The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-18
SUED BY son
Suit Pending in a ST. Louis
Court for Thirty Years.
STORY OF "BOBB'S COFFIN"
And of Apparently HeinouS
FiliaI lngratitude.


I the office of the Court Of Appeals on th'
second floor of the Court House, stands
an oblong box, five feet long, one foo
dee4 and one foot wide. 1t has stoodther'
for years. Its pristine, implanted whit'
pine has acquired a smoky tinge, and the
&top has been worn frazzly by the fac
of generations Of clients who have loung
ed one foot on 1t as they asked questions
of the clerk behind the railing.
It has been handed down for three de-
cades, from clerk to clerk. 1t is now
known as "Bobb's Coffin" 1t contains
the records in the first Bobb subtitle
trust suit" or "old 13,809'-those chiefly
| interested as lidgants call it.
| The records in the other cases in the
court are contained in little oblong tin
! file case, one foot long, six inches deep
and six inches high. "Old 1869 needed
| more roomy quarters than that, however
| and the big box resulted.
The name "Old 13,S09' comes from the
| fact that the number given the suit when
| it was first filed, way back yonder in
| September 8, 1869, was 13, Se9
| 1t was brought by John H.Bobb against
| his father, Charles Bobb. John was a
| lively young man of some 30 odd years
| when his lawyers strayed into the Cir
| cult Clerks office that poll day and de-
posted on the desk for entry the petit
| ton in old l3,s09. The defendant, father
of the plaintiff, was in his sixties.
Now there are silver threads among the
gold in the hair of John Bobb, and his
father, then erect and hearty, is thin and
shrunk, and his voice, then full and round,
has changed 10 a mining treble
But the seeds of the discord sowed that
fall day, still exist. The father is 80 now.
and the son over 60, but they never speak
and each is perfectly willing the ather
should pass away without a word Of for
giveness.
They met in the reception room Of The
Republic building last week. The father
was shutting his brisk way out, leaning
on a cane, as the son, erect and vigorous,
entered. Each was taken by surprise,
but neither moved a muscle to recognize
the presence of the other
strange way for a father and son to
greet each other, isn't it?' said the son to
a reporter after the father had disappear
ed Then he turned to the discussion Of
the Bobb suit.
The suit was filed by the son to force
the father to give an accounting of the
er's first wife-the young mans mother
or this estate the father was trustee.
The elder Bobb tells curious story a.
bout this trust, which in its closing gave
rise to the most bitterly fought suits that
has ever been tried lin the history of the
Circuit Court of st. Louis
Mary Hamilton, that is the maiden
name of my first Wife he sage. never
had a dollar on earth that Charles Bobo
her husband, that's me, did not earn for
her.
L came to st. Louis in 1915 long before
st. Louis was Incorporated I worked in
a brick yard for my father, John Robb
and my brother in law, Isaac A. Letcber
saved my money, and in 1S45 l was
worth $4,000, loaned at good interest to
the pest people in st. Louis-such men as
Joseph Charless, David Nicholson and
Joseph L. Papin.
ABOUT 1915 1 acquired a quarter inter
est IN the steamboat Henry Bry, pro-
Houhced Bree. Henry Chouteau, who
o"Ieu Shares IN the steamboat Siam.
told me that the marine law made every
ehdrehoIoer IN steamboat responsible
for the total liabilities of the boat To
AVOID this liability, 1 transferred all nv
property to my wife's cousin, Hannah
wlfe' That was the cause of all nv
troubles.
L made one trip on the steamboat:
didn't like the management. and 6isnoe.
ed of my share of it. Then I wanted NV
property book. Through a mistake of
my advisors, Hannah Letcher transferred
II TO me, to hold in trust Off my wife and
our children. After that l could not get
the consent of the parties concerned to
transfer 1t TO me in fee simple
When my first wife died, I married a.
gain, first to Lizzie Clifford, who died sf
Ter one year, and then to Martha r
Frazer, my present wife.
rms marriage angered my son. John.
ana he brought suit Off an accounting of
the estate, of which 1 was trustee"
That is how the suit originated. 1t he'd
the courts of st. Louis for uine wears
The State Supreme Court decided tba
case in July. 1878. At that time the court
costs had amounted to $4,000. This was
only small part of the expense that the
caase HAD put on the father and son It
did not include stenographers' fees for
taking down the testimony and for sun
plying transcripts OF the record. 1t did
not include the printing of briefs. and.
most important item of all. it did not in
Sluue attorneys ices The best LAWYERS
in St Louis all got a nibble at the cheese
To show the caliber of the legal batter
les that Numbered fourth. it need only be
remarked that Henry Hitchcock. Judge
George w Lubke and Attorney PLAYER rem
resented the plaintiff in the case.
The case got too complicated for the
court 1t gave promise OF taking I'D wears
Upon years in its hearing The court
Judge Madill then-appointed Judge Rod
erick Romhauer referee. Judge Rombaue-
spent i've years taking testimony to get
an accounting of the trust. The trust
had been running for over twenty wears
and every tax bill, every repair bin. ev
cry rent bill for that tine had to be pro-
duceS or accounted for
The trust embraced valuable downtown
real estate as follows:
The southwest quarter 81 block 1sa
bounded on two sides by Seventh and
Walnut streets. the site now occupied BY
the Standard Theatre.
Southwest quarter OF block iS5. contain
ing is feet on Walnut street. BY 80 feet
on Eighth street.
Southeast quarter % block lSe HAVING
a front OF 80 fess on wtlnut s.reee 5v a
depth q Is6 feet on Eighth street.
On this property tweUjy-one houses in
all were erected
When II Is considered that all the mt
LAYS and incomes contingent on this prDn-
erty for term Of twenty-five years shass
TO be SeTutinized. Il Is not to be zvona
cred that Roderick Rombauer consumed
five years Of time IN ;he work
Il was RombaUer VINO had "Babb's
coffin" made. The papers early became
zoo buikey for ordinary receptaclsS OF
legal documents. When Boba's CsfFa Vas
first made il was a desk mounted on sat1
die legs. 50 thai the psnson consulting
the records could seat hirnseif al X com
fortably The spindle legs earlv fen VIZ