Evening star., 1900-07-07

strange oaths some of them have been;
the oaths Of Christians, of Buddhists and
of atheists
Motley is the word to apply to the actual
money that some OF these chancery no d.
ings represent. There is an immense sum
In the shape Of rupees, crowns. dollars
norfns. francs. guilders, lire and marks
Ihere are mysterious 'ooking boxes with
queerer contents-a bag Of clipped money
tnat ngures in the case OF Jones vs.. Lloyd,
In 1875; dehenture dated l7ga. a sealed
package containing plate bills OF exchange
Tor 2".eS francs. paper marked George
coleman, vii; box containing jcwclry
Two boxes OF plate, diamond brooch. two
BOXES OF heirlooms. a presentatio plate
ana some jewels, reminders of a legal dis
pute between the Duke of Wtstrriust,-r and
the dowager Duchess of SutherIaui-the
history of all Of which would make mighty
interesting reading. The sum that has been
IN chahcery longest dates to 1870.
Chancery Clerks American Mail
Tie chancery clerk is even more unhappy
than the secretaries at the American en-
bassy, for he also receives a big packet Of
letters from the states on every mail
steamer and most of them inclose for Il re-
ply an American stamp. which is utterly
useless here. The clerk had lust received
batch Of such letters when I called Near
ly all OF them required full particulars Of
amount and first possessors of such prop
erty- Among them. for instance was one
from Miss Webber.'' a poor schocimis-
tresJ somewhere in America who believes
now that she has millions within her grasp
1t is pathetic note. scribbled I'm a shaky
little hand. There were several from other
citizens of humble stations. most Of them
with elaborate family trees attached one
masterpiece of defniteness was couched in
these terms:
rs there constable case in your court?
! can find claimant She is the missing
heiress who was stolen by German
That was the extent OF the letter. The
ChanCFrN | lfkl Sn,nh f.Ft ...,a,
year. He replies. the embassy does with
printed slip. Sometimes the heir writes
again. this time in The injured tone OF one
who has been done out of mething but
1 am told no one ever has brought suit
one of the most curious and pathetic
parts OF this wre;ched farce is the fact
that claimants never mention small sums
II Is always a question Of "severa! mi.-
lions. The fine hand Of the ''neXt-of- kin
agency is discernible. too, I'm the immense
number of heirs clamoring for details
about some one estate Most Of tEcse
estates are myths. others about as open TO
question in point of ownership as the
ground occupied by Westminster Abbey
But their names used by the festive
agent as ones to conjure with. There was a
Hedges estate Horne estate.
Hyde estate" which always haV. been a
subject of great eXciteme among Amer
lean heirs 1t reached such fever heat
at one time that Col. Chester himself an
American genealogist OF distinction. came
over and made a thorough Investigation.
He discovered that Sir Charles Hedges Will
was duly proved by his son. William, who
inherited all his property and left several
descer dants. The Bradford. Horne and
Hyde estates Col. Chester described as
some of the ordinary myths by which so
many of our countrymen are deluded.'
Famous Cases.
Others of the "next-of-kin" operators ap-
parently have whole associations Of heirs
In tow. to whom they make bland reports
once in so often, and assess them much
more apiece all around. One member OF
the "Jennens Association" wrote to the
chancery court that an assessment of IS
for the year ending June 80 1854, had just
been announced. and asked for particulars
concerning the estate before surrendering
his V The answer that there was
not one siXpenCe in chancery belonging to
this estate. Nevertheless. SO many per-
sons were by the ears over the matter that
the facts regarding the reaI estate were
made known.
William Jennens. a bachelor Of Acton.
Suffolk. and Grosvenor Square. London.
died in 119S. possessed Of about f2.uon.n:n.
He left a will which. unfortunately. he had
forgotten to sign. Consequently, his landed
estates passed to his heir-at-law, George
Augustus William Curzon, and now they
belong to Earl Howe. the head Of the Cur
family. Mr.. Jennens' personal prop
erty passed to his cousins. and part OF II
now belongs to Earl Beauchamp and others.
But the "Jennens Association Of the
United States the righteous multitude
gathered together by an unusually ener-
getic agency was called. was not to be
daunted so easily, and they actually
brought suit against Earl Howe. The case
was tried in 1850 before Vice Chancellor
Malins, who gave judgment against the
claimants and remarked: IF such claim
could be allowed after period of eighty
two years no one would be safe In possess
sion of his property
A Letter From the Embassy.
There was another hubbub over the
"Towneley' estate, over which the en-
bassy received so many letters that 1t
printed a circular letter about IL. Here
1t is:
Yours OF -, touching the so-called
Lawrence-Towneley or Chase-Towneley es-
tate, is received. Hundreds of similar let
tiers reach me from many parts OF the
United States.
This estate is variously represented
consisting of sS00,oo IN the Bank Of
England, or of 100000 acres Of land in Eng
land, or both. which await distribution
among American heirs, and IL Is asserted
that an act of parliament TO proviGe for
the distribution was passed.
'An these statements are gross false
hocds. intended to obtain money from the
crcdulous. under pretcnse Of prosecuting
their claims.
There is no money in the Bank of EGG
land belonging to the 'Lawrence-Towneley'
or 'Chase-Townelcy,' or 'Towneley' estate.
OF to any claimants under either.
There is 10 such estate in England
the 'Lawrence-TowEeley' Oh 'Chase-Towne-
ley estate. nor any known family of that
designation.
THE 'Towneley estate is a landed prop
erty of about 1900 acres in the counties OF
Lancaster and York, which is now and has
been for long time in the possession OF Its
lawful owners. Their ttlc is completely
protected by the law of England. There
are no unknown or American owners OF
any part of the property and no ground
whatever for any sCch claim.'
OF course. the embassy knew before It
made its Investigations that English law
makes the pretens.ols of these Ieluded
American heirs" absurd on their face 1t
be said, too. that out Of all the cases
which various ambassadors good nature
has led them TO probe not one valid one
ever has been found. Tie situation is no
laughing matter at the embassy, but there
Is one story that even the government Of
ficials chuckle over and that shows up the
pitiful absurdity of such a quest. Ol.e IN
dividual. evidently 3oft-soaped TO the abb
solute limit by the missing heirs people
wrote an extra impassioncd letter to the