Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1895-05-02
WORE A COAT OF MAIL
THE NOTORIOUS BeNsLeY CASE RE-
VlvED IN SAN FRANCISCO.

| ventures.
John Bensley, who died June IA, 1880,
was one of the best known citizens OF San
francisco. People regarded him as one OF
the set of moneyed men, placing him with
Mills, Ralston, Friedlander and other null
timillionaires.
Time, however, developed that this man,
who had been spoken Of as public spirit
ed epterprising, broad and generous, and
who had linked his life with that of beau
tiful, cultivated and designing woman,
was weak, close listed, even mean, and
neither OF the couple appeared TO have
code OF nice morals or to be possessed of
particular scruples
Facts In the careers Of the Bensleys even
stranger than fiction were developed In the
celebrated Bensley case which occupied the
attention Of the United States district
court for years and which was brought to
a judicial termination In December, 1898.
Some time in 1867 or 1868 Mrs. Gre
Vile appeared in California. She said that
she was widow OF George Greville, mem
Der of parliament, and daughter of the
Earl of Eyelin, Scotch nobleman She
was handsome fascinating, had Travelled
1
and possessed in rare degree those quail
| ties which fascinate men,
| She met John Bensley and beguiled
him Mrs. Greville became Mrs Bensley.
Soon after the marriage the couple went
TO England. Mrs. Bensley reached Lon
don first. She represented to the husband
that she had castle In Scotland and a
town house in London-a stately mansion
| n the west end
| Bensley followed but instead Of finding
his bride in a mansion surrounded by no.
bemen and ladies she was in an ordinary
London boarding house How is this?"
he exclaimed. Not in the mansion of
the Evelins!" Bensley was forgiving
however, and he and the charming widow
were married over again at St. Georges
| chapel in London.
Later they returned to San Francisco.
and the shrewd and cunning woman min
glcd with her husband in nearly all his
business affairs. For some reason they
conveyed considerable property In San
Diego to Bertrand g. Chandos In near
ly all communications between Mrs Bens-
ley and Chandos she appeared as his aunt
and he as her nephew. There was no hint
of "A closer relationship.
In 1877 the trouble came Although
Bensley was supposed to be very wealthy
man, the firm of Linforth Kellogg e. Co,
Of which he was member, became flnan-
cially embarrassed and went into insol-
vency The creditors became suspicious,
and in the litigation that followed an ex-
traordinary condition of affairs was devel-
oped
Ii appeared that after the failure Bens-
ley induced the assignees to enter into an
al Al n
vidual property and for the discharge of
all his debts. Bensley, having secured
control of his own property, Immediately
proceeded TO make the fulfillment of his
agreement an impossibility by fraudulent
y conveying all his estate to his wife and
secrcting himself from his creditors by go
go east Piece by piece his real estate was
transferred to mysterious relatives of his
wife and by them decided back to her.
For l2 years this remarkable woman
who was popularity supposed to wear coat
of chain mail. withstood the questions of
able counsel and never gave clew as to
how the property once owned by her hus-
band had been sccreted The litigation
WAS still pending at the time of her death,
she surviving her husband by only six
months
Another chapter was added to the re-
markable story of the Bensley estate re-
Gently by the filing of suit by Edward
A. Macmahon who claims to be the nat
ural son of Mrs. Bensley and her lawful
heir, against b. G. Chandos and others to
whom the estate was recently distributed
by an order of the probate court
1t is claimed that since the death Of Mrs.
John Bensley some most extraordinary
facts have been discovered as to her TO.
mantle career prior to her marriage with
Bensley The adventures who claimed
to be the widow of Lord Greville and re-
lated to the noble house Of Evelin was
one OF eight children born to John and
Mary Ingles in Virginia She was mar
ried three times. Soon after marrying
her first husband she left him, and he OBJ
tanned divorce on the ground of willful |
desertion
She was thought by her relatives to be |
dead but later on was heard from in Eng
land under various names, among them |
Mary l. Chandos and Lou Guise. In 1865 |
she married Edward A. Greville, but |
seemed to have no better fortune than |
with her first husband, for they soon quar-
relied and separated She then came to |
this country and gave BIRTH In the state
of Virginia to the plaintiff In the action |
She left the boy with her mother and gave
out that he was dead The object Of this |
was TO deceive the father of the child, who
came TO this country To search for him, and |
becoming disheartencd left for parts un.
known To make the deception more per.
feet she changed the boys name to Mac
mahon
After Greville disappeared Mrs Greville
went to California and married Bensley
After this marriage she had the boy
brought to her in California She paid
for his support and also for his education
He attended a school In San Mateo and
afterward went to the university at Berke
ley To some of the teachers in these
schools the boy was known as Mrs Bens-
ley's son
b & Chandos, who appeared In the case
of the litigating creditors of Bensley as
having had some property in San Diego
decided to him by Bensley, which he after.
ward transferred to Mrs Bensley, is one
OF the defendants In the action 1t is said
that his real name Is Zachariah Ingles,
and that he is brother of the dead wom-
an After her death he went to California,
representing that he and his three sisters
were the sole heirs to her estate BY his
representation and alleged fraud IL Is