The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1904-09-24
JOE DOUGLASS MONEY.
California Claims Five Per Cent
Property Removed from State.

The executors of the estate of Joe
Douglass, the Virginia City broker.
who died at San Francisco last January,
are accused Of having got the better Of
the State of California to the sum of
$50, 900. This sum it is claimed was
due under the law levying collateral
Inheritance tax, and became payable ON
the date Of Douglass death. 1t has not
been paid. and the property ON which it
should have been collected has been
spirited away.
When Douglass died he possessed
money and bonds valued at about $780,
600, over which Wells, Fargo g. Co. s
Bank of San Francisco, of which
Homer s. King is president, was custo-
dian, and the original petition for pro-
batting the will recited this fact.
In the course of administration the
estate was appraised, and shortly after
the inventory was filed Attorney F. M.
Huffaker Of Virginia City asked permis-
sion to withdraw it, on the ground that
there were some irregularities which he
desired to correct. Upon the same
ground he asked for the appointment of
new appraisers, and in response to his
request Judge Coffey named Homer s.
King, ]. NJ. Quay and William Jay
Smith.
But when these appraisers sought to
put III an estimate on the value of the
estate they found that there was moth.
ing to appraise. Between the time of
the withdrawal of the first inventory
from the County Clerks office and the
appointment of the new appraisers the
$640.0OO on deposit in Kings bank
mysteriously disappeared.
The new appraisers made up report
to the effect that there was nothing
within the jurisdiction of the court to
which they could attach value. None
of them would admit that he knew
where the money had disappeared to.
The appraisers were before Judge
Coffey in the Superior Court at San
Francisco last week in answer to q cita-
ton issued on the petition Of City
Treasurer j. Z. McDougall. In the in
vestigation it was discovered that they
have been guilty of irregularities that
may lead to their prosecution. They
admitted that after making their re-
turn to the court each of them accepted
ITOu tue eAeCutOrs VI Jue 6stdJe, Will
lam j. Douglass and Robert L, Doug.
lass, nephews Of the deceased, who are
his sole legatees. fee Of $5, In viola.
ton of the Penal Code, which makes it
a misdemeanor for an appraiser to &C.
cept fee from any interested party.
In explanation the appraisers claimed
to have been acting under the advice of
of Attorney Huffaker. Huffaker. on
the witness stand. attempted to justify
the payment of the fee on the ground
that the law only prohibits the payment
of fee in excess of the fee allowed by
law, but Judge Coffey replied that this
contention was merely quibble. Asked
if he knew where the money had been
taken, Huffaker answered that the ex-
ecutors had taken it to Nevada.
In the examination Attorney Clay B.
Gooding. representing the City Treas
ursr. brought out the fact that no effort
had been made to remove the money
until the executors had been notified
that the collateral inheritance tax was
due. He was instructed to submit an
order requiring the first inventory to be
replaced.
Attorney Gooding claims that i'm
mediately upon the death OF Douglass
per cent of his estate became the prop.
erty of the State and that in carrying 1t
away the executors have m ade them
selves liable.