The San Francisco call., 1905-01-06
CLUNIE ACCUSES
Two EXECUTORS
Objections to Account Are
Full of Charges of Nal
administration of Estate
INVESTIGATION BEGINS
Allegations Read in Court
and B. G.. White Submits
to Rigorous Examination

Sensational objections to the account
ing of E. A. Bridgford and Burrell G.
White for their administration of the
million-dollar estate of the late Thomas
j. Clunie were read in Judge Coffey's
court yesterday by Andrew ]. Clunie.
the third executor and brother of
the deceased. The written objections
bristied with the words footing"
misrepresentation grossly false" and
illegal" and in the course of search
ing examination of White. which was
unfinished at the end of the afternoon,
Mr.. Clunie added conspiracy to his
list of charges against the two exec
utors.
Rridgford and White were both in
court and were represented in the pro-
ceedings by Hudson Grant, former
Judge at Woodland, whose employment
as attorney by the executors is one OF
the CHEZ grounds of Clunies attack
upon the account. ID. NJ. Delmas was
also present but his interest is in a
matter that will be taken up later
that OF his fee as attorney for the es-
tate. In the examination of White
some of the questions were not gone
into because OF the absence of certain
receipts and documents that he will be
required to produce in court on next
Monday afternoon.
Clunie especially excepts TO certain
items OF receipts and moneys on deposit
that will be Investigated when the rec
ords are produced. These include
the distribution to Florence Clunie OF
$45. .325 received from Andrew Clunie on
the settlement of her contest. Andrew
]. Clunie says this was never paid to
the executors as such, but was the
property of Florence Clunie, held by
the trustees.
DISCREPANCY EXPLAINED.
An exception was made so the report
Of the sale Of personal property for
$12.S6 so, when the amount was really
$19, 9,4S0. White admitted that there was
a mistake in the entry, but said it was
explained by another entry for the sale
OF sugar stock, which covered the dis
crepancy. Objection was made to
charge for the keep Of horse which,
Clunie said. was used by White for
his private amusement and con-
venience.' White hotly denied this,
and at this point declared that the OBJ
jections were "blasphemous and out
rageous," and that he did not want
day to pass without full investiga-
tion.
Exception was also taken to the pay
ment of S150,000 to Mrs. Clunie under
decree Of partial distribution on Feb
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such decree was ever made and no such
payments could have been legally
made.
In examining White on the settle
ment of Mrs. Clunie's contest. Andrew
]. Clunie asked him if he had selected
John r. Wilson as Mrs. Ciunie's attor-
hey. He replied that he had only men
toned him in connection with getting
an allowance for Mrs. Clunie. Clunie
brought out that White and Wilson
! were warm friends, and then asked
why White had not employed him as
his own attorney. White declined to
answer, and Judge Coffey sustained his
objection, whereupon Clunie remarked
that he wanted to show that White
brought about all the trouble with Mrs.
Clunie and sent attorneys to her.
Pursuing the same line he attempted
to go into the relationship between
White and Bridgford for the purpose.
he said, of showing a conspiracy to
vote away the money of this estate"
, White was very close to General Clunie
and attended to all his business He
was present when the will was made
and read the items to the testator. This
led to a line of questioning upon
Whites construction of a clause in the
will appointing three attorneys as
executors and instructing that the
three should choose one iof their num-
ber to act as attorney in the admins
tration.
HIRED ATTORNEYS.
White said that he and Bridgford at
first thought that much legal service
would not be necessary in the admins
tration, but upon Clunie's assertion
that there would be a contest of the
will they concluded to get assistance.
Bridgford wanted Hudson Grant to rep
resent him and White wanted w. H.
Robinson. Both were employed, Grant
preparing nearly all the papers in the
estate and Robinson passing on them
for White. A few weeks ago 1t was
agreed that Grant should have $4,000
for his services and Robinson $4,000.
These amounts were paid and Clunie's
objection thereto says: 1T was wholly
unwarranted by law; paid without
services having been rendered in return
and paid and accepted with the full
knowledge that the payment constitut-
ed looting of the estate and mis-
appropriation of the money" Clunie
declared that the services were not
worth $500 and that the payments were
not for the attorneys, but were to be
shared by the executors. Questioning
White on this point and in regard to
the checks which were cashed at the
Western National Bank. of which
Bridgford is a director, Clunie said he
would demand an inspection of Grants
private account at that bank.
1t was further charged that the law
yers were paid out of the receipts from
the sale of personal property, permis-
sion to sell which had been obtained
by representing that there were no
funds from which to pay legacies.
White admitted that the money was
so paid, and that he had told some enc
that he had no funds to pay legacies.
Clunie also objected to an item OF
$500 in the hands of E. A. Bridg
ford" and charged that it had been
paid as an advance on commissions.
contrary to the rule of the court. White
would not swear that this was or was
not true, but said there was an un-
derstanding that the money would be
repaid. Clunie declared that there
should be no commissions, because
there was no labor in administering the
estate and upon the grounds that the
executors have willfully misappropriat-
ed the property of the estate
Clunie said that d. M. Delmas was
employed as attorney for the estate,
according to the report, but he be-
lieved he was employed by Bridgford
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