the existence of the King families and
heirs in Newport and did not know of
their existence until | discovered the
whereabouts of the alleged William H.
King
She says that King was not insane at
the timeof his commitment, and that he
was incafcerated contrary to the law of
the state OF Massachusetts,; that there was
no physicians certificate for the order of
admission to the Mclean Asylum, and
that not until April 49, 1894, after the
man had been confined twenty eight
years, was proper order of commitment
obtained by George Gordon King from
Judge OF the Police Court of Somerville,
Mass, and that then habeas corpus pro-
ceedings were pending, and this paper
was illegal. She says that Kings COM
mitment to Butler Hospital was fraudu-
lently procured; that his property has
been dissipated and wasted; that if his
mind is affected it is only the natural re-
suit of confinement in a single room for
twenty-eight years.
In the meanwhile speculation ran rife.
What was the womans relations to King?
Was she his wife? Was she the woman
whom he was to have married? Was she
his daughter by recent marriage?
Whence came her wealth? and so on. The
lawyers smiled, and the people are still
specializing at least as to the relationship.
The Kings have never wavered in their
denunciation of Mrs. Ross as an advent
uress. If she is next of kin to the alleged
William II. King, to her care will go the
magnificent King residence at Newport,
the estates in New York, the millions Of
dollars worth of property which belong to
the old man in the asylum. If her claims
of relationship are established the world
will stand amazed at the story of 1866,
and the ruin which will come as its fruit.