The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-02-06
Irish RAGPICkER
INAERITS FORTUNE
Hannah Callaghan Gets $780,.
600 From the Estate Of
John Sullivan.
COULD HARDLY REALIZE 1T
Life Of Indebtedness and SquaIoY
Changed, in Old Age, by Vast
WeaIth-Sudden Avarice Of
Her Fellow Heir.

fortune ever tumbled into the lap of a
person less likely to use it to advantage
than the 100000 which the United States
supreme court recently awarded to Co.
iyear-old Hannah Callaghan of Cork. Ire
land, as her share in the estate Of her
cousin, John Sullivan, who died in Sc
attle, Wash. "
Hannah Callaghan is w%rinkled, hag-
gard, with a narrow, pointed nose, hin
lips, a bitter tongue and an aggressive
disposition. The woman who has just
inherited $1,000 900 earned her living, until
ia few days ago, as a r%agpicker. For years
she has made her home in a squalid little
,room-for which she occasionally has been
able to pay a shilling a week rent-in a
marrow alley, appropriately named
"Crone's Lane" in Cork's worst sum-.
She began life as a crockett worker and
once earned as much as IS a week-then
she got to be a scrub woman and made
less, and Of late years she has collected
bones, sold fruit and generally lived from
hand to mouth. She has been somewhat
partial to gin.
Hannah Was Bewildered.
When the news reached Hannah Gala
CHAN the other day that she had inherited
half of John Sullivan's fortune-Edward
Corcoran, a poor Dublin artisan got the
other half-the old woman was so bewil-
dered 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 a
share Of his estate that when American
lawyers came to her several months g
and offered to push her claim she made
no trnI1honE nvar Siopiro an q ernaroeptI
that they should take half Of any sum
they succeeded in getting awarded to her.
This doesn't mean, however, that the
old woman was f1eeced by her American
attorneys. For six months they hav
worked like beavers to get her her in
heritance, and the endless trouble they
took and the ingenuity they manifested
certainly entltle them to a pretty stable
fee, If not as. large a one as they have
gained. Besides finding in the slums Of
Irish cities the two obscure people who
are John Sullivan'sneXtto kin, they turned
up, after weeks Of searching, certificates
dating back as far as 1904, and even dug
up the collins that held the remains of
Sullivan's parents in order TO copy the in
scriptions on the plates.
Drew S. a Week.
Meanwhile they deposited to Hannah's
credit in a Cork bank $3.50, allowing her
to draw SIS q week thereof-so sure did
they feet Of success.
Since lama Callaghan became an
aeiress a clergyman in her neighborhood
has been looking after her to see hat no
one takes advantage of her. The precau-
ton is necessary, for the old Irish wom-
an, who hasn't yet decided to leave the
dirty little room in which she has lived
for SO long, is being harried by folk who
nave suddenly discovered themselves to
be her relatives" disinterested souls who
would be willing to assist her to invest
her money, as well as gallant suitors who
love her for herself alone.
Edward Corcoran, the Dublin man who
gets the other half of John S%ullivan's for
tune, is a saddler. Like Sarah Callaghan,
he was S%ullivan's first cousin. Like her,
too, when approached by the American
lawyers, he signed deeds making over to
them a large share of his inheritance in
case he got it. No sooner was he in pos
session of his legacy, however, than Cor
coran tried to get his agreement set aside.
He has not succeeded.
SulIivan's Strange Career.
If anything Is needed to add romance to
the story Of how these two old people,
having led lives Of poverty, are suddenly
made rich, it can be found in the strange
career Of John Sullivan himself, the build
er of the fortune which Corcoran and
Hannah Callaghan have inherited. He
was born in the same Cork slum in which
the old rag and bone picker has lived so
long. He became a sailor, and finally was
ishipwrecked on the coast Of the state Of
Washington. Alone Of the crew Of his
ship he was cast ashore alive. He suf-
fered terribly from the cold, and lost sew
eral toes through frostbite, but managed
| to keep alive through killing and eating
| small animals and birds. Then he built
himself q cabin and afterward q. second
one which he rented to a man who hap
pened along. Finally he had a whole vii
aage of shanties which he owned, but just
as it was beginning to bring him in a lit
tie something in the way of rent the whole
settlement burned down.
Sullivan still owned the land. however,
and he rebuilt upon it, and eventually, as
one of the founders of Seattle, grew rich.
French Woman Claimed Estate.
Marie Carrau, the French woman who
claimed Sullivans estate on the ground
that the Irishman had made it over to her
by means of a verbal will, came near be-
ing left in undisturbed possession of it.
The superior court of Washington ad-
mitted her claim, but then the American
lawyers discovered S%ullivan's next Of kin.
The United States consul at Queenstown
held an inquiry in which whole loads of
evidence were taken, after considering
which the supreme court handed down the
decision which raised two people from
wretched poverty to wealth.
John Sullivan visited Cork last year.
singularly enough, to collect a legacy of
about $1,000 which had been left him by
his sister, but 1t is significant thai he
neither visited nor communicated with
either of the people who nave succeeded
to his fortune.
May Be the Reason.
Chicago Post: He vas talking to the
pessimistic, sharp-tongued damsel.
.Have you noticed he asked, that. as
n general thing. bachelors are wealthier