The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-08-23
SHOCKING DEATH OF
rlR. AND rIRS. FAIR

-
had been stopping at the Hotel Ritz, in
Paris, during the greater part of the
summer, were killed this afternoon in
an automobile accident at Pacy-sur-
Eure, a village situated about fifty
miles to the west of Paris and ten
miles east of EvereauX. MIR. Fair him
self was driving his automobile at
high rate of speed when one of the
pneumatic tires burst. The machine
swerved, collided with a tree and, with
a terrible crash, was overturned. Mr.
and Mrs. Fair were killed outright
and the chauffeur was badly injured.
Fair and his wife suffered terrible in
juries, the head of the man being
crushed and that of his wife split
/ Mr.. and Mrs. Fair had been staying
at Trouville during racink week. The
had a very fast forty-five horsepower
automobile, which attracted consider
able attention and with which they
were highly pleased. The accident oc-
Cured at 2:30 o'clock this afternoon,
and almost in front of the Chateau
4 Bisson du Mai. The Fairs intended
to dine and spend the night in Paris
and return to Trouville for lunch to-
. morrow.
The wife of the gatekeeper of the
chateau was the only witness to the
disaster. She says she noticed a big red
automobile coming along the road at
tremendous speed. Suddenly some
thing happened and the heavy machine
slid sidewise from the right to the left
side of the road for about sixty yards.
1t then dashed up an embankment,
turned a complete somersault and
crashed into big elm tree in front of
the gate of the chateau. The automo-
bile was completely wrecked, The front
axle was broken and other parts of
the machine were smashed, including
the steering gear.
When the auto turned over, the wife
of the gatekeeper says she saw Mr.. and
Mrs. Fair thrown high in the air and
fall with a heavy thud to the ground.
The chauffeur, who was sitting behind
the Fairs, was precipitated into a
ditch. He staggered to his feet, call
| ing for help.
The gatekeeper's wife rushed to his
assistance and aided him in extricating
Mr.. and Mrs. Fair, who were buried
beneath the wrecked machine and in
the last throes of death. Both had
sustained ghastly injuries and were al
most unrecognizable. Mr. Fairs head
had been crushed in, while his wifes
skull was split.
Charles L. Fairs estate is worth
probably ten million dollars or more.
From his mothers estate he inherited
property which he sold in 1895 to his
two sisters for more than a million
dollars, taking $500, 900 in cash and Sc
curities and the balance in notes. In
1897 ,on his thirtieth birthday, he also
received a legacy of 100000 from the
estate of his older brother. 1t was
supposed at the time of his marriage,
in 1893, that his wife had about $780,,
600 worth of property. All those years
after his majority he was receiving a
monthly cash allowance of $500. How
much of these resources has been con-
sumed during the past nine years is
not known, but both lived lavishly.
The greatest item of Fairs fortune
was his One-third interest in the estate
of his father the late Senator James
G. Fair, which property is now worth
between twenty and thirty million dol
lars. 1t may be said that Charles L.
Fair was worth, in round figures, $10,-
100000. He and his wife died childless.
SAN FRANCISCO, August 16.-The
fight for the millions that Charles Fair
left is on. Scarcely had the flowers
with which the peasants of Saint Agui-
lin covered the bodies of the dead mil
lionaire and his wife as they lay by
the roadside been removed by the Co
rOner's men when the lawyers were at
each others throats and all who
thought they ought to inherit began
+ snarling at the heels of those whom
: they feared would inherit.
Public Administrator Farnham wants
! to be made administrator of the es-
tate. 1t means a fortune to him if the
! courts grant his petition and ar has
} lost no time in taking whatever advan-
tage the first move may give him. The
mother of the dead wife is preparing
to hasten to San Francisco and her
l sons and sons-in-law are consulting
: lawyers and talking of the division
f among them of $1O000,O0O, while the
! sisters body lies wrapped in a silker
5 shroud in Paris. Other lawyers, with
! apologies on their lips for the unseemly
. haste they are compelled to exhibit
= are fortifying their position of defense
1 against those who viii attack the
= claim of the sisters of the dead man tC
his enormous wealth.
Attorneys scent the battle from afar
Bitter litigation, prolonged legal war,
fare, is anticipated. Certainly that OF
: expensive compromises are inevitable
. AS yet nothing decisive has been an.
nounced to determine whether Mrs
Fair lived oven an instant after llf,
] passed from the body of her husband
/ and possibly nothing legally conclusiv,
|