Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-03-05
BAKER ESTATE AGAIN
City and State Officials Pestered by
Would.Be MilIionalres-The Old
Humbug as Active as Ever.
The Man From Toronto
BY GEORGE NOX MCCAIN


COME days ago referred to that perennial
~ and monumental fake, the Baker estate.
As a result there have come number OF
letters making inquiries about it and the
facts of its development.
The most interesting feature of the pub.
lication is that the Department of Internal
Affairs at Harrisburg, the Mayors office in
Philadelphia and several other departments
have been freshly besieged by anxious Bakers
claiming heirship and yisioning easy money
in the not far distant future.
Briefly rccapitulating, the story goes that
Colonel Baker land the given name varies
according to the whim or wish Of the swim
dlcr or dupcl, an officer in the army of the
Revolution, leased tract of land in the
heart of what is now the business center of
Philadelphia early in the last century.
The lease was to run for n period of
ninety nine years.
The transfer was lost sight of until within
the last twenty five years or so. In the
meantime. the value of the land had in
creased until estimates range all the way
from 5000, 900, 900 to $3.50 100000.
TNHE mythical Colonel Baker is alleged to
l. have originally hailed from Somerset or
some other western county.
He must have been the father of nu-
merous progeny for his alleged descendants
have multiplied prodigiously. From their
letters they cover the entire United States
and large part of central and western
Canada.
II would be an inexcusablc waste of val
liable time to attempt to determine the exact
date when the fake was first foistcd upon
the public.
One might as well cndcavor to get
chronological grip on its sister swindlc. the
prisoner in Spain and his buried treasure.
About fifteen years ago the persistence Of
certain western attorneys in seeking to OBJ
tain documentary evidence in this city of the
existence of some such lease led to con
siderable uneasinCsS among property owners
in the vicinity of South Penn square and the
region round about.
But they had their fears for their pains
nURRELL SHrSTER. private secretary
~ to Mayor Moore. together with Robert
d. Harper. chief clerk to the Mayor, have
in a measure been the largest recipients of
anxious inquiries on the subject.
Recorder Of Deeds James VI. Hazlctt has
also been ncStcrcd by innumcrable inquiries
to n great extent. Not Il week goes by that
some willing to- be millionaire does not write
for information.
There is not n department OF the city.
county or state government that has not.
presume. received Inquiries about the myth
cal colonel and tho lease.
Recently tho Mayors office has been turn
ing these over TO Director TIasSrick. of the
Bureau of Legal Aid, TO dispose of as he
sees fit.
-
ID the hlmbug camr to light following my
reference to the matter a short time ago.
It was last week when Il gentleman ap-
pcarcd in tho office Of Secretary of the Com
monwcalth Woodward. in Harrisburg, to
obtain whatever facts were available
lie was Il Canadian. and in some remote
fashion was related to one Of the supposed
Baker heirs residing in Toronto
There is quito colony of tho fictitious
colonCl's heirs -prcsumntivc residing in the
i.in nI Sn nE in
fact, that they arc said to have an aSSOCia-
tion whose principal business it is to con
tribute regular sums to Il fund for nvcstga-
tion and legal aid
Secretary WOodwardS visitor was fur
nShcd with all tn" information concerning
the Philadelphia lease and the suppoStitiouS
fortune of $500 600 900.
Which was nothing at all.
As stated in my previous article, there is
absolutely nothing. directly or indirectly. of
record in any of tho state departments rclat-
ing to any such thing Us tho Baker lease.
Tho Canadian visitor confessed he was not
surprised. He had always looked upon the
thing aS q hunt for n ChimCra.
The Toronto Bakers and tho others inter
rstcd had, he said an attorney retained at a
fat figure 10 assist in prosecuting their sup
posed claim. They had been fed up with the
idea that tho millions were shortly to bc
distributed. and it was now only a question
of time until each of them would be lollng
in his limousine and otherwise wallOwing in
the lap Of luxury.
The Toronto dupos. he said. were shortly
to hold n mGrtng, and it was his purpoN" TO
appear and by documentary evidence. fur
ni>hcd 10y Secretary Woodward prick the
bubble Of their hopes and aspirations
He was anxious to see the effect of his
first hand information. not only on the in
u0cCnts themselves. bur upon the legal gen
lloman who had been harvesting their coin.
As he Smilingly put it, it would be Il scene
worth travelling far to see
LNROM various sources Of information it
L would seem that the sWindlcrS work in a
A-n.r l.lnrnr MnN 'EnnN nnnnrnni L. LIN Nn IL