New-York tribune., 1920-10-04
ather Fights
Will Civiine
Girl Million
Hazel Myers Stands to
Lose All if Brooklyn
Garage Worker Wins
Fight for Her Custody
Adopted as Baby
By Wealthy Aunt
Heiress Says Foster Moth
er Was Sole Parent She
Knew; Never SawDaddv

Hazel Myers. fifteen-year-old he;ress
10 an estate estimated at between
s6oO,o0o and $1,00O,OO0 may lose the
fortune through an action which her
father, David W. Myers, who works in
garage in Brooklyn, instituted Friday
IN the Surrogate's Court to set aside
the will which makes Hazel heircss to
virtually the entire estate of her fos-
ter mother. Mrs. Mary Sniffen Myers
Shepard.
What worries Hazel, who is in the
Ely School for Girls at Greenwich.
Conn.,, even more than the contest of
, her foster mothers will is her faith
ers reported intention to declare her
adoption by Mrs. Shepard illegal and
resume his guardianship. She said
that she wanted Frank B. York, the at
/ torney, of 254 West Seventy-cighth
Street, whom Mrs. Shepard designated
IN her VIII as the girls guardian, to
she had no affection for her father
Never Saw Her Father
II woul Int speak to him if he came
to see ne" she declared. II don't
think my mother should have left him
anything. | always called Mrs. Shep-
ard mother and | never called anv
one father | have never seen nv
father. He never came to see me-"
Her father was Mrs. Stewards
! brother and was left out of her will
entirely, although she left $4,000 each
to two sisters and another brother.
Mr. Myers himself threw some light
last night on the relations which cx-
listed between himself and the sister
who married wealth.
"My sister disliked me- he said, "be-
cause | used to bawl her out when she
tried to be d fine lady and ! was her
coachman You see, she was Dr.. Shcp-
ards housekeeper and later he married
her She got him to employ my sis
ters and brothers around the place and
] was ons of them. She rode inside
the coacn. naughty and proud, and |
Grove il and she didn't like it when
made fun of her.
Mr. Myers lives at 101 Troy Avenue,
Brooklyn. He declares that he gave
Up Hazel to his mother at the age Of
fourteen months, aud only because the
chlds mother had died and he was
unable to care for her properly. Even
though his mother turned Hazel over
to Mrs. Sherard with due regard to
legal formaitics she had no right to
do so while ne was alive, he said, and
he never had given his consent to any
such transfer of custody. He has re
tanned AdolDh Rugers, an attorney, of
2110 Albemarle Terrace, Brooklyn, TO
contest the will.
Sues to Break Will
eve have filed objections to the will "
said Mr.. Rugers, "alleging that it is
the product of influence practiced upon
Mrs. Shepard during considerable
part of her life, and that the will was
not her own voluntary and free act.
Two adoptions have changed the girls
custody at various times, and since the
death of her latest foster mother, whc
was really her aunt. we have been
given to understand that the girl viii
not be returned to her father. Cor
sequcntly we will have to resort to
the courts"
Mr.. York asserted that as Hazel's
father had given his consent to her
adoption when he turned the child over
to his mother and as his mother gave
her consent to the adoption by Mrs.
Shepard. Mr.. Myerss consent to that
transaction was quite superhuous.
Codicil Made Last March
'Thc girls mother died soon after
she was born" he said, "and the father
was unable to take care of hec, so he
gave her to his mother, Mrs. John H..
Myers, who legally adopted Hazel.
Some time later think it was in 1903
Mrs. Myers, Hazel's grandmother,
feeling herself growing old and unable
to care for Hazel any longer, gave her
consent to her readoption by Mrs.
Shepard, with whom Hazel and her
grandmother had been living all along.
Mrs. Shepard made her will in 1918
and added a codicii in March, 1920,
changing only the minor bequcsts.
The viii gives Hazel the interest from
the property until she is thirty and
the principal thereafter. Mrs. Shepard
died at her summer home in Allen
hurst, N. j., September 5, during a
weekend party to which she had in
vted several friends from New York
She died very suddenly FROM heart
disease, think.
"We filed the will for probate Sep
tember 10 in Manhattan, as her legal
residence was at 1877 Riverside Drive
They filed an answer in the Surrogate's
Court last Friday. asking to have the
will set aside and alleging undue in
hucnce and unsound tesla amentary
mind"
Hazel's foster mother was married
May %, 1907, about the time of her
(Contlrued on page eleyen)