Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-11-11
FORGOTTEN BANK DEPOSITS.
What Becomes of Peoples Uncnlled-
For HoardinE - Some
Queer Cases.

It is not every day that man or
woman dies without relatives or heirs,
leaving hundreds or thousands cf dol
lars in bank or in cold cash and no one
who can legally lay claim to it. Chi
cago had an instance Of this kind a
short time ago. Miss Della 0'Hara, who
for mauy years had been employed as
domestic, died at SO Kinzie street.
Nobody dreamed that she had an estate.
But, all the same, when her trunk was
opened, il was found to contain $361
in bills and bank book of the HI
bernian Banking Association showing
deposit to her credit of 5000. Itdoubt-
less took this humble worker long
time TO hoard up over $1,000; to her
that amount of money represented the
savings of years of toll. She was 32
years old and she had been working in
peoples kitchens for more than score
of years. But when death came she
was at the house of stranger, and she
apparently. had no relatives to whom to
leave her wealth.
"You may be sure that persons will
turn up claiming TO be relatives and
heirs as soon as they learn of the wom-
ans savings said an officer Of one
of Chicago's largest savings banks.
"She will have numerous postmortem
friends"
From this same banker ii was learned
that in Chicago banks there are very
few cases of unclaimed money on de-
posit. "NVe arc too new civilization
out here in the west for many such
cases." he explained. sand, another
thing, people out here, as rule, find
some active use for their money; II
not, they are poor economists. In the
older countries there are doubtless
| large unclaimed funds in the banking
institutions, the result of depositors
dying intestate and no heirs coming
forward who are able to establish their
legal right TO the money. Under the
laws of Illinois unclaimed money of
this character reverts to the state after
20 years. That is the disposition of
unclaimed funds in New York, Massa-
chusetts and other states too"
But there was most singular occur
renee of this kind some time ago. A
wage-earner living on the West side
had been saving his money and making
deposits in the Hibernian bank with
great regularity for years. At length
when be had the snug sum of 81 ,30C
to his credit, he fell sick and was for
awhile insane as a result of that sick.
ness. His mind became complete
blank, so far as his bank account was
concerned, and no inquiries were made
in regard TO the deposit for year or so
"The man forgot that he had any
money in the bank" said the vice presi
dent, referring to the case the Other
day, "and II began to look rs though
the account would go to swell the un
claimed fund. Not only did he fail tt
come near the bank, but he moved from
his former place of residence and gave
no one any notice OF his removal or hi!
new address. got on the trail ant
found my man, but TO my great sur
prise he protested that he had nj
money in the bank. He declared tha
he had never had any account with us
to the best of his recollection. At frs
IL looked like case Of mistaken identi
ty, but when learned of his sickness
and temporary loss of mind, the mys
terry was soon solved. After grea
deal of questioning and the obtaining
of corroborative testimony among th'
mans friends and acquaintances, | sue
ceeded in convincing him that he wa
the rightful owner of that $1,000, ant
paid him the money."-Chicago Times
Herald.