Evening star., 1922-03-05
Are You One of the Missing Heirs
To An Unclaimed English F Fortune?

Of those who have left It. And there
10 a mastery absence of detail. No
Christian names and no addresses are
given and no amount. There is rea-
son for this seeming madness. II
the full particulars. with particulars
Of the people wanted as heirs. were
published the court would be showed
under with claims, most Of them in
all probability false.
*x* +
DUT the court is rapidity itself COM
- pared with the Bank of England.
With some $2,5o0.000 of unclaimed
last published list OF the names in
which those accounts stand was in
1915. This stock, by the way. Is gov
ernment stock. Besides this vast
sum which belongs to many un-
known. there are many unclaimed
deposits in the other banks and many
accumulations of dividends in public
companies. Altogether it is quite
safe to say that there is we'll over
$35. 900 of other peoples money
waiting to be demanded by the right
full owners.
The difficulty in finding heirs is we'll
shown in the remarkable case Of
Lemuel W. Bangs. an American, who
died recently in London. He had come
to London more than forty years ago
and there wrote for an American
magazine. He lived at a well known
West End hotel, the York, in Albe-
marie street, and he was one of the
oldest members of the Garrick Club.
where he was a regular attendant.
West End and personally acquainted
with all the members of his club. a
famous rendezvous Of artists. actors
and writers, when he died he left
no information as to his property
or estate and no will. No one knew
who were his solicitors or bankers
and 1t was only when firm Of solicit
at last a cable was received from a
half brother in the United States and
the first light was thrown on the
personal affairs Of this man. who had
SO many friends. but kept, right up
to his death. absolute silence upon
these matters.
!, Had this 'half-brother missed the
advertisement the estate would have
gone to the British treasury. The
chancellor has had some astonishing
windfalls. Who would believe. If
there were not ofhcial facts to prove
it. that a man who was worth
81 100000 would die without any
known heirs? The usual trouble is
not that there are no heirs. but that
there are too many. Other estates
that have gone to the treasury in
clude ssoo.ooo. s75o,ooo and two of
s3oo, 900.
DERHAPS the most amazing story
of all these of missing heirs is
that Of the famous BLAKE millions"
probably worth about $1.0O0.o0O part
made up of land in British Columbia.
The treasury, by an advertisement
in the Times, invited the next Of kin
to apply for the estate. The applf-
cation did not pass unheeded. Helen
Blake was the daughter Of a Mayo
man named Sheridan. Her husband,
Blake. met her when she was a
young peasant girl. fell in love with
her. had her educated and then mar
ried her. He became a general and
inherited a fortune from his father.
When he died he left all he pos
sessed to his widow, then a striking
ly handsome woman, who. though
many times pressed to remarry. re-
mained faithful to the memory of
her first and only lover. She died
intestate and the invitation to the
next Of kin to come forward set all
the next-of-kin agents on the trail.
Many claimants presented them
selves. but all failed to prove their
claims and the money was paid to
the commissioners for the reduction
of the national debt.
Still there are people who think
they have a chance to win this
princely fortune and there is no
doubt that IL they could prove their
right to it the treasury would pay
it to them. But the experience OF
those who have gone before-and
failed-is not too encouraging. One
claimant came from America at the
age of seventy. He believed that he
was Mrs. Blake's cousin. Though he
was amply provided for his visit. he
spent so much in this vain effort
to establish his claim that he ended
his days in a poorhouse in Lambeth
Another Sheridan-this time Patrick
of Liverpool, had an even more cruel
experience.
A local solicitor persuaded him that
he was the rightful heir and showed
him some convincing evidence. The
Exhibits" included a silver watch
inscribed: Prom Helen Blake to hel
dear nephew. Patrick Sheridan. 1856
The other was an old family Bible
giving on the fly leaf the records OF
the family of Martin Sheridan, which
referred to the marriage Of Helen
his daughter.
\ =
r 1NHAPPILY for Patrick, a jewelel
" to whom the solicitor had giver
! the silver watch to inscribe with the
1856 inscription became suspicion.
when the customer grew angry be-
cause the engraver made the, very
natural mistake of inscribing the date
as 1895. The jeweler had the inscrip.
| ton altered as desired, but he TOLD