The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-27

Fill Chapters of Romance and
Tragedy.
New Orleans Cor. New York Sun.
The contest over the succession of Fanny
Sweet Mills. upon which the civil district
court of Louisiana passed finally on Tues
day, Dec. 8, brought to light series OF
stories so marvellous that a novelist would
be accused of sensationalism if he gave
them in any romance
on Jan. s, 1896 Mrs William r. Mills
died in this city at the age of TO- She was
| the widow of one of the most distinguish
| ed members of the New Orleans bar, who
had been the leading counsel in the ia
nous Myra Clark Gaines case, which re-
suited in this city's paying 100000 to the
Gaines heirs Mills fee in this case was
one of the largest ever paid, and made
him independently rich. but he died soon
after his success, leaving all his property
| to his wife. Every one in New Orleans
knew who she was the notorious Fanny
Sweet, who for thirty years had been the
widest woman in the city, whose freaks,
follies and wild escapades had made her
notorious, whose life had been one long
succession of adventures. She was a wo-
man Of 54 when she met Mills. but such
was the power she exerted over men that
this lawyer of fine family and of high So
cial standing and reputation at the bar
| made her his wife.
She was 20 years old when she died, and
| her death was a m. serable enough ending
| even for a life so stained with sin ana
crime. Mrs Mills was wealthy wo-
| man, yet died of starvation. She had $780,
.@tr~ iii IF
lack of food. For three years before her
death she was blind, but she was so filled
! with fear that some one would rob her
| of her money that she lived alone. She
was taken sick, and, having no one to call
the doctor or get her assistance or food,
| she lay upon the floor until she died of
starvation. She was found dead by
neighbor. Her death revealed the romance
of her life and a succession of tragedies
Mrs. Mills, or Fanny Sweet, made a
number of wills just before she died, in
which she left her money to several con-
spicuous men in New Orleans Most of
them would have gladly foregone the
money to avoid the notoriety. She re-
voked all her wills just before her death
and died intestate.
10 The state of Louisiana had claim to the
estate and seemed likely to get it, when
suddenly two heirs appeared-Charles c.
Brown, a respectable lawyer of Sacra-
mento, Cal, and Mrs. Mary Mcvey, an
aged widow of Huntington, W. Va, who
claimed that Mrs Mills, or Fanny Sweet
was their sister, Rachel Brown. It SEEM
ed a thoroughly improbable tale for the
state of Louisiana had traced back Fanny
Sweets history and found that she was
Minerva Seymour an English barmaid
born in London in 1896 The evidence that
Fanny Sweet was Minerva Seymour SEEM
ed complete and indisputable She her.
self so declared repeatedly, so swore in
l w n hnF ma rrfo
in her relations, however confidential with
her lawyers, she told the same story She
was born in London she said, of good
parentage, but had been left an orphan
when young, had run away from her
guardian, grown up in the slums of Iiv-
erpool, had become barmaid there. and
finally had come over to the United States
in 1886, when 20 years old. Arriving in
New York in the ship Waterloo com
manded by Capt. Allen, the state found
several OF her fellow travellers on the voy-
age, who readily identified Minerva Sew
mour with Fanny Sweet. She spoke, they
said, with a marked cockney accent
Here comes the extraordinary and in
comprehensive part of the story, for the
claimants to the estate declare that Fanny
Sweet was their sister, Rachel Brown. a
native of Rome, Lawrence county Ohio.
and descended from an old Virginia fami-
ly; and the court has decided, in spite of
the frequent declarations of Fanny Sweet
herself and of her friends, lawyers and ac-
quaintances, in spite OF her wills and her.
marriage certificate, even in spite of her
cockney accent and her landing in this
country from Liverpool in 1916, that Fanny
Sweet was Rachel Brown, and it has "a
warded all her property to the California
and West Virginia claimants. The court
was compelled to accept the Minerva Sey-
mour episode as true-it was so clearly
proved-but passed 1t over as inexplica BILE,
like the many metamorphoses which Fam
ny Sweet INDUCED in later in her life.
Rachel Brown was born in 1896 in Rome
o. She ran away from home when IS years
old and was completely lost sight OF for
years, but this created no surprise, for it
seems to have been the habit of the Brown
family to run away Her eldest brother,
James, ran away few years before, and
was never heard of afterward. Her eldest
sister, Sarah. also disappeared, but turned
up years afterward in California, after
marriage and adventure enough to fill a
book. When Rachel, therefore, ran off it
was regarded perfectly natural, and no one
troubled himself about her. The claimants
to the succession have tried to follow the
career of the runaway girl, but there are
many long breaks in their records. They
frankly admit that there are no traces Of
her for two years, 1874 to 1876. No one has
ever been found who saw or heard of her
during that period. That she became Fam
, nv Sweet afterward Is insisted, and IL is
/ eQQdllN clear ttAdA NAitlCifd seymour was
also Fanny Sweet The court fought shy
Of this dilemma. There is but one explana-
ton of it, The Ohio girl found her way to
London in some way. picked up the cock
ney dialect, and picked 1t up so successfully
that she never lost il afterward There are
some absurdities about this theory. but IL
Is the only possible one. 1t may have been
Rachel Browns idea of completely des-
troying her former Identity and cutting
herself of from her relatives. She played
the part well II this theory is correct, and
yet her relatives got her money after all.
Her brother and sister drop her career In
1874 and take n up again In 1886, when
the girl whose subsequent multiplicity OF
names caused such confusion. landed from
the steamer Waterloo. She drifted from
New York 10 Now orleans with "A man
named smith. and when she landed IN the
Crescent city she was Fanny Smith. In
stead OF either Rachel Brown or Minerva
Seymour. smith married her ~ New Or