The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-21
ECCENTRIC WOMAN'S DEATH
Continued from First Page.l

standing on the chair at the time, A
 lnisstep threw her headlong into the
 we'll
 Her son, Wilfred A. French and James French, his uncle, took charge ot
 the premises after the medical eXamin'
 CT had given his opinion.
 Mrs. French is said to have had more | lawsuits brought against her and had
 appeared as plaintiff more times than
 any other person appearing in pubic. | The litigation territory extended from | the Atlantic coast to the Rocky noun | tains.
 In fact she had such a tendency to go-
 ing to law that in November, 1900, Dr. 1 Bloomer superintendent of the Butler 1 insane asylum at Providence, R. l., tes- tified as an expert that Mrs. French
 was afflicted with "litigious paranoia, 7" in plain language, mania for bring | ing lawsuits.
 l The testimony was based on the act 1 nal court record which she was known | to have established, coupled with knowledge obtained as to her eccentric 1 habits and mode Of life.
 The most complete lawsuit of her life was in relation to the will of her second husband, Benjamin French, and in volved not only her right to the estate but the question of her sanity. From
 her first husband Mrs. French was di- vorced on the ground of desertion in 1861. She married Benjamin French the next year.
 At the time of his death he was the head of a firm dealing in photograph materials. His will made her heir in full his son, Wilfred, being cut off with s5 The estate was worth over half million and the suit was to prevent her acting as executrix of it. The case was full of sensational features. At the in stance of the son Mrs. French was plac- ed under temporary guardianship as an insane person Nurses and private de tectives were employed to watch her
 A detective declared in court that Mrs. French had told him that a Rus sian prince had proposed to her when she was a young girl and that he still stood ready to marry her. He testified also that she told him the pope of Rome singled her out one Easter Sun day when she was at the Vatican, but the witness could not recall the details or the cO1lN6TSdllOH lndI leu up lo lHt latter boast. She told him also of how sine had been entertained by the nobili- ty abroad by Queen Victoria, the em- peror of Germany and others. The case dragged for months and the probate court decided that Mrs. French was sane.
 Two months later the will contest was decided in her favor by the supreme court.
 Among other famous lawsuits in which Mrs. French was involved was one which caused her to leave Colorado for the east She sued a Denver firm over a disputed bill and counter ac- ton for $20,0O0 damages on the ground of malicious prosecution was brought. The firm got a verdict of s4,600 and then swore out a warrant charging Mrs. French with perjury. Mrs. French eluded the sheriff and started east. She reached Omaha, was arrested but Se- cured release on writ of habeas cor pus. When she reached Mendato, H., an officer boarded the train and tried to force her to leave the car at Aurora. She declared that no official in the state of Illinois had authority over her. Mrs. French sprained her ankle, but won the struggle and continued on her way to Boston.
 These two cases, however, were only incidents in Mrs. French's legal career She always had a number of contests on hand Usually she retained new attorney for each new case and when the case was disposed of she dropped the lawyer for a new one. She admit ted that she had a fondness for law l yers. She used to say that they were the brainiest and cleverest of persons to be found and that she enjoyed talk | ing with them.
 Curious contrasts present themselves | in the career of this woman. She was 1 parsimonious and yet she was generous, | Stories were told in court of her living | in two or three rooms in her big house. | of her living without servants and do ing the work of the house herself, of her cooking in the bath room and being too poor to have the gas turned on in her house. But to offset these tales are the known instances where Mrs. French made valuable and unexpected gifts to people for whom she had some liking,