Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-05-14
ESTATES IN EUROPE.


NMnlorrns
There - fouishing on q down town
east sido street q Legacy Advance COM
paly with a counselor az Fronoh and
German law ns general manager. The
Offices are handsomely appointed, and
apparently tho business IS profitable.
Most Of the clients Of this company arc
OF French or German birth. and II they
can satisfy tho general manager that
they have nn inheritance coming 70
them from Europe they may obtain
from him an advance on &C. The cOm-
paDy will either bay tho inheritance
outright or &c will collect &c on commits
sion New YoYk's foreign population Is
large, md many Of its members are
living q hand to mouth existence wait
ing for relatives at home to die and
leave them MONEY. Tho Legacy Advances
company will not discount tire claims Of
prospective heirs because the laws ia
this country will not permit In Eng.
land this sort Of d~iscounting is a rooog-
nlzed business
"H &c vcro only permitted hcre,"
said tho manager of tho company, "thoro
would DO millions IN il, but it isn't
and wo don't do any Of that kind Of busi-
ness ! know Of one company IN Lou
don that has made Q 81, 600, 900 IN
these discounts"
This Now York company finds that
there b business enough in collecting
inheritnnoes. and aome Of the men and
women who ask il for aid give It phan.
tom chasez This Is particularly truo Of
tho French claimants They are always
and on general principles expecting
something from somebody. Every time
the French papers announce tho death
Of a wealthy man without heirs there is
90 DO found SOME a IN this city who
a. ready to claim relationship and a part
Of tho estate The Legacy Advance COM
pany takes no chances. When a claim
ant satisfies tho manager that he has a
reasonable claim q an inheritance
abroad ard Is willing 20 give q power
Of attorney to collect it, tho manager
cables for Information to his agent in
tho town where tho estate happens 70
be- II he receives satisfactory evidence
that tho claim IS a good one, be makes
an advance to tho hCir hero and sets in
motion his machinery for collecting the
legacy
IL IS easier 70 collect legacies in Ger
many than ia France. and IL is easier to
collect them in either country than in
the United States. Moreover, it is
cheaper. An estate may be settled in
from six weeks 20 three months in Ger
many, whereas in this country it would
take a year to bring about tho Same SGT
element
''M0st CT the legacics that we have
for collection, " said tho manager, ''aro
small ones ranging from 2, 600 to 10, 600
marks Occasionally we have a big leg
ncy for collection. but generally big
legacies prove TO be myths. For in
stance, here Is a letter that / have just
received from a man in the west, who
claims that the city Of Amsterdam owes
him SIS, 600, 900. An ancestor of his
settled there in 1895, he says, and died,
leaving n big fortune, which the city
appropriated, rs there were apparently
no heirs to claim it. This man writes
that he has absolute proof that he is an
heir to this estate. Unfortunately for
him, all such claims were declared void
by q law raised in 1885. Perhaps were
Il not for that law no might be able to
collect something. Who knows? AS it
Is, however, no is wasting his time, and
! shall have to write and tell him so. >"
do you have many bogus claims pre-
sented to your"
eyes. there are a good many such.
Sometimes the claimant himself is fool
cd. Not long ago n we'll dressed man
--Nf-n .a 49,. n 80. al ,nn.1 ru e. COL
lect a claim for 80, 000 marks from an es-
tate that had been left in Switzerland
The man showed us his papers identity
ing him, and gave US a description Of
the property there and a complete his
tory OF It. We communicated with our
agent IN Switzerland and found that an
estate had been left just as this man had
described, and that be was one Of the
heirs. We were taking the necessary
steps to collect it when a tramp came
into our Office He was stability dressed
and looked as If he had been kicking
around the streets for months.
Are y0u collecting a legacy in
switzerlaud for Blank?' he asked.
1--WE are, | answered, surprised
that this man should know anything
about it
"'Woll. you arc on tho wrong track, :
be said. 'hecauso I ain Blank, and tie
othor man for whom you arc acting Is a
fraud.
Ellis appearance didn't tend % cor
roborato his claim, but DO told substan-
TALLY the same story about the estate
that the other man had told, and my
curiosity was aroused He said that the
man WHOM We SUPPOSED 70 be the real
Mr.. Blank was, OF rather had been, his
servant He had waited for an opportu-
nifty and had then robbed his master Of
all his money and his papers. Armed
with the papers, lao had bson passing
himself or IS tho real Mr.. Blank. This
tramp told such q oiroumstantial story
that / was impressed by &C. / got him a
shave and then bad him photographed.
] sent this photograph With tho details
~ the case 10 switzerland. ana my agent
sent back word that the tramp wal tho
real Air. Blank, and that the other
man claim was fraudulent The FIRST
man evidently got wind Of tho fact that
be had been exposed, Tor be never turn
Cd up again New York Letter.
A Ccgtparison.
ftmLf. 49,. 49, 90 -.m-foq ~. nj.