The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-03-10
HEIRS DISAPPOINTED
Heirs Of Robert Morris Not Likely to
Share in His Wealth

II is believed that information has
now been received which will doom
to disappointment the 100 or so So
called heirs of the famous Revolut-
ionary patriot and signer of the Dec
laration of independence, Robert
Morris, who loaned to the Colonial
government 100000 to carry on the
Revolutionary war, no part of which
has been paid back, the loan being al
lowed to accumulate to the size of
100000 which the scores of anxi-
Gus heirs had been led to believe that
they almost had in their clutches.
1t now appears that these scores Of
descendants" must have been BAN
boozled" by the willy sharks, who
are daily disclosing manufactured
family trees" with a fortune held in
"ct 2ncery" for them at the end. This
game is an old one but there are still
enough of the gullible ones who are
willing to contribute their $40 or $40
apiece to the shark" an absolute
stronger to them, who appears on the
sce-e with the tale that he has trac,
ed heir lineage back to King Arthur
of Round Table fame or some other
equ lily historical figure of English
| history and then adds that if the
( heirs will contribute certain sum
of money he will take up the case
, and procure for them within a short
! time fortunes of such magnitude that
they will soon all be rolling in gold
The new evidence in the case re
veals the fact that the direct, lineal
1 descendant Of Robert Morris of Penn
/ sylyania is DR.. Henry Morris of Phil
adelphia, t9 whom the money would
be paid by the American government
were ii to be paid at all. But as the
debt was outlawed years ago, it will
not be paid at all and the scores of
would-be heirs" are only indulging
themselves in a beautiful vision in
believing that they will ever get a
penny OF the twelvefold S5,000000 for
which they are wasting both time
and money,
Or. Henry Morris is the only alb
solutely direct descendant of the pat
riot. Robert Morris. and as such be
longs to the society of Descendants
of the Signers of the Declaration OF
independence This knowledge
comes at this time as sorrowful
blow to a large number OF castle
builders and day dreamers, whose
confidence has been exploited to pro
fit by some of those whose vocation
in life is to "bunco" the most trust
ing of a trusting public,
So confident were some OF the
heirs that Is OF them held a meet
ing in Troy December and organ
lied for the purpose of hiring coun
sci to press their claims against tn,
government for the 100000.
Since the story first came out tina
there was a large fortune ready t
be handed over by the government t.
the heirs of Robert Morris, there ha
prevailed the greatest eXcitemen
among those who had a few drops o
Morris blood in their veins and LET
ters have been flying back and fortl
all over the country among them il
their feverish agitation
Allyn h. Scott and Charles Scott o
this city. sons of the late Surrogate
Ross c. Scott are descendants of Rob
ert Morris but although urged TO ioil
with the others in prosecuting thei
claims they from the first knew
that il was not only impossible to &c
the money but absurd to expect /
and steadfastly refused to either cor
tribute any money for a "rainboy
chase or to have anything to do wit
r the matter If there is any validit
to the claims, stated the Messr
Scott, the United States Govern
ment will see that the lineage is pre-
perly traced out and that the none
is divided among the proper person.
SO if the money comes TO us we c
| course won't refuse it but neither wi
we take any steps to get it,"
, From an interview obtained wit
the Messrs Scott they regard tn
{ case as forlorn hope and ridicul
} the attempts being made by others /
! a fight which will enrich none but tn
Z attorneys employed to detach a larg
, wad OF currency from the Unite
States treasury