The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-09-28
Formal Petition Filed in Co.
Court to Reopen Estate of
the Late Charles Durkee
N|ECEs MAKE THE PETITION
Claim that Lands and Personal
Property Belonging to Charles Dur
kee Were Never Administered by
the Executors.

The famous Durkee claim rated by
many people as one of the great myths
of a century, is to have a formal ex-
animation in the courts of Kenosha
county as this afternoon for the first
time in the history of the famous
claim formal petition was fled with
Judge George W. Taylor in the county
court of Kenosha county asking that
Henry j. Hastings, public administra-
tor of Kenosha county, be named as
administrator de bonis non of the
estate of the late Charles Durkee. The
petition is made by Mrs. Harriet L.
Balisdell of Champaign, H., and Mrs.
Carolina G. johnson of Fayette, o.,
who state in the petition that they are
the surviving daughters of Henry Dur
kee, brother of Charles Durkee.
The petition sets out the fact that
Charles Durkee died Jan. IA, 1870, and
that later what was purported to be
his last will and testament was adj
mitted to probate in the courts of this
county and Franklin Fl. Head and
harvey Durkee were named as execu-
tors under the will. 1T shows that the
final account of the executors was al
lowed in March Of 1872 and the estate
closed up. The petition for the re-
opening of the estate is based on the
fact that the heirs claim to have dis
covered that Charles Durkee was the
owner of certain real estate in the ter
ritory of Utah and certain personal
property consisting of stocks and
bonds of the value of more than 81 900,
none Of which was ever administered
BIZ the executors named in the will and
it asks that this property be taken
care of and divided among the proper
heirs of Charles Durkee.
The petition proceeds to name many
of the heirs of Charles Ddrkee and
declares that there are other heirs
whose names are not known to the Pc
titioners.
Mrs. Blaisdell and Mrs. johnson
came to Kenosha in person On Wednes-
day and retained the firm of Hastings
and Clarkson to look after their in
terests in the re-opening of the estate.
When seen today Attorney Hastings
said: "There is no doubt but thai this
petition is made in good faith and it is
the intention of these two heirs to the
estate of Charles Durkee to open up
the entire question of the alleged
stocks and bonds owned by the former
Kenosha man at the time of his death.
The amount alleged in the complaint
is a, thousand dollars, but of course
the amount that has been claimed is
very much in excess of this amount.
The two women are evidently certain
that there is a large amount of prop
erty which should have been included
in the estate which was never brought
under the jurisdiction of the court. [
personally have not gone into the mat
ter to any great extent, but you can
say that the petition is fled in good
faith and that the matter will be sift-
ed just as far as possible.
Mrs Blaisdell and Mrs. johnson as
serted that they had long been con-
WINGED that there was large amount
of property in the estate that had never
been handled in the courts, but they
were unwilling to take any action until
after the death of Mrs. Caroline Dur
kee, the widow of Senator Durkee.
The action of local courts on the
petition will be watched with a lot
of interest. For years the stories of
che vast claim Of the Durkee heirs
against the government has been in
the various courts of the country and
the United States courts have repeat
edy turned it down. Kenosha people
have considered the claim joke and
no one here has had any idea that any
property of the Durkee estate would
ever be discovered. People all over
the country have purchased shares in
the claim and these people will natural
ly be interested in the outcome.