The San Francisco call., 1898-05-05

1 fortune away You had better give i to me in trust
 Oscar Luning agreed without further discussion. WhittelI gave him a decla- ration of trust wherein he acknowl edged that he (WhittelD held $500, ,00( in trust for plaintiff in this suit, and whereby he agreed to pay half of the income thereof to Oscar Luning. and half to his wife. This agreement has been fulfilled, and so far as Oscar Lun- | ing can discover the income of the half million thus described Is all that is left to him out of what should be one-f1fth of nearly eight millions. The suit filed yesterday asks Whittell what has be- come of the balance of a million dollars
 Incidentally it appears that plaintiff recently demanded an accounting for | the missing million, whereupon Whit tell denied that there was anything due asserting that the $500,000 payment was | for all of plaintiffs right, title and in- terest.
 | According to statements of the plaintiff Whittell seems to have taken a fatherly interest in Oscar in another way. It Is said that once when Oscar was very i'll at San Jose, Whittell drew a will for the sick man to sign. It made the president of the Luning Company sole eXecutor of the will, without bonds, and provided that Whittell was also to be guardian of Oscars children. A year afterWard Whittell seems to have detected an error in the will. He came back and had Oscar sign it again. He made it read guardian "of all lawful children" whereas it had before read guardian of my children"
 The suit filed yesterday follows in the wake of settlement which John Lun- ing forced some time ago. He discov- cred that he was in the same predica- ment that confronts Oscar to-day. He hired lawyers, and after a number of conferences he was paid $950.0O0 to let go.
 If the pleadings and the story of Oscar Luning are true George Whittell has not only had sole control of the Luning finances and estate ever since the death of the well-known million aire, but he has emulated Warren Hastings in the darkest pages of the history that chronicles the hard luck of the Begums and other princes of India. The details of the story are like the pages from a buccaneers jour nal.
 The pleadings assert that Whittell and Langhorne represented that it would be necessary, in order to carry out the provisions of the last will and testament, to sell considerable of the property at a sacrifice, and to establish the corporation before referred to. mak- ing the executors the principal officers thereof In pursuance of this recom- mendation the heirs transferred their interests to the corporation. It is averred that Whittell has had almost sole control of the estate ever since the formation of the corporation in August 1891
 It was in April of this year that Os- car made a demand for an accounting, which Whittell refused. Andrew D. Parker, a well-known member of the New York bar, came to this city about that time, joining E. F. Preston and J. W. Bourdette as attorneys for Lun- ing in the matters that have now reached the court. The three are the attorneys of record in the case.
 The prayer of the petition filed yes- terday asks that Whittell be required to account to plaintiff for all property held in trust, together with all the rents and incomes on all property other than the $500, 900 held in trust
 It is requested that the trust be de- termined and ended without delay, and that Whittell be required to deliver to Luning all property alleged to be held in trust and all other property said to be that of plaintiff.
 One of the concluding allegations of the complaint is as follows: After the trust of five hundred thousand dollars there remained in the hands the de- fendant, in trust for plaintiff property of the value of at least one million dol lars, of which no account has at any time been rend ,red or made by the de- fendant, and the defendant has never at any time D i'd over or accounted for any part or portion of said last-men- tioned property, or of the income, rents, issues or profits thereof
 It is then set forth in detail that de- fendant failed and wholly refused, when asked to make an account, to render any statement whatever the de- mand being made ol the 9th of last month.
 It is expected that the case will be urged to trial without delay and that there will be some strong efforts to have Whittell explain in detail all he has done in the estate, why he has done 1t; also that he will detail how much he has earned as executor and man. ager of the estate and as president of the Luning Company.
 Counselor Parker is here with the intention of remaining and devoting all his energies to the case until it is fin- ally determined Messrs. Preston and Bourdette will also do all in their power to see that the matters at issue are determined without delay. Several sen- sations are expected during the hear ing.