The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-17
SWORE Her AUNT WAS DEAD
UHEN SHE WASN'T, so MTSS MiRI
HDiNIEL rs ARRESTED.

The Aunt Disappeared n Years Age.
says the Family. ana No Trace OF Her
Was Found UntII After the Testimony
Miss Mcdaniel GaVe-U'ntImely Arrest.
Miss Mary J. Mcdaniel, daughter OF Mrs.
Alice Mcdaniel OF 44i7 Third emit The
Bronx. was arraigned in h Tombs police
court yesterday before Magistrate Breen
on a short AFFIDAVIT containing the indefinite
| charge that she had committed a crime in
the city of New York.
Detective Sergeant John Farley, who
arrested Miss Mcdaniel at her mothers
home on Saturday night, said he knew
nothing Of the case except that he had
heard unoficially that the Grand Jury has
ordered al indictment for perjury against
Miss Mcdaniel. He told Magistrate Breen
that Assistant District Attorney Perkins,
who is in charge OF the case. had instructed
him to request not less than g. 500 bail.
The case against Miss Mcdaniel has
grown out Of the settlement of an estate
left by her aunt, Mrs. Helen Pierce. Mrs.
Pierce died in 1902 without having made
any will. shortly before her death she
had mortgaged a house which she owned
in West Ninety-cighth street. Soon after
ward the mortgagor, in an effort to facili-
tate the settlement OF the estate. brought
a foreclosure action.
In this action IL was necessary to name
the Pierce heirs as defendants. Counsel
representing the mortgagor inquired OF
Miss Mcdaniel the names of the heirs, and
she informed him that her mother, Mrs.
Alice Mcdaniel, and Mrs. Ellen Perry Of
Roxbury, Mass. were the only sisters Of
the testator living. A referee was APP
pointed in the foreclosure proceedings and
Miss Mcdaniel went before him and testified
that there were only two sisters living.
As a matter Of fact, there was a third
sister who wac living then and is still living,
and evidence was presented before the
Grand Jury which tended to show that Miss
Mcdaniel knew of her existence. This
sister is Mrs. Sarah Davis, who has been
living for several years at the City Pauper
Hospital on Long Island, Boston harbor.
When Mrs. Pierce died her estate was
thought TO be worth siOO. 900 or more, but
when the claims against it were pail it
shrank down to about SIS, 900 n has not
been settled yet.
The equity in h property which was
foreclosed was wiped out in the proceed
ings. II the third sister were dead any
equity in the estate would 90 in larger
proportions to Mrs. Mcdaniel and Mrs.
Perry. The District Attorneys Office has
not Investigated the affsirs Of the estate any
further, az II believes hat the ease grow
ing out OF the foreclosure proceedings is
strong enough.
Lawyer Joseph H. Fargis of II Nassau
street represented Miss Mcdaniel before
Magistrate Breen. He protested that his
client was q woman OF responsibility and
means. whose arrest on Saturday night was
30 late that she Was precluded from getting
hail. He characterized this ~ an outrage.
Detective Sergeant Farley said that the
arrest had been made then because the
District Attorneys Office had got word
that Miss Mcdaniel was getting ready TO
leave the State. -.
Magistrate Breen fixed the bail at 81 1000,
but later, when the detective sergeant
spoke Of a possible indictment, he declined
to accept bail and referred Lawyer Fargis
to Judge Rosalsky or a Justice OF the ST.
preme Court. Judge Rosalsky later &C
cepted bail In 81. 900.
Lawyer Fargis declined to discuss the
case, but at the Mcdaniel home a denial
was made that Miss Mary had knowingly
committed perjury. TIL third sister had
disappeared when the family was living
in Boston thirty-ive ear ago. Neither
Mrs. Mcdaniel nor any Of her daughters
knew where she had gone. IL was not
until August of last summer, the prooeed-
ings in regard tn mortgage having been
held in 1907, that Mrs. Mcdaniel learned
hat her sister was living.
This she heard through Mrs. Perry in
Roxbury. She did not know how Mrs.
Perry came TO find out that their sister had
been committed 10 an institution on Long
Island. The McDaniels had heard that
the missing sister had lost her mind. After
the death Of Mrs. Pierce they tried TO locate
her through advertisements.
since the lost sister was found she has
been admitted as one Of the heirs in the
estate. Miss Mcdaniel, It was asserted,
had never seen this uni. II wa denied
also at the Mcdaniel house that they in
tended 70 leave the State. They were pack
ing up to move this week, because the house
was 70 be sold under foreclosure proceed
ings, which were also connected with the
settlement OF the estate.
The hearing in the case has been set for
Tuesday.
BOSTON, Dec. Is.-Mrs. McDaniel's sister
is at the City Pauper Hospital on Long
Island under the name OF Sarah Davis.
She has been there for seven or eight years
John f. Mcdonald, who is attorney for
Mrs. p cry Of Roxbury, has gone to New
York in connection with the case.
William ]. Sullivan, counsel for the board
Of trustees OF the City Pauper Hospital,
said his attention " as called to the case
last spring when an effort was made by
some one in New York to nave a,guardian
appointed for Mrs. Davis.
Lawyer Sullivan says that Mrs. Davis
has not been missing for thirty-five years,
but hat she married and after the death OF
her husband she worked at various resi-
dences in a domestic capacity. Finally
she fell i'll and became destitute. She was
found in that condition in a room at the
West End and owing to lack Of nourishment