The sun., 1909-02-14
"FST4TES" THE CITY GETS.
Not Many Of Much Account for which No
Claimant Appears.

! Npptatt.
Not even poverty can escape the red
tape Of the law after death. Even the
unfortunate who jumps from pier with
Is cents in his pocket has an estate to be
administered. To be sure the city pays
his adm inistrator and the administrator
! counsel and takes its chances on the fee
but at least the man once dead has place
| in the eyes OF the law that he may never
have had alive.
The law provides for Public Admin
istrator in this county to whom Coroners.
hospital authorities and boarding house
and hotel keepers must report deaths OF
persons who have no known next Of kin.
Their property is adm inistered by him
with more or less Formally. and estates
unclaimed after fixed time pass into the
city's hand
General opinion to the contrary not
withstandng mighty few persons die
hereabout and leave large amounts OF
money for which no known heir exists.
That superstition is as persistent, how
ever, al the belief about the vast sums
clai mant appears.
Witness the last report OF the Public
Administrator TO the Board OF Aldermen
covering the twelve months ended De-
cemper ~ 1908 Hundreds of accounts
are handled by him. but the great ma iority
Of those unclaimed are for few dollars
often. indeed. for a few cents.
One chapter OF the report s devoted to
moneys unclaimed by next Of kin and
paid into the city treasury by decree
Of the Surrogate These are the most
i'm posing figures. but the largest amount
ia little less than SO. 900. and the average
but little more than $1,000; and these
are the important properties, A long
list Of those turned over TO the city treas
urv without the necessity Of court order
ranges from one cent to some $3.50. and
the average Ia onlv thirty dollars.
There is still lower grade. the waits
Of the city. the men and women who die
in the public hospitals or who commit
suicide, or are found dead in the street.
Columns OF the CITY Record are needed TO
report one by one. the John Smiths and
the unknown men whose cents and nickels
finally reach the city treasury. The Com
missioner OF Public Charities. for instance,
turned over TO the city treasury last year
more than $500. but $50 Of his charges
made up that total.
The Coroners' harvest Of unclaimed
estates" averages even less. Line after
line is devoted TO the unknown man.
- st. and - Ave. 2 cents,' One
entry even concerns an unfortunate
whose property consisted Of foreign coin
no value" other citv departments bring
the total up. little, but the sum OF the
hundreds whose belongings must be ac-
counted for Ia small. In all, the city
got some Sss 600. but Of this the fifty or
so cases that came before the Surrogate
yielded nearly so0. 900.
In the list Of hundreds Of names OF those
whose property comes to the city to settle
are many surprises. Amounts in the
four figures are not uncommon. but seem .
ingly II In rare that no claimant appears,
The largest figure in the list in fact Ia
on the paid out side. some sic 900 expended
on behalf OF the estate Of a man who Ia
listed as "A manager The income Of the
same estate was only $500 in 1903, no that
II is fair to guess that his affairs are we'll
on the way to settlement
One wonders who is the clergyman
who had SO 900 and whose affairs were
turned over TO the city to wind up, or -the
diplomat for whom the authorities
collected and paid out $500. Some
curiosity might be aroused by this mys-
terious entry: unknown estate; ocoup pa
ton, unknown; place Of residence at time
OF death. New York; county or place from
which he came. unknown This we'll con-
cealed identity yielded to the city one
dollar In 1908. which dollar was promptly
expended.