Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1903-01-01
RAG-PIcKER's GOOD FORTUNE.
Aged and Poverty.Stricl<ea Woman
Of Cork, ireland, Inherlts Rich
Amerlcan-Estut

It is doubtful II fortune ever
tumbled into the lap of person
less likely to use it to advantage
than the 100000 which the United
States supreme court recently award
ed to 65-,,ear-old Hannah Callaghan,
Of Cork, as her share in the estate
of her cousin, John Sullivan, who.
died in Seattle, Wash.
Wrinkled, haggard, with q narrow,
pointed nose, thin lips, bitter
tongue and aggressive disposition,
the woman who has just inherited
$500,0O0 earned her living until few
Gays ago as ragpicker. For years
she has made her home in squalid
little room in a narrow alley appro-
priately named as Crone's lane, in
Cork's worst slum, writes foreign
correspondent of the Chicago Chron-
icle. She began life as crochet
worker and once earned as much as
five dollars week. Then she got
to be scrubwoman and made less,
and Of late years she has collected
homes, sold fruit and generally lived
from hand to mouth. She has been
somewhat partial to gin. When the
news reached Hannah Callaghan the
other day that she had inherited half
| of John Sullivan's Northumberland
Corcoran, poor Dublin artisan, got
the other half-the old woman was
SO bewildered that she could hardly
| realize what it meant to her. She
heard that her cousin had died in.
testate, but had thought so little OF
her own chances of getting share
of his estate that when American
lawyers came to her several months
ago and offered to push her claim she
| made no trouble over signing. an
agreement that they should take half
of any sum they succeeded in get
| ting awarded to her.
This does not mean, however, that
the old woman was feeced by her
American attorneys. For six months
they have worked like beavers to
get her inheritance, and the trouble
they took and the ingenuity they
manifested certainly entitle them to
a pretty stable fee, if not as large
a one as they have gained. Since
Hannah Callaghan became an heiress
a clergyman in her neighborhood has
been looking after her to see that
no one takes advantage of her. The
precaution is necessary, for the old
Irish woman, who hasn't yet decided
| to leave the dirty little room in
which she has lived for so long, is
being harried by people who have
suddenly discovered themselves to be
RELATIVES" of hers, disinterested
souls who would be willing to MS.
sist her to invest her money as well
as gallant suitors who love her fol
herself alone. John Sullivan, the
builder of the fortune which Cor
ccran and Hannah Callaghan have
inherited, was born in the same Cork
SUM in which the old rag and bone
picker has lived so long. He became
a sailor and finally was shipwreckeG
on tho coast of the state of Wash
ington. He built himself cabin an6
afterward second one, which hi
rented to man who happened along
Finally he had a whole village OF
shanties which he owned, but just as
it was beginning to- bring him in a
little something in the way of rent
the whole settlement was burned
| down.
Sullivan still owned the land, how
ever, and he rebuilt upon it, and
eventually, as one of the founders of
| Seattle, grew rich.