Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1923-10-03
NO SPRINGER FORTUNE"
Claimants of Wilmington, Del, Have
Been Blowing Bubbles.
New York Herald.)

New York Herald.)
In Chicago the other day three
hundred members of the Springer
Heirs, Inc, gathered for their annual
business meeting and babe formal
farewell to dream of getting $780,
100000 out Of Wilmington, Del, as
descendants and heirs of one Charles
ChristoI her Springer, who is said to
nave died IN 1888, and WHO, accord
ing to clg his M dc hY ri Moor
porated o prime. owned most Of the
real estate "a which Che city OF VIII
mington now stands.
The corporation was formed last
March to prove these claims and col
lect the inheritance But at the
meeting in Chicago. w. II. Chadwick,
an attorney presented a signed state
ment from its organizer admittins
that the claims had no basis in fact
and that a missing page from the
records, =" fund DISCO, 600 in a
Philadelphia bank" and "mauso-
Ieum in Sweden just bursting with
Jewels and precious heirlooms" were
myths Invented to get money from
innocent people who live in country
towns"
To settle the matter once for all,
Mr.. Chadwick is quoted as stating
the whole claim will be placed before
an abstract company and its decision
will be final. All of which will be
an old story to the officials of Will
mington The tale of the Springer
fortune gained credence first about
fifty years ago, and ever since, about
once in each generation, has been
coming to the surface with the regu-
larity of the seventeen-year locust.
Just how the claim started is not
definitely established. Some persons
back in the middle of the last
century talked about it, saying they
had been told of it by their fathers
and grandfathers. 1t was first made
of almost national interest in Janu-
airy, 1879, when a meeting of the
Springer Heirs Association" was
held in st. Louis, where the claim
was set forth that over half the city
of Wilmington was part of an estate
derived from Charles Christopher
Springer, a son, it was asserted of
Baron Charles Springer of Stock
holm, Sweden.
Charles Christopher according to
the story, was seventh son, who
had been sent to London for his edu-
cation. but had been kidnapped and
carried to America, where he was
sold a slave to a Virginia tobacco
planter. At the termination of his
bondage, it was said, he Went to
Delaware, where Swedes had settled
and bought 1900 acres of land. He
leased $50 acres to the Old SWedes
church, the tale went on, and the
greater part of Wilmington was built
on this leased tract. This lease, it
was declared, had been taken from
the records. But it was in the pos
session of certain of the heirs, who
could produce it when it was re-
quired.
1t was arranged to have another
meeting of the associated heirs at
Providence, r. l., in April, 1891, and
the lost lease would then be forth
coming, those who appeared to be en-
gineering the claim announced.
Everybody was invited to contribute
to an expense fund, and threatened
with disinheritance if he failed to
come across. Congressman William
II. Springer of Illinois attended the
ST. Louis meeting and always there
after smiled when the fortune was
mentioned, as did James G. Blaine
who also had been drawn into the
claim through some relationship il
Maine. Contributions, however, die
not roll in very rapidly, and after the
Providence meeting the claim
petered out for that generation OF
heirs
1t recrudesced strongly again il
1909 when letters began to drift into
Wilmington addressed to the mayor
or postmaster and asking about the
almost forgotten claim. Copies of q
manifold statement that the fortune
was myth were sent in answer, but
the inquiries increased in volume
Wilmington read reports from all
over the country of people who were
about to inherit the ownership OF