Bisbee daily review., 1913-12-06
HEIRS WILL OPEN
 LEGAL BATTLE FOR
 PIONEERS FORTUNE

0ihcs tbe ddtS or the contest over
 the estate of "Lacky" Baldwin no
 legal battle for the determination of inheritance claims has caused more
 interest than the case involving the
 vast estate left by Mrs. Arcadia
 Stearns Baker. who died here on September 25, 1912, which is on the
 docket for trial tomorrow in the Los
 Angeles superior court, Some of the
 most noted lawyers of the state, as-
 sisted by equally noted legal experts from other states will be arrayed
 against each other in this remarkable
 case
 The estate which is valued al | $7.0O0,00O at one time belonged to ! Abel Stearns, one of the most pros
 porous pioneers Of California and
 was left by him to h.s widow when
 he died about forty years ago. Sew ! en years after his death his widow married Colonel R. S. Baker. a re
 tired army officer without property. | who died ten years afterward. When | Mrs. Baker died more than year ago it was found that she had left no
 will. Her relatives, of whom there are thirty-seven in California, made a claim for the estate which had been turned oven for administration to the ] Title Insurance and Trust company of Les Angeles
 Then the question developed as to. who had a just claim upon the estate There is a provision in the California statutes to the effect that when a witow dies without issue and without leaving will the property she had obtained from the deceased husband and had not disposed of during her Life time, reyerts to the heirs of the husband. It is under this provision that the forty or more relatives or Abel Stearns, the founder of the great fortune, are making their claim for the vast estate Most of the contest ing relatives of stearns are residents ofaNew England, while practically all the contesting relatives of Mrs. Bak- kr are residents of California
 The California statute $ quite clear in it's phraseology and the decision of the case win probably hinge upon the interpretation of the law concerning the force and meaning of a will Un- der certain conditions. When Stearrs died he left a will by which he left to his willow the bulk of his estate to do with it as she saw fit. The viii is not disputed by either side, but the eastern contestants Of tic estate claim that although the will save the widow possession and control of the property while she lived. it lost it's force when sEe died without leaving a will. Under these conditions the property the eastern contestants claim, must revert to the relatives Of the husband, in accordance with the statute of the state.
 The history of the estate in ques. ton is unusually interesting and . dates back to the time when Califog- ! nia was a possession of Mexico. Atei . Stearns was born as the son of poor farmer at LunenbuTg, Mass, in 179S. . As a young man he embarked in busi- . ness near Boston, but failed and went i to Mexico, where he prospected and 1, traded. In 1929 he went to CaliioT- { nia and settled at mission, now the i city of Los Angeles. He started . business as a trader and became ! wealthy. When gold was first found . in California. Slearns became inter ! ested in placer mining and it was by . him that the first shipment Of go ! from California to the mint at PEi-ai . delpha was made.
 At the age of forty-six Stearns mar ried the fourteen-year-oid daughter ot Don Juan BanGini, a wealthy AeXi- can of good family. When Calltof- mia was made a part of the United States, Stearns who was then cons.d- cred the wealthiest man in the state, vas elected member of the consti- tuticnal convention. which framed u constitution Of the state. Later he served as a member of the state sen ate for a number of years. His land holdings were enormous and at one time he owned estates aggregating I20OO square miles in California. he lost a considerable part of his hoid' iugs when the United States acquired California, through the. refusal of the Americas government to recognize his title to the lands. Yet when stearns died at San Francisco in lS.l' he left a vast fortune, including i1e Laguna ranch, on the southeast Dor der of Los Angeles and comprising about 5000 acres and valued at s'V0 an acre.
 The legal battle which is to begin tomorrow in the superior court IS at tracting a great deal of attention SN- ing te the great value of the estat- in question and it is believed that. To matter what the decision of the court may be the defeated side of the eoa- test will consider a worth while 10 carry tie case to the higher courts. In that case the final decision ana wifi. it the distribution of the estate may be postponed for number pl aaf rf N