The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-12-02
An Insight Into the Business
Of Tracing Lost Persons.

Armed with credentials" said the
tracer, i called at the H town house,
and through her secretary Informed her
that size hsd 1000 on deposit at such
and such & bank. She sent back word
that she knew neither OF any such
account nor any such person as the one
in whose nsrne It had stood for twenty
three years. Eventually. however. be-
ing pressed by the bank to make some
disposition OF the account. and reaiiz-
ing the futilIty Of attempting 10 keep
her p-enuptiai career secret. she ac-
cepted the money ana sent me just
s35o.
Here II may he explained that the
average fee received by a tracer under
such circumstances IS from 10 TO so
per cent, and unless this client con-
forms to the rule there may be SEM
sational sequel
Just - present several tracers are
'rving to solre the RIDDLE OF Patrick
White. who died Nay p the Mansion
House L. Brooklyn, learning about
$4,000 aad 10 known relatives or win.
lie -rSs s. Years % age and has been
2 reciu~e. All tha; was known o. his
antecade.ta. said one tracer who has
just returned from Ireland, where he
found several heirs and learned from
rhem that a first cousin vas living IL
Chicago. 1-as that Patrick White had
come from County Wexford 10 Balti-
more S,&tv-ose wears aso as the near
est relative o. wealthy G9cls who
had Gied there. THIS tracer discovered
that the young man had been natSrai-
ized through the efforts OF the late
Eerer6v Johnson in having a special
act pass~d by tie Maryland Legs
laturH. This vas necessary. a. under
the Law an alien c0ano; inherit prop
erty In Maryland. As soon IS the miss
Ing relative in Chicago is located the
comfortable estate will be divided.
OF course re DO not travel foEeI$
road all the time said the tracer. IN
fact, our profession IS considerable Of
d speculation. For instance. re never
ask for or receive any contingent or
retaining zee. but simply take our
chances G. avery case Wfen several
Thousand oo.'e's IS in an orphan state.
so 10 say. 25 per cent fee is quite
reward for success. Eat re member that
one must frequently sped 4 year or
more ard few hunded dollars in eX-
penses on q mere chance.
This was Illustrated by the case Of
John Edward Hughes. who died III the
Flatbrsa Insane Asylum four years ago.
Leaving s20.G30. All the relatives there
was any linking OF were two sisters.
%ilO had eaigrated from Belfast to
Australia sbo-t the same time he him
self came to this country. WelI /
boarded steamer arrived IN Belfast
end there learned that the deceased had
six cousins on Long Island. not two
miles from where he ed. From them
IL was learned that several other rela-
tives were scattered over the country.
yet none o. them had noticed the long
accounts printed In the newspapers"
One OF the hardest knots the heir
seekers have had to untangle In recent
years involved the $4,000 estate or an
elderly man who was buried IN Brook
Ign twelve years ago under the name OF
william Braun. six months later. said
the tracer who did the untaneling. the
body was exhumed and positively iden-
tilted as that OF Gustsy f1interloeh. FOR
merly OF Dantzig, Germany. Behind
this is q romance IN real life the like
of which one can turn the pages Of fic-
ton in vain to equal. For thirty years.
while amassing HE fortune. he was
known as Braun the miser. HIS real
name figured in only one business
transaction during that tirne--sn an
nuity in the Germania Life Insurance
Company.
II learned said the tracer. that the
old n1iser had confided TO one OF his
neighbors down on Houston street that
he was born in pantzig in 1922, but the
records over there revealed no one by
that name as having been born near