The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-07-24
A DEAD MANS MONEY.
ms CHILDREN WRdNGLfNG OyER
ms FAST ESIATK.
A r.s,i Combat over tho Estate Of the
Late James q, Fair-His VIII was
Wonderful Creation.


OF the lawyers in the United states are
watching Il and wishing they were In II.
il involves the property Of the dead mil
ionalrc, James G. Fair. one OF the
bonanza kings and an ex-senator OF the
United states. lie was one OF the best
hated men on the Pacific coast. and the
rancor no aroused b. life seems 10 be a
quality OF his money after his death.
Fair was pretty nearly everything mat
was disagrcoabie. la his young days he
had been "A miner OF muscle swinging a
p,ck. drinking raw whisky when he could
nay for IL and living from hand TO mouth
In his axe ne was a. modern Silcnus-th't
Is what he was. lho vile OF ms youth,
Mas not good enough for him when the
millions had rolled into his Ouistfctched
paws She had borne MIN chiidfcn nau
uurscd him Boa sickness, ana had been ms
careful. loving hclpmeet. but she was not
good enough lie had never made even
\ pretensc OF being faithful to her and
II was no trouble 60 arrange for di-
Vorce he furnished the statutory ground,
Of course. and she was given SiOl9.JDj.
This money and the other Sj5OD,O10 came
from the Comstock lodc-most Of II. Al
ter that modern III Dorado played out
Fair bought real estate. lie never made
bad bargain. lie brought to this pur-
suit his undcniably sound brain and the
hardness OF ScrOOso. lie was relentless
with debtors and his pile waNed.
ENGAGED TO A NOBLEMAN.
Mrs Fair. after the divorce agreed to
take care OF the girls one of them now
Is Mrs Herman Oelrichs Of New York.
and the other IS Miss Virginia Fair, bet
ter known as Birdie said 20 be engaged
10 Count Sicrst0rPn. Silesian When
their father died citizens o. san Fran
cisco shook hands with each other gay
assembled There were two sons. Jimmy
ly From an that large city not one sign
a bright boy with am unquenchable thirst,
and Charlie" whose thirst was second
only to Jimmy s. I'm his lifetime old
man Fair made an arrangement with his
bank whereby Jimmy" was to have SO
a day when he was sober enough 10 call
Tor IT, He might not send, and he could
not allow IL 20 remain untouched, then
draw II in Jump. Ten dollars day
and every day was his portion. Frisco
barkeepers stil tell tales of Jimmy s.
maudHn tears and fearsome oaths over
his fathers lack OF confidence In him.
lie drank himself 10 death long ago. and
therefore is not interested I'm the present
fight
then increased 10 S6O00.OoJ She gave
SsOe.00 TO each Of the girls and 100000
apiece Ia each of her boys. II either of
them died the money was 10 go 10 the
other She also left a bequcst of $4,000
10 be spent boz masses for the repOse OF
her soul. Mrs. Herman Oelrichs frugally
refused 10 pay it. and the archbishop OF
san Francisco would not lower the digni-
~ Of his church by suing for 1t. charlie
married "A woman ne could not introduce
10 his sisters. and there was a fearful
explosion IL must be understood That
bv this time the progeny of Silenus Fair
and the mining camp waitress
had become aristocrats Of the aris-
tocrats. The liquid in their veins, by
one of those processes peculiar to Amer
lea had changed its tint TO deepest azure.
The new wife made a man out of her
worthless husband. He went to house
kccring and Is to-day a prosperous and
reputable citizen.
AN ONDERFUL CREATION.
That was the state Of affairs when the
Old man died. His will was a wonderful
crcauon. Instead OF dividing his estate.
which would have given Charlios wife
ana children a fair share. ne left II all in
trust. The interest only was 10 be paid
10 the children. This trust was con-
tinue until the death of Charles Lewis
Fail. when il was all 10 revert to Mrs.
Herman Oelrichs and Miss Virginia Fair
or their children. Wife or progeny Of
Charles Lewis Fair were thus entirely
cut out.
old Fairs wickedness was not confined
10 his money getting. \ number Of big
estates had been claimed and gained by
Legitimate children about the time
Fair made his will so he put I'm a para
graph 10 checkmate any Of these. He
stated i'm the will that he had no wife and
no children other than Mrs Oelrichs,
virginia Fair and Charles Lewis Fair
But he cautiously added 20 the will that
n any court should determine that any
woman was his wife or any child lis
child he set apart $50 as the amount he
be1ucathod TO such heirs
Th's spoiled the chances Of the left
handed connections. he thought. Mob jdv
was gong 10 bring a big expensive .aw-
SIT when the total gain could BE Oaly
50
GLARED At EACH OTHER
Fairs children inherited his noarness.
and when the will was opened ;hey glar-
"a az each other In speeches. indignation.
The notion that three executors were TO
he permitted 10 pull down princcly sum
annually for handling the great property
for which their own fingers itched gave
Big lawyers were hired and began at
tempts TO break the viii. Among the
people brought into the case was Charles
J. Stiilwell. private detective Of remark
able acutenoss. Dclphire NJ Delmas the
most gifted court orator on the coast.
was another Of the new characters. At
first there were ali sorts Of efforts 10 COM
promise. The children wanted the cXecu-
tors TO let 20. hat tho executors. with
years or enormous fees ahead or them.
laid their hands upon their bosoms and
said proudly that they could not be false
20 the trust the dead millionaire had re-
posed I'm them.
Suddenly the Fair will disappeared from
the safe in the county clerks office. still
well was the last man known TO have
examined H. but he bitterly protested his
innocence Of evil doing and hlled the
papers until they stopped over with ac-
counts Of his desperate efforts TO recover
the document
TIRED or MONKEY BUSINESS.
4 ui In the proceedings cnsucd. or
rather while preparations for the trial
Of the wills validity continued. the news
papers dropped the matter for while
Charlie" Fair explained this on the
ground that they had got tired of their
monkey business. en- Then the
Will mysteriously rcappearcd. 1t was
found one day lying in the chair OF the
county clerk where IL had been left dur
Ing his absence at luncheon.
Meanwhile in the capital Of the state
which is Sacramento had been living
woman with a massive brain and eagle
eve. Her name was Mrs. Nellie r. GRAY
IN She was well known in the politics