The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-30
OBLACKMAIL THE GOULDS
Case of Mrs. Cody Who Sued for Mrs
Angel Comes Up.

New York, Nov. 30.-With the open
dng of the county court at Albany to-
day will begin the closing chapter of
one of the most remarkable cases in the
legal history of the state, Familiarity
known as the Gould blackmau suit
1t is an outgrowth of the attempt to
prove that Jay Gould married in his
youth a woman in northern New York.
The woman who made the assertion
was Mrs. Margaret E. Cody, who held
q power of attorney from Mrs. Sarah
Angel to act for her in a claim that
she was the lawful widow of Jay Gould
and entitled to a dover. Her statement
was that, as Sarah Ann Brown she
married Mr.. Gould on April Is, 1853. and
that the ceremony was performed at
Champlain by Rev. Nathaniel Leigh
ton.
This claim was first heard of in 1895,
when Mrs. Cody got two lawyers,
Amasa J. Parker Jr., and w. McNur-
trie Speer, to take hold of it, after sew
eral of the other members of the bar in
this county had refused. They with
drew in the following year, and suit
was brought against the Gould estate
by the firm of Ward & Cameron.
The action was vigorously opposed by
the Gould family, who retained the SER
vices of Elihu Root, Judge Dillon and
Delaney Nicou who denounced the:
case as the worst sort of attempted
blackmail. The entire life history of
Jay Gould was traced from his bOyhood
to the time of his death, and it was
persistentIy asserted that he never was
near the scene of the alleged marriage
at the time it was declared to have ia
ken place. In the fall of 1897 a newspa-
per reporter obtained a statement from
Mrs. Angel to the effect that the whole
claim was baseIess, and her story a
fabrication. She made similar state
ment to her counsel, who at once ask
ed to be allowed to discontinue the
case.
Bitter opposition to such a course was
made by the attorneys of the Gould es-
tate on the ground that the character
of the case was so extraordinary-it be-
ing an attack on a vast estate and
practically charging the late Jay Gould
with bigamy and allied crimes-that
the plaintiff ought not to be allowed
to retire in such an informal manner
and leave the way open for future &C
tons that would annoy and embarrass
the family.
The court took a similar view and the
case was set for trial on Decem Der 6,
1897, at which time it came before Judge
Freedman and a jury in part two of the
supreme court in New York city. Mr..
Ward, who appeared for Mrs. Angel,
made a statement at that time,in which
he said that he first heard of the mat
ter from Mrs. Cody, who came to his
Office in the spring of 1895 with power
of attorney for his client, and who
showed him an affidavit from woman
who said she had witnessed the mar
riage ceremony, which it was alleged
was performed in the village of Cham
sire to quit the case, and he had so no
titled his client, when her confession ap-
peared. The court dismissed the com
plant and gave judgment to the Goulds.
While working on the case Mrs. Co
dy wrote letters from this city to mem
bers of the Gould family, and it is on
these that she is now awaiting trial.
Suit was brought against her for black
mail, and she was indicted by the Al
bany grand jury, on April %, 1898, and
arrested in New York city when about
to sail for Europe to look up another
estate.
Her case. at the request of her coun-
sci, was put over the last term of court,
and finally set down for trial today.
She has remained in Jail in this city
ever since.
Her daughter, who resides in Denver,
has retained Patrick G. Dugan, a prom
inent attorney of this city, who will be
assisted by Newton B. Van der See,
who formerly was connected with her
case. It is understood here Delaney
NicolI will be present at the trial to
represent the Gould interest. District
Attorney Cook will conduct the case
for the people.