The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-04-17
SENSATIONAL CHARG ES.
More About the De Boissiere Case.

More About the De Boissiere Case.
To the Editor of The State Journal
am not in the habit of trying my
lawsuits in the newspapers, but the
article published in your paper
of April Is under the head Sensational
Charges" demands some attention on
behalf Of myself and my associates, to
whom Ernest Valeton Boissiere on
May II, 1892, conveyed by warranty
deed certain lands in Franklin county
in trust for the founding of an Orphans
Home and Industrial School.
Messrs. TrOutman and Stone have
been trying for more than six months
to get into the district court of Frank
lin county IN suit they have brought
IN the first instance to get possession
OF the real estate conveyed by deed for
the pretended benefit of the heirs of Mr.
BolSs1ere. But these gentlemen are now
prosecuting said suit in their own be-
half, upon the claim that they are now
the owners of whatever interest the
helrs may have had. The motion re-
Ierred to in your article simply allows
lheSe gentlemen twenty days in which
TO HE an amended petition, after which
time 1t will still be necessary to ascer-
tam whether or not they are in court
Within three weeks of the convey
ance OF this properly by Mr.. BOiSSiere,
Dr. M B. Ward of Topeka, who was
then grand master of the l. o. o. F.
or Kansas, sent a communication to
each lodge in the state, giving informa-
ton OF all the facts, including the fact
that the trustees, of whom L. G. Slime
is president, had assumed the settle
ment of a claim that had been present.
ed to Mr.. BOissiere by Charles T Sears
(not W. H. Sears), the executor of the
estate of Charles Sears, deceased. This
communication was accompanied by a
communication from the trustees, more
specifically stating all of the facts and
that this claim made on behalf of the
Sears estate would be settled upon the
most reasonable terms possible. These
communications were also aecompa-
MED by printed copies of the deed exc
cuted by Mr.. BOiSSiere to the trustees
The claim on behalf of the Sears es-
tate was duly settled by the trustees,
at a much less sum than would have
been given by any jury that could have
been empaneled in any court in the
state of Kansas in case the claim had
been resisted. The fullest possible re-
port of these matters was made by the
trustees to the grand lodge and scat
tered broadcast all over the state.
These reports having been investigated
by the proper committees and APPROX
ed by the grand lodge at its various an
nuaI sessions, were published in the
Grand Lodge Journal, so that the sub
ject matter has been public property
from the beginning.
The parties who are now conducting
this suit are misleading the people by
asserting that the property is only held
under will. The title is today just
where Mr.. Boissiere placed it. No
change whatever has been made in the
title since the day he conveyed it to
the trustees. The deed was dictated
by himself, and the grand lodge of Odd
Fellows was not mentioned in it. The
Odd Fellows did not refuse to accept
the gift, as stated in your article, but
at two annual sessions of the grand
lodge, after the fullest consideration of
these reports, fully accepted the bene-
fits intended to be conferred by Mr.
Boissiere in making this provision for
Odd Fellows orphans of the state, and
pledged cooperation with the trustees
in establishing this home. The claim
that the trustees, or any of them, per-
petrated q fraud upon Mr.. BOiSslere
bears the stamp of falsehoOd upon its
face and will not be believed by a sin
gle individual after a second thought
If we had been so dishonest as to try
to get this property for our personal
benefit, and had had such influence
over Mr.. BOissiere as to secure it, there
is not man living who will for mo-
ment believe that under such circum-
stances we would have procured the
title to the land in such a way as to set
80, 900 Odd Fellows watching us. MT
BOiSSiere lived twenty months after eX-
ecuting and delivering the deed. UP to
the time of his death the trustees had
received the cordial support of the or
der. and neither the circumstance of his
death nor the subsequent action of the
grand lodge had any effect whatever
upon the validity of the deed executed
by him.
The methods adopted by the plain
tiffs in this suit so far as charging con-
spiracy or fraud in securing the deed
in question are evolved from the mag
nation of those who now claim to have
secured title from a. decrepit woman,
older than was Mr.. Boissiere, for prop
erty worth 800 900 for a pretended ex-
penditure of $4,000, with no higher
merit in the transaction than a cold
bIooded speculation.
G. A. HURON,
Secretary Board of Trustees.