The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-11-19
Though Boys Are Heirs to An
Estate of Wealthy 0hioan,
Mother Wants Them.
COURTS WILL HEAR CASE

Cincinnati. Ohio, Nov. 17.-With
each step in the legal struggle before
Judge German for the possession Of IL
year-old Louis Weeks, known also as
Louis Kraft, is revealed another re-
markable chapter in the strange story,
the central figure Of which is the late
Louis Kraft, once a powerful and
wealthy figure in republican politics Of
this city and county.
According to the testimony which,
1t is claimed, will be offered next
Tuesday before Judge German, Louis
Kraft had a desire for a natural and
direct heir that amounted to a pas
sion, which finally led him to believe
in a theory as weird as any h mind
of an oriental dreamer could con-
ceive. 1t is claimed that:
Evidence will show that when death
removed a young woman whom Kraft
knew he sought TO communicate with
her in the spirit world.
He was led to believe he was so
doing, and when he asked her what
he should do with all the money he
had accumulated. he was told by this
spirit he ought to have an heir; he
should have bestowed on him a spirit
child" arriving through some mystic
rious way from the unknown world.
Accepted Esprit Child"
And then, when this spirit child
arrived, 1t is claimed, this man Of
the world, shrewd and practical in
all things pertaining to men, believed
in and accepted the spirit child as
his own.
1t is this child who is the subject Of
the litigation which has unfolded the
remarkable story. Kraft accepted this
child and another as his, and made
them heirs to part of his estate, pro-
viding for them as he would for legiti-
mate children.
Now, almost a year after Kraft's
this spirit child as hers, and says
that when it was born she did not
know such a man as Kraft existed.
The child was adopted by a woman
who has claimed him, and say Kraft,
firm in the belief of the spirit child"
acknowledged the child as his in his
will.
The oma who now claims the
child promises to tell all this and more
Of what has transpired in the years
since she parted with the baby, a few
days after its birth, up to the time Of
Kraft's death. She will bring into
court as exhibits her two sons, Samuel
semblance between them and the
spirit child"
Woman Is Medium"
The spirit mother" is Mrs. Stephen
Weeks, a former spiritualistic me-
dunn. whom Kraft recognized in his
will as the mother Of the spirit child"
Mrs. Dora Funk Guien, a farmers
wife, brought the habeas corpus pro-
ceedings to obtain possession of the
spirit child"
Another of Mrs. Weeks boys, Fred.
whom Kraft claimed as his, is also
named as an heir in his will.
No effort to break the will of Louis
Kraft and take from the children he
recognized as his sons their inherit
anc will be made by Mrs. Catherine
Kraft, the politicians widow.
Even if the latter part of my life
has been saddened by this affair, /
would like to see the boys shielded"
she said.
1T was about Is years ago that my
husband, who was muc interested in
spiritualism, called to consult Nine.
Weeks, who held in her home,
then on Richmond street.
Nine Weeks seemed to have a
strange occult influence over him from
the beginning"