The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-10-09
THE LOST BONDS
Of Mr.. AdoIphus CorneIson's Es'
tate Cannot be Found. D.,
INTEREST COUPONS

Who Says He Found Them In q
Hollow Tree.-It Is Said MI. Cor
nelson Died by This Tree Out
There, and His Brother Is Trying
To Solve the Mystery.
Mr.. Adolphus Cornelson, who will
be we'll remembered by the people of
Orangeburg, as a well-to-do farmer
living afew miles out in the country
on his valuable plantation, and whose
dead body was found leaning against
a tree in Australia about six years
ago, where he had gone in quest OF
health after a trip to the Father
land, was the owner, along with a
large amount Of other property, OF
$4,000 of South Carolina State
bonds which will likely v be re-
covered to his estate.
A strange and interesting story OF
the lost bonds is revealed by the ex-
perience of Mr.. George H. Cornelson,
of Orangeburg, in his long quest to
recover this and other property left
by his brother, who died without
leaving a will nor any explanation as
to his property. MI. George H. Cor
nelson, who is executor Of the estate
lis a wealthy retired merchant and cot
ton mill man, whose own estate IS
valued at a million dollars. g.,
After several years work the ex-
ecutor has just been able to trace
p~ossession of the interest coupons for
one year, which turned up in a mys-
FERROUS manner at the State treasur-
er's Office for payment the very day,
and perhaps the very hour, that the
legislative committee reported favor
ably on a bill introduced by a friend
of the Cornelsons to have the state
issue certificates of State stock for
the lost bonds, Mr.. Cornelson being
prepared to put up an indemnity
bond of $4,000 to protect the State
in case the lost bonds should ever
turn up. 49,
This interest bill amounted to $450
and in order to reimburse the Aus"
tralian brokers, who cashed them
through the Bank of Australia, the
farmer who sold them to the brokers'
has had to mortgage his little Aus
tralian farm. This farmer says that
these interest coupons we- all thai
he had, that he has never seen the
bonds and never heard Of them. He
goes on to explain that the coupons
were found in a hollow tree on his
place by a farm hand.
Possibly it was this anne tree
against which Adolphns Cornelson
leaned when he breathed his last. He
was living in that neighborhood end
It was his custom to 20 out for long
walks, and he died while out OH one
of these trips. Whether this expla-
nation needs further calculation,
whether he was murdered, whether
these bonds are not now being held
secretly in New York by persons
awaiting opportunity to present them
for payment the public are left to
guess.
When the coupons were presented
at the State treasurer's Office for pay
ment through the Palmetto National
Bank of Columbia along with 10000
others amounting to $143,O00, which
represents the State semi-annual in
terest bill on the bonded debt, Chief
Clerk Carter had much difficulty in
tracing their arrival in South Caro-
lima. Finally it was discovered that
they were sent here by the Hanover
National Bank of New York. Armed
with letters of introduction, Mr.. Geo.
H. Cornelson went to New York,
where the president of the Hanover
Bank informed him that the coupons
came from the Gerald National Bank,
through whose president Mr.. Cornell
son found the New York brokers who
had cashed them. -
The brokers refused to give any
information, but finally by a court
order they were made to explain. Mr..
Cornelson knew from the stamp on
the back of the coupons that they
had been cashed by the Bank of Aus
tralia originally, and the brokers
gave him the name of the Australian
brokers firm who sent them to New
York.
A decision of the South Carolina
Supreme Court just rendered makes
a South Carolina bond as good as
currency, decides that the innocent
purchaser of even a stolen bond has
a perfectly valid claim against the
State for the face of his bond. So il
would seem If these Cornelson bonds
are being secretly held they can nov
be easily transformed into cash. Fur
Their interesting revelations are there
fore expecteds,,
The case 8n which the Supreme
Court has just passed involved TIM
validity of s12,500 worth of STATE
[ bonds %purloined from the State treas
urer's office by Bond Clerk DAME
Zimmerman, who was also original!
t an Orangeburg man and sold through
a broker who was a partner to tn
crime.
Edward Enrich, a wealthy mer
: chant of Columbia who was an limo
t cent purchaser of one Of the bonds
instituted mandamus proceedings il
: the Supreme Court to compel tn
G State treasurer 10 validate 1t whicI