The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-18
WOMAN INDICTED FOR PERJURY
MISS M'DANIEL ACCUSED or
FALSE OATH AS TO HEIRS.

SwOre That Her Mother and an Aunt Were
the Only Heirs TO Mrs. PIerce's Estate
Third Heir. ar Aunt, was I'm Poor
house and, It Is Alleged. Hid the Fact.
Mary J.. Mcdaniel. who was arraigned
In the Tombs police court last Sunday
morning on a short affidavit charging
her with committing a crime in the city
Of New York. was indicted by the Grand
Jury yesterday for perjury and locked
up in tho Tombs.
The indictment was found on evidence
submitted to the Grand Jury by Assist
ant District Attorney Perkins that Miss
Mcdaniel had sworn falsely before Referee
Robert Walker that the only heirs OF Mrs.
Helen A. Pierce Of this city, who died in
Boston on October 7, 1907, were her mother.
Mrs. Alice Mcdaniel, and her aunt, Mrs.
Ellen Perry, when she knew, IL L. alleged,
that another aunt, Mira. Sarah Davis was
alive and an inmate OF the City Pauper
Hospital ON Long Island, Boston Harbor.
The evidence on which Miss Mcdaniel
was indicted was put In the District At
torney's possession by John It. Mcdonald,
a Boston attorney, last Thursday. Mr..
Mcdonald, who has been for two years
the attorney for Mrs. Ellen Perry, brought
witnesses rom Boston who gave tho his
tory Of the family and said that Miss
Mcdaniel must have known Of the exlstenoe
OF Sarah Davis. the pauper, when she swore
to the contrary before Referee Walker.
Mr.. Mcdonald said yesterday that he
had spent two years in working up the
case against Miss Mcdaniel, and had sup
ported Mrs. Perry, he declares, out OF his
own pocket while making a fight for her
rights and the right Of the pauper Mrs.
Davis, for whose estate he was appointed
c~onservator by the Massachusetts, courts
and by Supreme Court Justice O'Gorman
here.
MRS. Helen A., Pierce had a valuable
estate when she died, said Mr.. Mcdonald.
She owned property at 44l7 Third avenue
and at a. East Ninety-eighth street, three
houses in all. Despite mortgages n
various charges the estate is stin worth
about $4,000, out OF which nobody but
Miss Mcdaniel has proflted."
Two years g Mrs. Perry Of Roxbury,
Mass, came to my Office, saying she was
dissatisfied with the management Of Mrs.
Pieroe's estate, OF which, as a sister, she
was entitled to her interest.
Il found that Miss Mcdaniel and Mrs.
Perry were the only heirs Of the estate
named in the probate papers, sworn to
in Massachusetts and filed here. l found
that Miss Mcdaniel claimed to be the
sole owner of the Ninety eighth street
property and was preparing to sell it to
a Broadway real estate firm for So $50
under a sixty days option. On the forty
fifth day OF the option | stopped the deal,
acting for Mrs. Perry.
Then l heard that another heir. Mrs.
Sarah Davis, was alive in the Boston poor
house and that Miss Mcdaniel had visited
her in the poorhouse. was convinced
that Mrs. Davis was a sister of Helen A.
Pierce. Afterward l went TO Cape Breton,
where the whole family came from, and
got indisputable evidence that Mrs. Davis
was an heir.
Il learned that about the time of Mrs.
Pieroe's death Miss Mcdaniel and a sister
named Rebecoa came here and that Miss
Mcdaniel got on close terms with her aunt.
When Mrs. Pierce died Miss Mcdaniel
made an affidavit that there we're only
two heirs to the estate, Mrs. Mcdaniel,
her mother and Mrs. Perry. Their affidavit
made to get a loan on the Third avenue
property, then in course of construction.
The loan was obtained without difficulty.
A little later Patrick Moynihan, who held
a mortgage on the Third avenue property,
desired to foreclose, and the matter was
taken before Referee Roberts Walker. Miss
Mcdaniel made another affidavit that the
only heirs were Mrs. Alice Mcdaniel and
Mrs. Perry. The foreclosure was made,
but there was left in the Third avenue
property an equity Of about $4,000, all
claimed by Miss Mcdaniel. In addition she
had been enjoying an income from the
Ninety-eighth street property of about
SIPS a month for three years. The equity
in the Ninety-eighth street property brought
the present value Of the estate up to bout
$50, 900.
Miss Mcdaniel refused 10 talk 10 re-
porters in the Tombs yesterday, and her
lawyer, Joseph H. Fargis Of II Nassau
street, said that she had told him that she
did not know her n Sarah Days was
alive. He added:
Il am sure hat if she had known il Mrs
Davis would have been provided for