The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1912-02-24
BY CTimothy Willis.D

III NaA N'AAANoA - a. CT NAANs AaaN
public breath has been bated while
this remarkable and unusual contest
has been waged in the Probate Court
OF Cook County. before Judge Gut
tings, who. on last Saturday rendered
the long looked for decision.
The heirs, whose right to participate
in the estate left by the late Robert T.
Motifs. who built and conducted the
first theatre to be run and conducted
by a Colored person. has been most
bitterly contested by the persons OF
late years best known a. hi heirs
Briefly. Fred d. Motifs. brother of the
deceased: Miss Lucy Lindsay. half
sister: Myrtle Rhodes. niece, opposed
any recognition OF or division OF the
property OF any kind. left by Robert
7. Mott>. after his death. with Anna
Elizabeth Motifs Jackson. or Rosa
Motts Brodcy-Durgan. niece.
When the contest began, few days
after Motifs death. it was freely pre-
dicted by large portion OF the public.
who OF course knew nothing OF the
real facts that il must soon end in
favor of Miss. Lucy Lindsay and Fred
D. Motifs who seemed 10 be securely
entrenched in the possession OF the
real and personal estate OF Mott> AZ
the time of his death both in hiS late
home and in the business. consist
ing OF the Pekin Theatre. the cafe
and saloon at 200 :. State St. also
the building on the corne- OF :. State
and Both St. where Rankin and
Whites drug store l. situated is 4
part of his alleged estate
As the remarkable testimony was
disclosed To the court. OF tie history
OF the MottS family. how ThoGlaS
Cook Motts. the father OF all TIE
Motifs. had purchased himself from
slavery. with his brother Robert.
uncle OF Robert T. Motts. and OF his
inability to purchase his own daugh-
ter, now Mrs. Jackson. and his own
young sister. Jane, because they
could not be sold. and how. employed
away from home, he came home ana
found his slave wife. Henrietta. dead
with no one but his young siste-.
herself girl. to care for his child
that very night he took them. As did
Joseph. his wife, his wife Mary. and
the young child. Jesus, and fed with
them. reaching Ohio. from which
point he travelled by water down the
Ohio and up the Mississippi To-
Bloomington. now Muscatine. Iowa.
where he married two different times,
raising the Motifs family by his last
wife, Mahala. dying in 1865. after
and afterwards losing the |
greater part OF fortune of one hun 7.
dred and fifty thousand dollars: and J
how he sent his daughter. Mrs. Jack
son. to Knox College at Galcsburg.
in 1880. the first Colored person ~
ever enter that school.
The most wonderful. and the two
strongest points. however, proveu In
his cause-celebre. was the existence
Of the record of two instruments,
copies of which were introduced in
evidence. the will of Aunt Jare Motifs.
who mentioned Anna F. Motts-Jack
ION as one OF her legatees. with her
own daughter. and described her as
he daughter OF her brother, Thomas
look Motifs. and of a deceased wife,
by Jane in 1868, and stran-
ger still. the sworn petition of Ma
lala Motifs. mother of Bob Motifs,
nd the other Motifs children. who
vas also Miss Lucy Lindsay's mother
4 4 second marriage. as it is asserted.
'hO swore in her petition for letters
t administration on old man Motifs
state. that Mrs. Jackson was her
eceased husbands daughter by
eceased and former wife, married to
ackson. This was filed in 1866.
Since it was about 1910 that old
ian Motifs ran away with his sister
nd child from Sharpsburg. Maryland,
is even stranger still that several
are yet living who re-
rendered material facts in the life
t old man Motifs in connection with |
is daughter, establishing the rela- /;
rWEENY GETS :