The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-05-07
Thomas H. Guthrie, Of
Newark, TO Get Part
Of Estate.
BATTLE FOR FORTUNE
LIKE A MEL 0DRAMA
william" "the Papers, "the
Romance" and Other Ac-
cess0ries ALI There.

Ne real life romance with its touch
of melodrama and all the necessary
characters and properties, such as
wealthy old uncle who dies demented,
"rightful heirs" designing villain
ifnpostors and the papers, ever mora
truly deserved the label stranger than
fiction than does the remarkable story
of the four-year fight for the fortune
of Thomas Edward Hughes, of New
York, concluded today when Thomas
II. Guthrie. of 240 Halsey street, this
city. learned that his claim and that
Of seven relatives had finally been es-
tablished.
So they got on the job ana discov-
cred the truth at last did they?' said
Guthrie when told of his good fortune
by a STAR reporter today. We'll it's
high time suppose we should re-
gard it as fortunate that. the court did
not turn over all the fortune to the ini-
posters, but that $1,000 they got will
make hole in il that some one. it
seems to me, should stand good for.
Guthrie is the senior member of the
prosperous little shoe manufacturing
company of Thomas H. Guthrie & Son,
which is located at the Halsey street
address
Since old John Edward Hughes, who
xas John street jeweler of ManhaI
tan. died five years ago. after spend
Ing the last two years in an asylum,
Guthrie and his cousin. John Kiley. OF
Philadelphia, have been endeayoring
/ to establish for themselves and rela-
tives in this country and Ireland their
claim to his fortune OF $4,000. All that
WAS necessary to do this was the dis
covery Of the record of marriage Of
John Edward Hughes's father to one
/ Margaret Beere-
This record WAS found in a church IN
Philadelphia a few days before tbs
heirs learned that $1,000 of the fortune
had been turned over to an alleged
Edmund Hughes and Catherine Hughes
Coroett, of Hamburg ILL.,. who had
been able, with an intricate and
sprightly tale, to win the court to
their side and secure first payment
from the estate
Justice Seabury yesterday signed in
New York an order directing that ALT
orders made in favor Of the Illinois.
man and woman be revoked and thar
new proceedings be instituted to de-
/ termine the true paternal relatives Of
Hughes
The other Heir.
The other true heirs beside Guthrie
/ and Kiley are William Guthrie, of 75l
I South Fourteenth street. who is efn-
/ ployed as a trolley car conductor. his
sister Margaret. of the same address,
! William Guthrie, a brother of Thomas.
who lives Ia Peapack. n. J., Ellen
Guthrie Kinland, of Hoboken; Mrs.
Prudence Guthrie Brodie, of Flatbush.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes Reynolds, of Jer-
I sey City and Hector Beere, of Irelano
I William Guthrie was married only two
months. ago and his share of the legacy
will be a welcome windfall.
\ To James T. Williamson, an attorney.
of 220 Broadway, is due much OF the
credit of exposing the fraudulent
/ claims, and restoring to the rightfui
heirs their own. When John Edward
Hughes was found wandering about
I the street and was committed to the
Flatbush Insane Asylum, in 1902. Will
iamson was appointed COMMITTEES OF
| his person and property
Not Believed Rich.
When Hughes died two years later It
was not known that he owned any
property Williamson. however, when
!. he broke open the safe in Hughes's
store found a bunch of keys, and
among them was a key to private
box in a safety deposit vault. He em-
tployed a detective, located the vault
and found in it deeds to property and
bank notes to the value of $26.000- The
rightful heirs put in their claim, but TO
clinch it they were directed to show
that Hughes's father married Margaret
EBeere, through whom they traced their
relationship to John Edward Hughes
The case became cause celebre.r
and there appeared on the scene the
couple from Hamburg. Illinois. This is
ar synopsis OF the ingenious tale they
SPIN:
! That after settling in St Louis oli
John Hughes. father OF John Edward.
Tilted the girl he had left in Ireland
Margaret Beere-and married Jane Fen
mel Hughes In James last Illness he
sent for Margaret Beere. who nursed
her until her death Then Hughes :
eye fell upon one Johanna Tobin. and
Il Margaret, who saw she was to be dis
appointed the second time. kidnapped
lrttle John Edward. son of John and
Jane, and took him to New York and
raised him. The Hamburg, Illinois
claimants declared they were the chill
dren of John Hughes and his second
wife. Johanna Tobin. This story 1is-
tened so well that Edmund Hughes AID
lCatherine Hughes Corbett who told il.
were paid $1,000. and It's likely they
would have gotten 1t all had not Wiz
Iliamson, suspicious from the first, con-
Itinued his investigation and confirmed
the fact of the marriage of John
Hughes and Margaret Beere
After this money had been paid oxsr
Williamson discovered that old John
! Hughes was a boat builder at 90 Pike
street, New York. where he died. and
THAT he had never lived IN st. I<o14s