New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-13
Suit Shows William Wal
lace Snyder Had Trio
of Households.
WILL LEFT ALL
TO WIFE NO. 3
Administering II, She Found No.
| Wealthy, No 2 Work.
Ing Woman.

County Circuit Court by Mrs. Sarah
Whitenack Snyder, Of 1877 Elm Avenue,
Mount Vernon, N. Y, against Mrs.
Lucinda Pabst Snyder, Of 31S Seventh
Street, Harrison, N. j., it became known
yesterday that the late William wal
lace Snyder, wealthy real estate owner
and graduate of New York University,
who died in February, 1915, had three
wives, that he maintained three house
holds within a radius of twenty-five
miles and that each wife knew OF the
existence Of the other two.
A further remarkable circumstance
in the case is that investigation showed
the neighbors in all three instances
were generally aware OF the situation
Yet for eighteen years Snyder lived
the life of an ordinary respectable
citizen.
At tho time Of his death In Mount
Vernon, where he lived two days .
week with wife No. 8, obituaries ap-
peared simultaneously in the papers OF
Newark and Mount Vernon. In one
he was Survived by his wife, who was
Miss Phoebe Baldwin, Of Orange, N. J..
In the Westchester paper the name OF
the surviving widow was appropriate
TO the neighborhood. From the New
ark notice it was learned that Mrs
Phoebe Baldwin Snyder, Of 35 Haw-
thorne Avenue, East Orange, sister
of Samuel w. Baldwin. treasurer OIL the
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Com
pany, of Newark, was wife NO. 1: no
mention was made of wife NO. z, re-
siding at Harrison.
Left All to Wife No. 3.
A will, offered for probate at White
Plains by wife No. 3, stated that shy
der married Miss Whitenack, at Bur
falo, on March 5, 1898. By its terms
all his property goes 70 wife NO. 8
Thus il came about that, IN going over
Snyder's estate, she came upon mem
orandum Of his property In HARRISON
Immediately she went to 3lo Seventh
Street and demanded that wife No.
quit the premises. Mrs. Lucinda Pabst
SNYDER, the occupant, who first met
SNYDER in Trenton in 1887, and lived
with him for twenty-nine years, re-
fused to vacate the modest home that
she claims her husband built for her
with her aid when he was struggling
to get ahead. ..
Whereupon wife No. brought suit
for the property, plus $4,000 in rent
which she claims is due since 1910
Wife No. placed her case in the
hands of former Judge Thomas A
Davis. From his summer home al
Allenhurst Mr.. Davis said last night
that he would offer as evidence In de-
fence of his client bundle of letters
which Snyder had sent to her.
According to the records, Snyder
married Miss Phebe Baldwin, at that
time one of the bellies of the Oranges.
in 1876. He was the popular son OF
John Snyder, one of the wealthiest men
in the town. He possessed pleasing
personality and lucrative law prac-
tice. In addition, his father had named
one of Oranges prettiest thorough
fares, Wallace Street, after his son.
At her home, on Hawthorne Avenue,
which is in an exclusive residential
section, the first Mrs. Snyder yesterday
angrily refused to give any informa--
tion on the subject. II is understood
she is wealthy, and has no intention
of entering into a legal squabble for
her share of her husbands estate.
Snyder's establishment at Mount
Vernon, which is on Chester Hill, was
boarded up yesterday, and neighbors
said that Mrs. Snyder had gone to Bed
Saved to Build House.
In. little three story frame house
in Harrison, however, small, white
haired woman, with a gentle voice and
careworn smile, told how she had
shaved for Snyder because she loved
him.
Mrs. Lucinda Pabst Snyder is sixty
one years old and speaYj with a slight
German accent. She came to this coun-
try when girl and met Snyder in
Trenton. At that time he owned fancy
goods store in Newark, with a branch
in Trenton.
Mrs. Snyder was baking in her tidy
kitchen when the reporter called. She
explained how her husband had little
money when she first met him and how
they had worked to build the house. She
had sorted bricks, sawed wood and
ridden errands on her bicycle.
Mrs. Snyder said that she learned of
Wife No. 3 the first year he married
her. Previously she had known of
No. /. Soon after his third marriage
Snyder brought this wife to Arlington.
At that time Wife No. was living
within one mile of No. 2 and two miles
of No. /.
people used to talk" said Mrs. Sny-
der, "but he used TO laugh it off. He
was pleasant and made friends SO
easy"
Later Snyder moved to Irvington
with Wife No. 2. There he built a
home for Sara Whitenack in her name.
Subsequently, he transferred the house
TO his own name and sold it.
Found a viii.
In a suit of clothes which Snyder
left at his Harrison home Mrs. Snyder
said she found a will. BY the terms
of this instrument his entire estate
goes TO his executors, with instructions
TO pay the sum of $50 per week to
PhGbe B. Snyder during her natural life
if she shall so long remain unmarried
and 10 Sara d. Whitenack, daughter OF
Alfred Whitenack, of Pleasant Valley,
n. j., the sum of $50 during her
natural life if she shall remain so long
unmarried" 1t also directs that any
income above 500 be used to educate
his children-Helen, born in Irvington
in 1899, and William Wallace, born in
Mount Vernon in 1901. No mention is
made of three other children subse-
quently born. There is a provision Of
s25 a week for his brother, Colonel
Edward II. Snyder, who resides in
Brooklyn and operates a small real
estate business in East Orange.
In this will the two women are ex-
ecutors and wife No. 2 is not mentioned