New-York tribune., 1909-10-01
YERKES FEARED POISON
SERVANTS REQUESTS RE
TOKED BY CODICIL.
Legal Fight Started IN Behalf of
Chauffeur Millionaire Obsessed
by DeluSion, Says La5cyer.
tBy Telegraph to The TriDune.I ]


Chicago Sept. 3O-It is asserted that Charles
T. Yerkes at the time OF his death labored
under the delusion that his servants were con-
spring to poison him This will be the argu-
ment advanced when the latest chapter in the
litigation over the estate of Chicago's onetime
traction king comes to a court hearing.
Suspicion directed at members of his imme-
date household is said to have been so acute
that ne compelled the butler and frequently the
housemaid to partake of food set for him, while
he drank only what unbOtted or prepared
before him.
With the filing of what purports to be codicil
10 his final testament to-day, and preparations
to prevent it from being sustained by the court.
| these developments came out and promise to be
only the forerunner of unusual disclosures in
connection with the last days ofithe man who
once controlled the city's transportation lines.
Before Judge Cunning. in Probate Court, to-
day Walter w. Ross. representing Louis $.
OwsIey executor of the YeTkes estate, filed the
codicn which acts to strike from his will A
bequest of $1,000 to six of his servants. 1t is
dated London. August 10, 1905 Mr.. Yerkes died
in New York the following December. Refer
'ence is made to the fact that he bequeathed
$4,000 to Arnold Held. his chauffeur. and $4,000
to other servants. but there is explanation
why the gifts were revoked
William Mannhardt. Chicago attorney has
heen retained fight the validity of the codicil
and uphoId Heds claim to 5000. Held and
the other servants counted upon to estab-
lsh proof of Mr.. Yerkes's poison delusion.' -
and to their testimony will be added testimony
| of Franklin Bien, a New York attorney. who
was with Mr.. Yerkes in London. and Mary
Lightford Spotswood, of No. - Francis street
London, both of whom signed the cOdicil as
witnesses.
TuS r,rO he of NIr hp ba-
came obsessed with the idea that his servants
were trying to kill him with poison" said Mr.
Mannhardt to-day. We have evidence suff1-
cicnt to prove that. and hope even to establish
it with the aid of Mr.. Yerkes's witnesses.
That it nothing but the delusion of sus
picious mind will serve to establish the in
validity of the codicil filed to-day and prepare
the way for the servants to share in the estate
NIr. Yerkes once intended
why this codcil has been so long held back.
rather than filed at So that it could figure
in the litigation of the past months we do NOT
know.
We satisfied that. although Mr. Yerkes
went to extraordinary ends to test his servants
and break up what he believed a conspiracy to
kill him before his time and profit by his death,
he finally convinced of the faithfuness of
at least few. because on his deathbed he said:
1 doing Held great injustice"
The movement in support of the Held claim
against the Yerkes estate was started by and
has the backing of the Swiss Minister to France
who will be represented here hy the Swiss Con-
sui in Chicago A Holnger Held acted as
chauffeur for Mr.. Yerkes in London, Paris and
New York When Mr. Yerkss died Held went
to the home of his mother-in- law in Paris The
latter has been q servant for many years in the
home Of the Swiss Minister TO France. She told
her EMPLOYER the STORY of the cancelled be0uests
and what her sOn-in-aw had said with reference
To the poison deluson and the acts OF Mr. Yerkes
/ in his attempt To Illustrate a suspected plot
III the cOdiCi is sustained the Yerkes Hospital
of New York; an instthtlon for the establish
nrnt of which provision made i'm the will
will be richer by $lj.UO.