The Washington times., 1912-04-29
V|CENT ASTOR IS
UND|SPUTED HEIR
TO $6O,OOO,0OO
Only 100000 Was Settled
on Second Mrs. Astor
When She Married.

NEW YORK, April 2s.-with the body
of Col. John Jacob Astor arriving In
Halifax, with Mrs. Alva Willing Astor
hurrying across the Atlantic to this
city, and with Mrs. John Jacob Astor
approaching motherhood In the Astor
home. In Fifth avenue, speculation con-
cerning the terps of the Astor will has
become intensely
The outstanding fact is the ques-
tion of the Astor inheritance Is this:
Eighty per cent of the Astor estate is
left as II was left to John Jacob Astor
By his father, William Astor, to Vincent
Astor.
The remaining 20 per cent goes to
the other children. At present there
is but one other child, Muriel, ten years
old. Should there be issue from the
second wife, this child will share the
20 per cent with Muriel. II the issue Is
a girl, each will have 10 per cent; II the
issue is a boy, Muriel will receive less
and the boy more.
With the terms Of this bequeathtal
John Jacob Astor had nothing to do.
They were made by his father, william,
and have been on file in the surrogate s
office for over forty years, but have
Terms of Old Will.
The terms Of this will of william
Astor are such that the only property
John Jacob. his son, could bequeath,
would be such as he might have ac-
uuired by purchase and held separate
from the entailed Astor estate which
had come down from father to son in
lineal succession from the first John
Jacob Astor. This may be a relatively
small amount; possibly 1t is larger than
any one suspects.
When william Astor died the estate
amounted to approximately $50. 100000
At the present time IT amounts to not
more than $4,000, 900, and is probably
about $75,0O0,000
These figures have been secured from
a representative of the family who will
not permit the use of his name. but
who Is in position to know the facts.
OF this seventy-five or eighty mil
lions all but few millions is in the
entaiIed estate. Thus, Vincent .Astor's
Inheritance will be approximately
$50. 100000. II there is no issue from
the second marriage. Muriel Astor
will receive approximately $4,000, 900.
II there Is issue from the second mar
her fifth equally II the child is
girl and unequally II boy.
Therefore, the unborn Astor child
Is worth, II We reduce the startling
situation to cold figures, at least ST.
But this fact. startling in its sug-
gested reality. provocative of appre-
hension, doubt, and mystery. center
ing the hopes, fears and longings Of
bedside of the second Mrs. Astor. is
not so remarkable as the situation in
which Vincent Astor is placed.
Terms Made By Father.
The young man Is not Of age. In
Ave months he will be twenty one
years old. And he Is the first man
in the lineal descent of the family
who will hold his fortune in fee sim
pie, to do with as he pleases. There
will be no trustees TO watch over him,
as there were to watch over his
father, and IL he chooses to make a
will or to make any disposition Of
his property In his own life he will
be in a position to do with 1t as he
pleases.
1t is believed that the only important
business which induced his father to
papers which he should sign on the at
tainment of his majority, which would
maintain the estate in trust through his
lifetime and for his heirs. as It had been
held through four generations of Astors.
The tragic, unforeseen death of the
father thus thrust upon the son a bur-
den that no Astor since the first has
borne.
The only personal home OF his own
which Colonel Astor was in a position
to will is Ferncliffe, the country estate
up the Hudson. It's disposition and of
such floating moneys as he might have
possessed was the only volitional re-
source he had. The revelation Of his
testament in this regard is all that re-
mains for the contemplation OF the two
families united to him by marriage, the
Willings and the Astors.
He possessed none of the celebrated