The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-09-27
Her Elaborate House Of
Cards Collapsed, Laura
Biggar Vanishes, and the
Police Are Securing New
York and Surrounding
Resorts.
The Certificate Supposed to
Show Her Marriage to
Henry M, Bennett Spuri-
Gus on Its Face-Dated
1898 and Written on a
Blank of 1000

NEW YORK. Sept 27-Detectives are
securing New Jersey and New York city
for Laura Biggar- the actress who says
she is heir to the millions of Henry NJ
Bennett They are armed with warrants
charging her with having conspiTed TO
secure a widows rights when she was
not widow
Her lawyer and physician and the
justice OF the peace who swore he mar
ried her 10 the theatrical millionaire
are still in jail unable to procure bail.
They are charged with having part
in the boldest plot that has ever been
exposed since Eva Mann tried 20 palm
of q child on Robert Roy Hamilton as
his own
The whole house OF cards went to
pieces in a breath yesterday in the or
phans' court at Long Branch.
Her Lawyers Withdraw.
Two OF Laura Biggar's lawyers with
drew from the case as soon as court
convened; The lawyers for the other
side acquitted them of part in the con-
spiracy, courteousIy indicating their be-
lief that they had been imposed upon;
the warrants we're served on Dr.. c c.
Hendricks and former Justice of the
Peace Samuel Stanton. and the witnesses
were called who laid the whole scheme
hare
The contest for the whole Of the great
estate On the ground that the woman is
the widow Of the milIieuaire and the
mother of his child is abandoned. and
the other heirs purpose 70 show there
was no marriage. and that there was no
child. or at least no child Of Henry NJ
Bennett and Laura Biggar.
Last week the statuesque plaintiff. who
hed periled the third Of a million dol /
lars which was hers under the viii Of
the old man whose whims and peevish-
ness she had borne for years. was The
central figure OF the trial.
Great Play for Sympathy.
In her widows weeds. fighting as she /
put it for her fair fame and he name Of ]
her dead child. producing her wedding I
certificate and following It with the tes-
timony Of the justice who had perform /
ed the ceremony. she shook the court /
with sympathy. and it seemed as if she /
would be vindicated before the World.
She is an actress. and never did she /
play greater role than she did in the I
courtroom. and when court adjourned /
last week it looked as if her case was /
wen
Proclaimed al Adventures
When court reconvened yesterday al I
this was changed in an instant She was .
not present, but instead Of figuring as
a wronged woman fighting for her title
10 womanhood. she vas named as an ad-
venturess, greedy beyond comparison.
rislZing ali she had gained for a mere
fraction Of additional fortune
Her lawyers said she would voIun-
tarily surrender herself when she
learned that a warrant had been issued
for her. tI- last night the deputy sher-
ins were hunting far and wide TO place
her under arrest There Is reason 10 be
ieve that she was IN the sauita-iurn Of !.
Dr.. Hendricks (where she has been the
sole patient OF IateJ when me word
reached her, but she was not there when
the deputies arrived TO serve the war
rant upon her, and at a late hour last
night they we're still hunting
Wedding Certificate a Forgery.
IN brief. the disclosure yesterday was
that the wedding certificate, purporting 1
20 be the record OF the marriage Of :
Laura Biggar to Henry N Bennett. AZ e
he home Of Justice Of the Peace Samuel
Stanton, on January ., 1858. was a for
gerry. executed last. week By the very =
man who was alleged 10 have. performed
the ceremony.
That this man tried TO induce the sec
retary OF the board OF health to make . / I
false entry in his records in order to z
make It appear that it had been record
ed years ago.
That the name OF dead woman was :
inserted in the forged paper as wit
ness C
That there never was child. and that
Laura Biggar never pretended 70 be the
wife Of Bennett until after she had gone
TO Dr.. Hendricks sauitarium. where the :
whole plot was made q
Spurious on It's Face.
The forged paper was in itself evi-
dence Of its character, for, according to
the clerk who gave It blank to Judge
Stanton and later received II from him
filled out, # was a 1900 blank, and had
10 be scratched out in order TO admit
the insertion Of the date 1898.
as the matter now stands. Laura Big a.
gar Is still entitled to one-tlird
q million Of dollars, though she n1ay be -
o
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