Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-02-07
HUNT FOR FAKE
FORTUNE ABROAD
UNITED STATES CONSUL TN ION.
DON WARNS AMERICANS
AGAINST TRAPS.
ARE EASY PREY FOR SHARPS
Led to Believe They Are Heirs to Eng
hsh Estates Now Administered
by Government.

The United States consul general. Mr..
Wynne, wishing the fact to he as we'll
circulated as possible, has been telling
the correspondents of provincial papers
III England, as we'll as the London re-
porters, how he is continually inundated
with inquiries from Americans who ina
Sine or have been led to believe that
they are heirs to large properties in
England at present being administered
by the government. There Is a class of
men here comparable in this view to
the American green goods man who
make living out of the guilibility of
the American next of kin. Tie consul
general remarks:
Claims Never Substantial Ted.
In the hunt for mythical fortunes |
have found absolutely nothing and my
predecessors forty years have not been
able to SubStantiate Il single claim for
property by American heirs who offered
to prove their descent from branch of
some British family
What has excited the consul generals
Indignation at the present moment is an
enclosure IN letter from the legal
adviser of an American named Burn
ham. The enclosure was conv of a
communication from a so-called barris-
ter-at-laW, and ran as follows:
Copy of "Bunco" Letter.
Liz bufIludll estate Is situated, VIZ,
real property, in and near Regent street
and Lambeth. London, and is valued at
s22.OOOOOO S11O,OOO,OOO), yielding an
annual rental of fS,S0OOOO ($44,OOO,-
0OOl. The personal property, in the pub
lie funds or national debt of Great Brit
ain, amounts to 100000 ($45,O00,-
900, and yields at 49, per cent. 1915, 900
(Sl, oIo,OOO). Benjamin Durham, its
late owner, who died in $685. was a
London merchant, having acquired his
fortune as an English factor in Madras.
The heirs of Edward Burnham, his
elder brother have for more than sixty
years contended for possession on the
ground that no heirs existed IN America,
and have failed. 1t is of course but nat
should think that the prospect to share
III so considerable property IS worth
some preliminary outlay"
Public Warned in Vain.
1t is i'll vain that he and his fellows
are warned. They come regularly to the
snare of the fowler. Now, as the CON
sui general observes, where there is an
heir wanted, Il respectable attorney or
barrister has no trouble in putting him
self in communication with respectable
firms IN America which would know how
to make a search for the heir, if there
should be one. Ingenious, INSCRIPTIONS
persons, with the help of an American
directory, will probably continue to earn
a livelihood at the expense Of the
american heir" just as the pedigree
hunter does out of good many Ameri-
cans who every year, when on visit to
the old country, try to trace their de-
scent to ancient families.
1t is not long ago that an American
named Stuart told me he believed he
was descended from King James L., and
was determined to find out. Later on he
proudly showed me an deliberately
planned family tree proving that he was.
He took back this firm belief with him
TO America, together with intense ad-
miration for the pedigree hunter.