The New York herald., 1921-04-22
SEEK STEVENS'S
$15,OOO,OOO WILL
Friends and Relatives Be-
lieve Eccentric Man Pro
yided for All in 1t.
DEEDS STREWN ABOUT
Room in Old Wall Street
Building Where Financier
Lived Is Secured.
MISERLY TALES DENIED
Man Whose Daughter, 18,
Eloped With Student, 10,
Gave Much to Charity.
DEEDS STREWN ABOUT
MISERLY TALES DENIED

UuNt MuCll W OHdIltl.
Search was being made yesterday
IN the ramshaclSle old building at Ss
Broad street, nearly opposite the Curb
market, for the will it is believed c..
Amory Stevens. the eccentric owner Of
the structure, executed before he died
of pneumonia in Trinity Hospital,
Brooklyn, March 20. Mr. Stevens had
lived most OF the time for more than
two years before his last illness in a
little room in the rear apartment of
Mrs. Mary Coburn, the janitress of the
building, and the floor Of his adjoining
Office was found covered with deeds TO
valuable property "strewn about like
leaves on the ground" as tenants of
the building pictured it. The value OF
the estate was estimated by Mr..
Stevens's intimates at between s12,-
100000 and s15,000.00O.
I'VE believe he has left will" said
Capt. Caleb G.. Collins, a retired sea
captain who shared Mr.. Stevenss Office
for thirty-four years. HE told me, and
he has told others, that he had made one
in which every one was provided for"
Despite Mr.. Stevens's wealth and his
eccentricties-or perhaps because of
thenl--he was little known until the
elopement of his 1S-year-old daughter
Kate last Thursday. She is q student
at Miss Sayward's school in Philadel-
phia, and married Richard Pagan, aged
10. of Galveston, Tex, senior at Dart
mouth They were married at Hanover,
y. H, by the Rev. John Dallas.
$4,000 Allowance for Girl.
Tuesday the young womans mother.
Mrs. Jessie I. Stevens, of S756 Bay
Twenty-seventh street, Brooklyn, re-
ceived permission from Surrogate Win
gate in Brooklyn for an allowance OF
$4,000 q year from her husbands estate
10 pay young Mrs. Fagan's bills. The
bride and her husband have returned to
their studies.
In her petition Mrs Stevens said her
husband left little personal property,
although his realty holdings were sub
stantiaI," most of them unimproved, and
would yield little income for some time.
Mr.. Stevens had life interest, however,
In the estate of his father. Calvin Ste
yens, to which x was maintained the
girl was entitled upon her fathers death.
1t was asserted TO be valued at more
than s1.250,000, principally in real es-
tate in New York city In the hands of
trustees. one OF which is the Fifth
Avenue Trust Company.
Kato Stevens. II was asserted, was
entitled to at least one-third of the
property, the income OF which would
amount to at least $4,000 annually.
It was further set forth that the
trustees are about to begin suit for an
accounting and construction OF the will
Of Caleb Stevens in the Supreme Court,
rs result of which It may develop that
the young bride IL entitled one-half. In
stead of one-third. OF tho property.
Mrs. Stevens was appointed her daugh-
ter's guardian April T.
Capt. Collins denied reports that G.
Amory Stevens had been a niser. or
that he had foraged n garbage cans
for newspapers and other odds and ends,
as picturesquely set forth.
He was exactly the opposite type"
said Capt. Collins, "aud shortly before
he died he gave away $4,000 in charity.
know of a sick man he recently Of
fered TO send to q hospital at an ex-
pense Of $1,000. He was Harvard
graduate and broad and liberal. He
might have been a great novelist II he
had not been in business"
Entered Active Business mt Il.
Caleb Stevens died when his son.
Caleb Amory Stevens, was 81 years old,
and the boy almost Immediately en-
tered business. His associates said yes
terday that almost everything he touch
ed turned to gold At one time he owned
the controlling interest in the American
Dredging and Construction Company,
which was digging the old Panama
Canal for de Lesseps. He had a line of
steamships in the South American trade,
owned lat 900 acres OF rich timber and
coal land I'm Virginia and half Of Grant
county, n. NJ, together with valuable
mining properties in the West.
Capt Collins said Mr. Stevens occu-
pied room in Mrs Coburn's apart
ment because OF his habit OF being in his
office at all hours Of the night. IL was
also said ct his home that In a fail he
had injured his knee. making II impos-
sible for him to move about much. His
charities are said to have amounted to
"tfiousands Of dollars year and
many OF them we're to tenants Of the
four story brick building on the top
floor OF which he lived.
At the Stevens home in Bay Twenty
seventh street. Brooklyn. IL was said
yesterday that Mrs. Stevens had not
lived there since her husbands death,
and that the house was for sale. Mrs.
Stevens spends much OF her time at the
Hotel Biltmore when in towa. and Is
now said to be - Atlant1- City.