Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-28
roper papers.
Case of Mary O'Brien.

Account No. 2o5434 Mary O'Brien. This
woman was a domestic servant and when
she opened the account in our bank she
gave us her address as the residence of her
employer. Sine was a single woman She
disappeared for over twenty years, when
we began to look her up. In response to
one of our advertisements we received
letter from woman who. from what she
wrote, evidently knew our depositof, ana
claimed relationship with her. On a per
sonal interview we became satisfied she
knew all about her, and while she salu our
depositor was dead. she refused absolutely
to give any information as to who the heirs
were and where they lived, although we
discovered from her that they were III
closer relationship to our depositor than
she was, From her manner we surmised
a family quarrel, and an evident intention
to keep all knowledge of the missing de-
positor from the rightful heirs until such
time as she saw fit to divulge ii or perhaps
! be able to benefit from il herself She was
| politely bowed out, with the information
| that we would locate these heirs without
her assistance.
After considering the subject for some
time. and further examining the corre-
spondence we had had with our depositor.
we became convinced that while she her
self was resident of New York city she
visited at times certain town in the state
of Connecticut. and it occurred to us that
an advertisement in one of the papers or
Indl TOWN. might POSSIBLY DTlIB StilSidcioIg
results. So one Saturday caused no.
tice to be put in one of their dailies, and
promptly the following Monday morning We
had all the heirs dancing attendance at the
| bank.
1t seems that when our depostor died the
| woman who had first visited US in some
way had obtained her pass book an
| other bank, and by speciouS representa-
| lions had succeeded in drawing out the en-
| tire balance of over $1,000. 1t appears
Mary O. Bren died leaving a will, and en-
| the executor discovered that this S1.0Oo Iad
| been Illegally drawn out he entered suit.
and the case created considerable stir In
| the little town referred to. The reports OF
| the trial occupied several columns of the
| local paper, giving facsimiles of Mary
o Brien'S signature. and also of that of the
woman above referred to, and showing thu
| latter in a very unenviable light. The ac-
| count was eventually paid to the executor
| of the depositor and divided according to
| law.
Windfall for a Widow.
| A rather singular case is that of account
| No. 702,345. Some time last spring one of
| the bookkeepers of the bank, in going over
| the ledger he had charge of, was struck by
| the similarity of a name with that of one of
| the board of trustees, and the account
| had never had a deposit subsequent to its
opening. and the passbook belonging to It
| had never been presented to have the in
tereSt written up he made a note or IL ana
| brought 1t into the Office. with query as to
whether there might be any connection be-
| tween the two persons. Upon investigating
| the matter it was found that the gentleman
who made the original deposit had died
| some three or four years ago, and that his
| widow and daughter were living in San
| Francisco. letter informing them of the
existence of the account brought the infor-
| nation that they knew nothing whatever
| about it. The fact, however. that the ac-
| count stood in the of the widow:
| that she could answer all the test questions
put by the bank and that the signature
pasted in our signature book was Identical
| with that signed to her letter. convinced us
| that the account belonged to her. 1t was
| mysterious, and could only be solved by
conjecture 1t was presumed that the per-
son who opened the account was the hus-
band of the woman with whom we had cor
responded. and that for some reason known
| only to himself he came into the bank ana
deposited several hundred dollars in his
wife's name He could of course. answer
| for her all the test questions usually put by
savings banks. and when asked for her sig
nature the bit of paper bearing IL, which is
pasted in our book, was evidently torn from
some letter she had written TO him. 1t and
| the one signed to her letter to us are idenu-
cal There was no escaping the conclusion
| that the money properly belonged to her.
and one can imagine the delight OF the
widow and her daughters upon receiving
some three hundred-odd dollars principal
| and interest, which was due at the time the
account was paid to them 1t was literary
| like a windfall from heaven.