The New York herald., 1921-06-05

The girl in Chicago and the unexpected
reward.
At the time, Mr.. Byrne intimated the
value OF the estate at $4,000 900. Legal
impediments. he said. had been placed
in his way by interested persons. ana
certain essential papers were missing.
Saying that he must make trip TO Aus
tralia in connection with the legacy, he
disappeared from Montreal for few
years When he returned he opened
mission In the north end Of the city.
Funds Advanced by Lawyers.
He appeared TO have an abundance
of funds says the Montreal despatch 70
this newspaper, and il was thought
generally that he must have come into
his fortune. He explained, however. that
advances were being made by lawyers.
At his Montreal missions, which were
lavishly advertised. he repeated again
and again the story of How / rescued
a millionaire's daughter from white
slavery, and exhibited Bible which he
presented to the girl and which she
left TO him when she died"
One day Mr.. Byrne was dragged from
his pulpit by detectives. who charged
him with having given check for which
there was no money. This proved to be
IN error on the part Of the bank and he
was honorably discharged. Although he
Is slight of body and lame. ne fought
the detectives and bit one of them Sc
vereB. His supporters were indignant.
He resumed his mission work with
larger audiences than ever, continuing 1t
until his departure a few weeks ago for
New York, where he and Mrs. Byrne
took rooms at the Claridge.
Nothing was ever established here
about his right, TO the fortune" says the
Montreal despatch, "but he found a
strong body Of faithful supporters. and.
as far as can be learned, conducted his
mission in a spirit of helpfulness and
earned the gratitude OF many poor
people"
Terence j. McManus, the New York
lawyer. says
1.-The Rev d. s. X. Byrne wished to
have our clients, banking interests, help
him in collecting assets represented as
being distributed all over the world. He
said that Wellington G. Byrne, whose
last residence was in Florida, left him
substantial property. Our clients and
myself met him. He showed us a num-
Der OF documents. many OF which re-
lated to his change of name from David
S. Kidd to David s. K. Byrne.
'He showed us also what purported
to be a certified copy of will and
codicils, also letters and certificates
from County Judge B. B. Johnson Of
Jasper. Hamilton county. Fla. The lat
ter went no further than to say that
David S. X. Byrne had filed some data
in the county court there purporting to
show that the estate was worth upward
of s20.000,0 600. Our clients asked to find
ouS what substance there was in the
story. We had our correspondent In
Jacksonville go to Hamilton county and
make an investigation. Upon receiving
his report we recommended to our clients
that the matter was too uncertain to
warrant any action.
Another client. prominent bank,
made inquiry the result OF which checks
up with our own. They also advise us
that they have been in touch with the
officer of an Australian bank who is
now here and that he never heard of
Wellington G. Byrne. or of the properties
he is represented as having left there"
Legal Documents on File.
The substance of the report made by
the Jacksonville attorney to Mr.. Nc
Manus is this: In the office of Judge
Johnson in Jasper. Fla, Is a large box,
such as mems shirts come in, filled with
documents left with the Judge by David
s. X. Byrne. The searcher was struck by
the fact, he says, that there was not an
original paper relating to Wellington G.
Byrne. All are certified copies save for
one affidavit partly Identifying him
from a photograph exhibited by David y
The filed copy OF the will and two codi-
ellis are certified by Ida NJ. Nichols, a
notary of Jacksonville, on November 15
/ 1915. as being "a true and correct copy
/ Of tla lot, xxyfI nd n.
witnesses of the will were +. S. Hill
| John Moss and f. p. Ross.
Attached to the will is a certificate
/ signed by r. p. Ross. an attorney ano
notary OF Baltimore dated July Is, 1911
IT says the attached copy Is a true copy
| of the will and codicils filed In his of.
| fice. The will. according to the certified
! copy. is dated June 26. 1908; the firs'
codicil June 2s. 1908. and the second
codicil. leaving the daughters share tc
d. S. X. Byrne, August 49, 1908. There
is also a certificate signed +. p. Ross
and dated March 10. 1913, giving g
statement of the value OF assets as
| $s,1O0.OOO. OF these s4.50o.00o were ir
"Argentina and Southern States OF
America" S2,500.000 in Brazil and Mex
leo, s1,500,e00 In Australia and s6.000..
600 in Spain.
Papers purporting to be an inventory
are also on file, consisting, says the In
vestigator. OF copies OF other papers.
Among them are two copies OF tax state
ments relating to property In Jackson
Vile The investigator says he finds
that this property belonged TO an old
resident Of Jacksonville. George w
Byrnes, who died last year.
The lawyer acting for Mr.. McManus
reports further: Absolutely nothing is
trnou-r NJ the alleged testator yelling
ton @. Byrne. A careful search of the
records in Hamilton county failed to dis
close even n trace Of any real or per-
sonal property in his name. I have
found that during David Byrne's stay
in Jasper he received two remittances
of S400 each from a Canadian bank. but