Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-08-29
MILLIONS INVOLVED.
Salt for the Division of the Barnes Fam
lily Estate In Interesting FAM
iIy History.

/ Gy nsRGOFh
Kansas City, No., Aug. ga spe-
| cial to the Star from ST. Joseph, Mo.
says:
"a suit for the division of the
Burnes family estate, estimated to be
| worth between ten n twelve MIL
| lion dollars, has been filed here by
| Mary B. Moore, one of the heirs, wife
| of Gen. Milton Moore, of Kansas City.
A receiver is also asked for the estate,
Of which Lewis c. Burnes, president
of the National Bank of ST. Joseph, is
i administrator.
Mrs. Moore cleims on~e-seventh OF
one-third of the estate, which covers
valuable property in St. Louis, St.
Joseph and Joplin, Mo-, and Leaven-
worth and Atchison, Kas. The suit
charges Burnes with withholding the
books and refusing to permit an in
vestigation of the affairs of the es-
tate.
Among the other defendants is
Elias Catch, manager of the famous
CRANKY mine in the Joplin district,
valued at $5,000,o00.
The Burnes family has been promi-
nent in northwest Missouri since
pioneer days. Three of the five broth
ers, Daniel D., j.. n, (who became a
member of ~congress), and Calvin F.,
controlled the commercial and politi-
cal destinies of that part of the state
for many years. They located at
Weston, Mo-, and became rich through
merchandising, and when Weston be.
came decadent removed to st. Joseph,
where they engaged in the banking
business and other commercial enter
prises. Much of their earnings were
invested in lands, and to-day the es-
tate is one of the largest in the state
of Missouri.
Daniel d. Burnes was the acknowl-
edged head of the family until his
death in 1867, and by his will
he b~equeathed to his two
brothers all Of his estate and
also all of his children, with the re-
quest that the latter be adopted,
reared and cared for and that the es-
tate be administered for the interests
of all in common T11s was done, and
by a legal paper of adoption, the six
children of Daniel d. Burnes became
the children of Congressman j. n.
Burnes and Calvin E. Burnes. These
children are James n. Burnes, Mary
B. Burnes, now Mrs. Winningha1n;
Emma Burnes, the wife of Col. Moore
and the plaintiff in the suit; Katie
Burnes, Lewis c. Burnes, the admin
istrator of the estate, and Virginia
Burnes.
D,r--o- I11--~ H. l--l - IL
family on his brothers DEATH. and
continued IN control of the estate un-
til he was stricken with apoplexy in
congress. That was in, 1889. Soon
afterward the entire estate, excepting
Ii part of the holdings of Mrs. Moore,
was merged into a corporations.
which obtained a charter. with a capt.
tai stock of 100000, divided into 1000
shares of 800 each. Mrs. Moore, the
plaintiff in the suit, did not become
a stockholder, as she had disposed of
the major part of her property.
Calvin f. Burnes took charge of the
corporation, and managed it so sue
cessfully that it's value had almost
quadrupled at the time of his death, |
in 1896. But Calvin f. Burnes left no
will. He held in trust 375 of the L.
900 shares in the corporation, and
since his death there never has been
a division of these 375 shares. 1t is
for one-seventh of this part of the !
estate that Mrs. Moore sues. She al |
1eges that Calvin F. Burnes' widow
did not elect to take a child's share, |
and that when an administrator was |
appointed no appraisement vas made
OF the estate and no statement was |
made as to who were the heirs of the
deceased. She alleges further that |
the present value of these 375 shares /
was not reported to Lewis c. Buraes, |
the administrator. arr she asks a re- |
ceiver hat an acco inting may be |
made.
Lewis e. Burnes is married and is
one of st. Joseph's representative
men.