New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-31
SleuthS Fail to Discover
Trace of Him After Two
Months Search.
MYSTERY Barred
BY COURT ACTION
Sister Now Seeks to Settle
S250,000 Estate Left
by Father.

The mysterious disappea rance and
absence for about two months of Sam
uel Van Wick Lee, lawyer. member of
several clubs and a well known amateur
yachtsman, was revealed yesterday
through a proceeding before Surrogate
Fowler. Private detectives who were
employed to find Lee, who is one of the
executors of the estate Of his father,
Robert p. Lee, also a lawyer, have
searched far and wide for the missing
nan and have reported their inability
10 get even clew to his whereabouts
or to find any of his friends who know
what has become of him.
Miss Anna Haight Lee, of % East SD
ST., a sister of the missing lawyer, lived
in the same house with him. She ad-
vances three theories for the disappear
ance. They are that her brother has
gone to Europe, or has been taken sick,
or is secretly hiding from his relatives
and friends.
LtRdl Ati bdTtb
Because of the absence Of this
brother and the presence of Robert 7.
Lee. another brother, in sanatorium
at Amityville, Long Island, Miss Lee,
the sister, yesterday obtained from
Surrogate Fowler an order to serve
Samuel Van Wick Lee b. publication in
a proceeding to have the brothers re-
lieved as executors OF their fathers
estate, which, it is understood, is val
ued at about S250,00G
Lees absence has made it impossible
for Miss Lee to obtain an accounting
in the estate of her father, who died
ir 1911. Mr.. Lee provided in his will
that if at any time his daughter should
become dissatisfied with the admins
tration of the estate by her brothers
she could apply to have them removed
and trust company substituted.
Rambaut & Wilson we're attorneys
for the executors. But after the break
down Of the son Robert they have had
little to do with the estate. Mr.. Ram
baut said yesterday that they had mott
fed Samuel Van Wick Lee, the missing
brother, that his law firm was ready to
20 ahead with the filing OF the account
ing in the Surrogate's Court OF his
fathers accounting, but that Lee lever
made any move to have it filed. There
after, Mr.. Ran. baut said, his firm had
nothing TO do with the affair.
Affairs Of Estate Mixed.
Mr.. Lees estate consisted of stocks,
bords. loans and real estate. Mr.. Ram
baut said that he never had seen the
securities. supposed to be in the hands
Of the sons, or one Of them. Mr.. Lee
was descendant Of Light Horse"
Harry Lee. father Of General Robert r.
Lee. One OF his friends was William
VI. WINS. His son. James :. Y. WINS, is
attorney for Miss Lee in the present
proceeding.
Both of Mr.. Lees sons were bis law
partners. He gave to each one-third Of
his estate outright and to has daughter
one-third in trust.
Miss Lee las made IN affidavit, in
which she says that Will her brother
disappeared from their home she
caused detectives to search for him.
In several places where search was
made the information seemed to
about the same-that Lee had not been
seen in two months. which is the period
Of his absence. He was a member OF
the Amateur Billiard Club, of Broad
way and 72d st.
Closed doors confronted the sleuths at
his office, at "a William st, until one
day they un. xpectedly found the place
open. In the Office WIS an old man,
who said that he knew nothing OF the
whereabouts Of the lawyer. On the desk
was a pile of letters, and on every
piece Of furniture the dIst was thick
showing that the Office had not Seen
occupied in a long time.
Soon after the old man disappeared
without revealing his association with
the Office. At Jacks restaurant, one u
IT,, haunts Of Lee, the detectives we're
informed that he had not recently been
seen there. The trail led TO the hotei
Algonquin, where Lee sometimes
stayed, but the visit there yielded no
light.