Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-17
FIGHT FOR ESTATE BEGINS
Scramble for the Fair Millions Before the
Dead Are Buried.
QUESTION OF PRIORITY OF DEATH
California Law Presumes that WHERE
Husband and wife Perish in
same Calamity Husband as the
Stronger Survives the wife.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. le.-Attorney
Charles j. Haggerty announces he has found
the last will Of Mrs. Charles Fair in a safe
deposit vault. He refused to make known
the contents Of the document. The will
was prepared by Knight & Haggerty, in
April, 1900. This is the will Of which Mrs.
Fair told Mrs. Joseph Harvey, and by which
1t is presumed, upon the evidence Of her
statements to Mrs. Harvey, she left lega-
cies to her mother. brothers and sisters,
aggregating the total amount Of her indi-
vidual fortune, variously estimated to be
worth from S25O,O00 to S4OO, 900. No other
will was found.
In Knight & Hsggerty's custody there
has been the will Of Charles L. Fair, drawn
about the same time, April. 1900. This and
the will Of Mrs. Fair, found in the trust
cOmpany's vault, are the documents that
will be filed by the attorneys for the Fair
heirs whenever II becomes necessary in
their opposition to the petition to the public
administrator.
IL the public administrator does not in
~terfere the Wills will not be filed until
after the funeral OF Mr.. and Mrs. Fair in
this city. There is much speculation as to
their contents.
1t has not yet been ascertained whether
the Fairs acquired separate or community
property after the making Of these Wills.
This property will legally be included in
the disposition authorized by the Wills,
and the legatees so named will receive
their share II the courts authorize the dis
tribution in accordance with the provisions
Of the Wills.
The question OF priority Of death is ex-
citing much comment, but Attorney Heg-
gerty, who, with Hermann Oelrichs, Is
conducting the necessary litigation pre-
liminary to the probation Of the wills. de-
clares that il Mrs. Fair survived her hus-
band this circumstance can have no effect
upon the final disposition Of the property,
except to give her relatives all that she
bequeathed TO them.
II her husband survived, his estate will
be distributed equally to his sisters, Mrs.
Oelrichs and Mrs. w. X. Vanderbilt, with
whatever additional property Mrs. Fair may
have willed to her husband. The law Of
California presumes that where husband
and wife perish in the same calamity the
husband, as the stronger, survived the wife.
The bodies of Mr.. and Mrs. Fair will be
placed in the Fair mausoleum at Laurel
Hill, beside the body Of the late Senator
James G. Fair.
The matter Of the application Of Public
Administrator Farnham for letters Of ad-
ministration over the estate Of Mr.. and
Mrs. Charles Fair came up for hearing in
Judge Carroll Cooks court today. After
listening to extended arguments for and
against the application of the public admin
~istrator, Judge Cook announced that ne
would give a decision on Monday, and in
the meantime would await further particu-
lars of the accident, as the reports Of the
death OF the millionaire and his wife, while
undoubtedly true, in the eyes Of the law
were merely hearsay and must be substan-
tiated by more direct evidence than has al
ready been presented.