Evening star., 1922-03-05
RY CROsSLEY DAVIES.
LONDON, February %, 1922.

A RE you the missing heir to
~ All estate in Great Britain?
~ There is over $27.500.000 here
a waiting to be claimed by
legatees who have vanished. And
some of that money should undoubt-,
edly go to Americans. While the
golden vision of thus becoming at
happy stroke of fortune a millionaire
is delusive, though some bogus next
of-kin agents flourish by perpetual
ing 1t, there are at the same time
quite lot of comfortable compe-
tences going begging in this coun-
try. For instance, search Is being
made for the heirs Of Jane Eales.
who was born in Wales in 1885. Her
estate is now worth 100000.
Where is John W. Binns. for. whom,
of his lawful next of kin. $4,000 is
waiting. Where is Charles L.. H.
Hannay of Oxford and Cape Town.
to whom a fortune is due? Are
there in America any descendants
of Gen. Peter Campbell of Southall,
London, who died about 1882 Does
anybody know anything of Thomas
Sheppard, who went to the United
States twenty-nine years ago? Or
of Frederick j. Ingram, who emil
grated to Canada? Both are sought
for something to their advantage"
Some freehold property is held here
for the descendants of John H. Pick
ering of Cardiff. who died in 1904.
Other missing heirs include the chill
Il nf oh nd Tor
went to America in 1S45, and of
Thomas G. Alder of Hertford, who,
died in Ottawa in 1908.
y X Xxx
THE list could be enlarged to q be-
wildering extent. Suffice it to
mention the call for the next Of kin
or relatives of Charles ]. Kemp, who
died a century ago: of Francis and
Mary Lakin of Stapenhill, who died
in 1880; William II. Pitcher (1S65);
]sitt and John Gimblett, who were
married in 1910; Caroline Gage of
California 1ss0), and Rev. B. C.
Conway. who died in 1862.
And it may also interest Ameri-
cans that among those for whom
something to their advantage" Is
advertised is William Billson, alias
Wilson, who emigrated in 1870.
The romance of the missing heir is
endless and brimfuI of human inter-
est There is hardly a family, how
ever poor, without expectations. And
because there are so many Amer
leans with British ancestors or con-
nections the British authorities are
inundated with letters from the
United States. The last year, as 1t
happens. has been a record year for
the number of missing heirs for.
whom advertisements have appeared
in the daily press.
One London Sunday newspaper,
with circulation running into mil
lions, claims to have found SIT MISS
ing heirs, and each week gives a
new list of people for whom search
is being made. 1t Is extraordinary
how men and women vanish. the
yearly disappearances numbering
thousands. A long list of vanished
legatees or next-of-kin. published re-
Gently in the London Times is par
ticularly fascinating. There is the
case of a Bristol woman who went
10. Australia nearly forty years ago,
married, and survived her husband.
She has left fortune to her sister
and her sisters children. Another
case is that of the heirs of a married
woman who died in a Glasgow poor
house twelve years ago. How did the
money come to the inmate of poor
house? Among the vanished people
who have come into money are a
nursery governess and parlor maid
And there is the strange case Of the
representatives of a man who Is be-
lieved to have died in a lunatic
asylum"
+ *S X
DERHAPS the most remarkable in
L stance Of an unclaimed estate In
all history is. that of a Parisienne
who left $4,000 to "whomsoever
would watch by her tomb day and