The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1906-01-24
ARE HEIRS TO MANY MILLIONS
Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Brock and Mrs.
Diteman Will Come in for
a Big Slice.

Two hundred and fifty million
dollars is whole fortune in itself.
When written in numbers it looks
like this, $3.50, 900 100000. This is
the value of an immense fortune
amassed by the great Elizabethan
explorer and pirate, Sir Francis
Drake, of whom history SO often
speaks. The people who are heirs
to this ofrtune may consider them
selves lucky indeed, and the fact that
& is a real fortune, composed of
landed estates in England, mag
nificent castle on the Thames, and
eighty millions O,OO0,0OO) in
cash attaches to it more interest
than the ordinary story of buried
treasure ever created in the mind of
an adventurous American. The es-
tate of the famous brakes of Eng
land is no story of hidden wealth.
1t is a real, live fortune, to be seen
with the eye, and to be coveted by le-
Ultimate heirs. There are estimated
to be in the neighborhood of 165
heirs in the United States, and of
that number six are residents of
North Yakima. The local heirs are
Mrs. Joseph T. Drake and her two
children, Mrs. U. F. Diteman and
Mrs. H. M. Brock. Also the three
children of Mrs. Diteman, Miss Mar
la, Gladys and their young brother.
The estate of the brakes has been
under litigation off and on for the
last thirty years, but it appears that
heretofore the lawyers who repre-
sented the American heirs were
bought off and reported unfavorably
to their clients. The movement
which is now about to result in ac-
tual disclosures Of the condition of
the estate and reward the rightful
heirs has been in course of process
for the past five years. Mrs. H. M.
Brock was seen by Morning Herald
reporter, who obtained these facts
from her, said statements being veri-
fed by papers which she possessed
and clippings from eastern newspa-
pers bearing upon the subject. Fol-
lowing is a clipping from the Boston
Herald under recent date:
IAN immense fortune, valued at
more than $3.50, 1000, the estate
of the famous Elizabethan pirate and
explorer, Sir Francis Drake, after
years of lifigatfeR III English courts.
is about to be divided. His heirs, in
America now number 165.
The estate was left to his nephew,
Thomas Drake, of Weymouth, one
of Americas first settlers. Among
the nearest living heirs are Thomas
Drake of Stoughton and the family
of the late Francis Drake of Sharon.
Among the latter are Francis G.
Drake of Bridgewater and David r.
Drake of Danvers, who it is said will
inherit $40,000,000. Other heirs
live in Weymouth, Taunton, Sharon,
Stoughton, Dedham and elsewhere
outside of New England.
Mr.. William Cory of Hendrick,
Mimi. has been the prime mover in
the fight to secure the estate from
the English courts"
Mrs. Brock has in her possession
papers which show the actual re-
lationship Of her family with the
great Sir Francis Drake, and there
can be no question but what when
the estate is finally settled her
fathers family will come into their
share, estimated at $4,000, 900.
This will mean that each of the six
heirs in this city will receive about
$2,5O0.OOO apiece.
Mrs. Brock expects every day to
learn something more definite in re-
gard to the matter. She is in cor
respondence with several prominent
lawyers who are devoting all their
time to the Strengthening out of the
estate. She naturally feels graft
fed at the recent turn of things, and
her theory is good.