The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-08-06
AN OLD WILL
CONFLICTS WITH
RECENT FACTS
Peculiar Testimony Of
the SChumannS.
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
qQS Broadway. Aug. ..

Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
90S Broadway. Aug o.
Was William Schumann drowned in a
vessel that left Melbourne for Germany
in 1855? Upon this solution OF this ques-
ton depends the distribution Of an estate
valued at $4,000 The will devising this
property has been probated in the Supe-
rior Court of this county.
Charles A Schumaun for many years
head gardener at Woodward's Gardens
when that resort was the leading place
Of amusement in the metropolis. was
known TO many thousands Of people
whom he met at the garden. For many
years he filed that position and when old
age came upon him he went 10 the Alien
helm at Frutvale. the home for aged
Germans.
He had been a thrifty man and had
never married and when the popularity
OF the garden declined and rendered his
services no longer necessary he had an
estate consisting Of money in bank and
other property valued at about $1,000 He
died in the home in 1898.
After his death H. II. Claussen of San
Francisco produced a viii alleged to have
been written by Schumann in 1911 and
which beQueathed his estate to his sister
Emile and mis- brother William in equal
parts The will was witnessed by no
tary. who cannot be found. and the other
executor besides Claussen was A. n.
BOTdtn. who mas Deen DEAD many years
Z. L. Reimer. one Of the witnesses TO the
will. testified in court as TO its making.
Several afhdavtts have been nIed Whlch
throw a mystery around the Will Emile
Schumann, who is now a resident OF New
York has given testimony which the law
yers are not quite able TO reconcile. She
says that Charles A SChumann, VINO died
q the Altenheim, was baptized as John
Augustus Bernard Schumann and that he
changed his name when he came to this
country TO Charles A. Schumann In 1870,
according to her testimony, Charles Schu-
mann, her brother, having just returned
from visit to Germany and learned that
she was in New York, called on her in
that city and held a converse ton with
her tWenty-nine years ago, which she well
remembers They discussed the fact that
their brother William sailed from Ger
many to Melbourne in 1884 and that ne
wrote home and that the following year
he was returning TO Germany in a vessel
that was wrecked and all hands were
drowned. They also talked of other fam
lily matters, showing that Charles A
Schuuann was fully cognizant OF the fact
that William vas dead and that Emile
in 1870 was living In New York, where she
went from Germany in 1858
In spite of these facts testified to by
Emile Schumann. the will which was
made one year after this conversation
sets forth that the estate is to be divided
between my sister Emile. at present a
resident OF Pomerania, Prussia, and my
brother William. who is now in the Prus-
sian Royal Navy
The evidence presented was considered
by the court sufficient to justify partial
distribution of the estate so far as Emile
Schumann was concerned. The other half
is the property of William Schumann, or
his heirs, should he have persisted IN me
wreck and should he have left any chill
dren. The conflict between the state
ments of Emile Schumann and the terms
of the will may lead TO a legal hght Tor
the half of the estate left to the brother
William