Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-13
HEIRS DISPUTE
OVER BIC ESTATE
MILLION DOLLARS INVOLVED
IN SUIT
Claimants for Share of camariIo
Property in Ventura County AL
ege Fraud Was Used in
Former Settlement
Special to The Herald.

SANTA BARBARA, Jan. 12.-The
contest over the million-dollar CANA
rillo estate in Ventura county has been
postponed from February to March
26 in the superior court of Santa Bar
bara county. to which it was trans
ferred from Ventura some weeks ago.
The delay is occasioned by the engage
ment of some of the attorneys in
terested i'm other counties.
The trial threatens to be one of the
most bitterly fought contests ever
brought in the state, and the story of
the case as revealed in the complaint
presents plot that would answer we'll
for Il drama.
The parties to the suit are brothers
and sisters children of Juan and Mar
tina Camarillo, both of whom are dead,
the father being the first to pass away,
and the mother following a few years
later, in 1898. There are many interest
ing stories told of Camarillo, ST., who
was a royal entertainer and contributed
to the reputation enjoyed by the early
California as the land of hospitality.
There is an interesting little story that
the many thousands of acres making
up the Camarilo estate was won by
Don Juan in the days when land was
cheap al a card game.
Heirs Settle for $25,5oo
The Camarilo ranch, officially termed
the Rancho Calleguas, consists of 10,579
acres in the most fertile part of Ven
tura county. 1t is valued at not less
than million dollars, and at the rapid
rate of increase in land values through
out the section of the state in which it
is located the future worth of the
property will be many times greater
I . : q
BY the terms of the will drawn in
| 1885. bearing a codicil dated 1889, this
vast property passed from the widow of
| Don Juan to the two sons, Adolfo and
! Juan f. CamarillO. This was supple
mented by deed of gift, filed in 1891,
conveying property of the estate to the
same two heirs. In September, 1898,
few months after the death of the
mother the two sons settled with the
other heirs for the sum of S25,5O0, in
! consideration of which they renounced
all interest in the estate.
In March of last year there was a
further settlement made between Juan
and one OF his sisters, Arcadia c. Ma
honey, in which Juan transferred prop
erty in Ventura valued at $4,000 and the
further sum of $4,000 in cash.
Claim Fraud Was Discovered
1t was at this time that the other
| heirs claim to have made a discovery
| that they were defrauded of valuable
| interests and they assert in the COM
| plant that the restitution made by
Juan to Arcadia last year was under
stood as only a partial settlement made
| in acknowledgment of misrepresenta-
! tion and was to be followed by similar
restitution to Arcadia from Adolfo and
! by both Juan and Adolfo to the re-
naming heirs. In view of the promise
! of such further settlement the COM
, mencemcnt of proceedings to have the
! estate distributed to all of the heirs
was delayed. and such is the purpose
! of the present action.
| The cOntestng heirs are sisters of
Juan and Adolfo-Aldegunda c. del
Campo of Ventura, Maria c. de Arnaz
of Los Angeles. Adelaide C. de Moraga,
wife of Jose Moraga of Santa Barbara,
and Arcadia G. Mahoney of Ventura
the list of contestants being completed
by William Wolfson, grandson OF
Don Juan and son of a deceased sister
of the other heirs.
Say Will Was Not Burned
1t is claimed by the contestants that
| the will executed in 1885 was subse-
quently ordered destroyed by Mrs
Camarillo and that instead of destroy
ing the will Adolfo, in whose charge
IL laQ Deen leIl, pulleu' III lhV piS9
ence of the widow, another paper pur-
porting to be the will and retained
the will i'm his possession. 1t is further
charged that the deed of gift was OBJ
tained through fraud and that the
widow, who had no knowledge of the
English language and only an imper-
feet acquaintance with written OF
printed Spanish. thought she was sign
ing a document in which all of the
| pbil6ren were piVen equal shares.
The contestants aver that they have
been ready to return the money paio
to them in the alleged settlement OF
their claims, as they allege the settle
ment was agreed to under misrepresen-
tation.