The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-18
IS THIS THE MAN?
rsT1oN OF IDENTITY JUDGE
CANN IS TO DECIDE.
AFTER TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS,
rRANCIS sEIGNEZ COMES, TO
CLAIM HIS INHERITANCE. ,,

o., "a Seeking to Establish His
claim 10 the Estate of Mrs. Mar
1t wall. His Aunt, Who Died
.tbinE over n Year AgO-The
claimant Says He Left savannah
:, 1873, and Has Lived Since in
Orleans-Adm administrator of
.o Estate Says the Claimant Is
-. Seigncz, but an ImpOstOr and
rraud-His story Pronounced n
Tissue of Lies.
r,,+ber John Francis Seignez has
,a hack to Savannah, after an alb
.,,ca of twenty-eight years, during
Itch time he has not been heard from,
~ claim his inheritance, or else the
man who faced Judge Cam and testi-
sod in his own behalf in the Court of
ordinary Yesterday is one of the clev-
oreet imposters the court has ever
known.
This question is the gist of the issue
that Tudge Cam is to determine. The
nroperty in dispute is the estate of Mrs.
Margaret Wall, who died more than a
wear ago, leaving realty and personality
amounting to about $4,000. Mrs. Eliza
beth Coughlan, a cousin of Mrs. Wall,
applied to the Court of Ordinary for
letters of administration upon the es-
tate. and these were granted her,
shortly after the death of the decedent.
At the time the existence of relatives
nearer of kin than Mrs. Coughlan does
not seem to have been more than barely
suspected, and no successful opposition
was made to the grant of administra-
ton to her upon the estate.
A year passed and the estate had
been about wound up. All the claims
against it had been paid and the ad-
ministratrix applied to the Court of
Ordinary for letters dismissory. Her
contention is that she is the nearest
heir at law and that the disposition
she should make of the funds of the
estate is to pay them over to herself.
Letters dismissory were about to be
granted and this programme carried
out when there appeared on the scene
John Francis SeigneZ of New Orleans,
or, at any rate, a man who gave that
name and who hailed from that city.
John Francis Seignez was the son of
Mrs. Wallis sister, and if the claimant
of the estate is the right man he is
the sole heir at law.
II was this question of identity that
was being tried yesterday in the Court
of Ordinary. Mrs. Coughlan was rep
resented by Beckett & Beckett and Os-
borne & Lawrence, and the claimant by
Saussy & Saussy and Garrard & Mel
drim.
The claimant was the principal wit
ness in his own behalf. He left Sa-
vannah in 1873, when he was about Is
years old, and has lived since in New
Orleans. He was found there by his
uncle, James Wall, who made a trip
10 that city with this especial object
in view. He was known in New Or
leans as Frank Singer and explained
this discrepancy by saying that per-
sons pronounced his name that way,
anyhow, and he had become tired of
spelling it differently.
The claimant told Judge Cam the
facts of his early life in Savannah,
with a Particularly of which it seems
hardly possible for an imposter, as the
administrative of the estate declares
him to be. to show himself possessed.
He told of his parents, of his youthful
sports on the streets of Savannah and
on the river, of his playmateS and of
his friends. Incident after incident he
recalled, and these were verified as
actual occurrences by the evidence Of
those who had taken part in them,
more than a quarter of century ago.
He accounted for his long silence by
saying that he had dropped out of the
life of his relatives and lost trace of
their whereabouts and time had grad
ually produced a barrier of non-inter-
course between them and him.
1t is the contention of the admins
tratrix of the estate that this whole
story is pure fabrication, from start
TO finish, and that the claimant is not
John Francis Seignez, but some man
who left Savannah about the same
time. On behalf of the administrative,
It is further contended that the real
John Francis Seignez is dead.
The evidence for the Administrative
was not gone into, but will be taken
up before Judge Cam at noon to-day,
10 which hour the case was continued
yesterday evening. If the claimant is
an lmposter, as the Administrative al
leges and as her counsel profess their
perfect ability to prove, he is one OF
the most remarkable that has ever tes-
tined in court in Savannah.