Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-14
MILLIONAIRE IN FANCY ONLY
Uncle John Flansgan's Yellow Journal
Reputation Not Sustained by Facts.
MAY Be WORTH TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS
VirginIan who H. Reported to he
Coming 20 Omaha to Accept
"MiIIIons" VIII he sadly
Disappointed.

The Bee is in receipt Of telegram from
a correspondent at Richmond Va, stating
that John Bowles Flanagan Of King and
Queen county has started to Omaha upon
invitation Of John Flanagan, colored, Of
Omaha, who has promised to turn over to
him property worth millions," which prop
erty was given him (the negro) years ago
by a party OF western settlers for services
rendered and title to which he has just
had quleted by the courts
The colored man referred to is Uncle
John" Flanagan, resident in a two-room
hut with his wife on Thirty-irst street at
its intersection with the Belt Line tracks
the same Uncle John" who has been 1903
years old for eight years past; who has been
in the courts ever since time began and in
the newspapers almost as long; whose cause
was aired in Gothic type and impossible
cuts by Presidential Candidate w. r. Hearst
and who has been persuaded by all this
notoriety that he must really be what some
other people have called him-"the mill
lionaire slave"
FIanagan's Attorney Talks.
His attorney, c. w. Haller, yesterday
implied very broadly that il John Bowles
Flanagan is coming to Omaha expecting to
get millions" there Is severe jolt Of dis
appointment awaiting him. Mr.. Haller
said:
Uncle John was a slave down south, and,
judging by what he says, was once owned
By the father of this John Bowles Flana-
gan, now an undertaken at Richmond
Years ago Uncle John worked for E. B. Tay-
lor, proprietor OF the Omaha Republican,
and was given by Taylor in payment of a
$40 wage account forty acres of swamp
land bounded by Thirtieth street on the
east, Ames avenue on the north. SpraEue
on the south and Thirty-third on the west.
In the boom days he sold the west twenty
acres to E. G. Cochran for $4,000 and spent
the money in litigation and otherwise, with
out real benefit to himself
"Of the other or east twenty acres he
sold part and part was acquired by other
parties by adverse possession, so that there
remain thirty lots, title to which was
claimed by various parties, including former
Governor Boyd. We took these lots into
court and last June Judge Dickinson quleted
title to them in Uncle John.
What Land is Really Worth.
They are worth from 5000 to $500 each
and If they were unencumbered, and IL
Uncle John would permit them to be sold
at those figures, he would be in very good
circumstances, but all are encountered with
accumulated taxes amounting to as much
as 5000 on some of the lots, and he further
retards progress by declining to sell at
less than $500 and $500 each. In addition,
sales have been tied up by the action of
the defendants in the above suits, who
have appealed to the supreme court for a
reversal of the Dickinson decision.
"The result of all this is that the courts
won't let Uncle John sell; that even II the
courts willing 10 cell 20
what he can get, and, lastly, II he did sell,
his net receipts, after paying taxes and all
costs Of litigation, wouldn't be more than
$4,000 That figure shows exactly how near
he is to being the millionaire slave that
Mr.. Hearst's paper called him. 1t shows,
too. what sort Of disappointment is in store
for Mr.. John Bowles Flanagan when he
arrives from Richmond. Uncle John has
wanted to send for him for some time, but
have advised against 1t. knowing there
could be only a disappointment"