The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-12-02

c2amstion mark heirs wanted
YES. many Of them-and wanted
badlv.
On arst thought one Amight fancy
this TO be tire plaint Of a ehiidless
croescs. yearning for some small per
son on whom to 6t his millions ike e
cossting cap. But mott is merely
an ordinary phrase used by few mem
bers Of one Of the strangest and most
paradoxical professions ia or outside
the pages Of fiction--trscers % lost
persons.
II YOU are novel reader you have
certainly heard Of anu may be fsa2iliai
with one tracer Of lost persons--the
clever and extraordinary character
created recently by Robert ". Cham
bers. Keen. ehristened Westrei BY Ms
ture IS well as nomenclature. has heea
given q place n very near the ininl,t-
able sherlock Holmes among the gal-
lerv gods Of romance. 90 20 say. That
he is merely. the shadow OF one or more
originals. men ia real life. pursuing u
real though highly romantic PROBES
sion. may be news. and surprising.
For New York houses and taxes fully
= dozen traccrs OF lost persons VIA
do nothing else professionally than
men. women and children. who. un-
known to themselves. have fallen heir
70 fortunes ranging in value from
thousand up 10 several hundred tnou-
sand dollars.
AS one interesting stem in the SC
count there is now lying dormant in
the banking houses and older trust
companies OF New York nearly 100000.
A greater portion Of this sum has been
81
Oddly enough. the banks and trust COM
psnies In Question arc anxious 10 End
the legal owners OF the money. and
their agents in the search are known
as trscers OF missing heirs.
Take the case recent one--of one
OF the wealthiest sad best known v-o-
men In the United States. Her mansion
in upper Fifth avenue is one Of the
most imposing in the many Inansioned
metropolis, and her philanthropies are
sown broadcast over the land. EAat
she was ever an actress after being =
chorus girl after being an obscure
typewriter. is dreamed not even todsT
by her most intimate ecqusintaaces.
How and by whom was the startling
discovery made2 By q tracer OF lost
persons and IN the following alsn-,er,
as he related TO a writer for The sun
day Call:
.
else a Miss X had some $4,000 on de-
post with one OF the downtown banks.
During the latter part OF that year she
left her bank book there 10 be bal
snced. and. so far as the bank was con-
cerncd or could discover. disappeared.
Had the earth opened and swallow ed
her she could not have vanished more
completely Years passed. and every
effort was made TO locate the missing
depositor. Eighteen months ago a
tracer who has an Office UP town was
advised OF the case by the president OF
the bank and took up the search. BY
studying such meager facts as were
pbtainable and deducing the rest he de-
cioed that she had come TO California
Ticking the first train across the con-
tinent, the tracer discovered that a
woman answering the description OF the
missing deposition. as contained in the
bank records. had met and married a
famous multi-miillonairei in San Fran
cisco in 1854. BY comparing her pres
ent handwriting with her recorded sig
nature he was assured that they we're
ioentica1. Her husband had died. Ieay-
ing her one OF the richest women in
America. and the bankers, when in
formed of the facts, were incredulous.
But the evidence was absolutely clear
ana convincing.