The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1925-03-25
FIGHT 100 YEARS
FOR $1OO,OOO,OOO
May End Legal Bat
tie Waged Many Years.

4
100000. lying ready in the Bank Of
England, and yet having to live ON
aims of $3.50 a week.
That is the queer fate Of Bernhard
Goethe of Leipzig, who just now is the
principal in a weird inheritance fight
which has strained the legal appara-
tus of three continents and has
stretched through nearly a whole CELL |
fury.
The story of this fight is told by the
Neue Leipziger Zeitung, which says it.
bases 1t IN legal documents.
The fortune was amassed by three
bearers Of the name Of GOetZe who
left Germany between 1897 and 1919.
One. Johann Friedrich Goetze, went to
Batavia, amassed a fortune in lanUs
and ships valued at $4O,OO0,000. When
he died he left it all TO his widow.
The widow married a cousin Of her
husband, JOann ChristOph Goethe. who
had also gone to Batavia. had entered
the Dutch army service and had be-
come governor Of Batavia and com
mander Of the Dutch troops.
Get Second Fortune.
The couple quit Batavia and went
ftO Cape Town, where they arrived just
in time to receive the inheritance left
TO them by Johann Christian Goethe,
another cousin. This cousin had gone
} to the Orange Free State, had dug for
gold, and had found .16,090 pounds of
It. all Of WHICH, in blinking bar gold,
! now went to the former governor Of
; Batavia.
This croesus died in Cape Town in
? 1881, leaving his immense fortune in
gold, in lands, in ships and mines to
his parents and brothers and sisters
in Germany. But these never learned
Of their good fortune.
Finally in 1867, a sister,. Mrs. Erd-
muthe GOetZe, who had married her
s cousin of the same NAME, learned of
I the inheritance through a newspaper
k notice.
e Immediately, the hunt after the in
h heritance began. More than 81 bear
v ers of the name Of GOetze laid claim
n to IT. After years of legal battles. il
o was decided that the heirs were Mrs.
Erdmuthe GOetze and her children, OF
whom two were still alive, Bernhard
n Goethe and Mrs. Louise Teichmann.
The government of SaxOny took a
n hand in the case. In agreement with
h the British crown treasury, under
whose management the estate had in
e creased to $1OO,OOO,OOO. a Doctor
v Mueller of the Saxon courts was in
stalled as administrator. In 1872, he
was relieved OF that, however, because
it was charged that he furthered the
interests. not Of the real heirs, but
those Of another branch.
Y Later the English consul general at
q Leipzig, Charles Grove, took the mat
g ter in hand, hut made little progress
% because the heirs could not agree
n among themselves.
h Proves Her Claim.
In 1875 Mrs. Erdmuthe Goethe went
e to London where she received dOcu-
ments proving that the Cape Town
st courts had awarded the inheritance tC
e her and her children. but received nc
re money.
n \ trip to Mrs. Teichmann at London
also proved vain.
~ In 1900 n man named BOde received
er a part of the inheritance. This led e
ly another legal battle, in which Bode's
IS lawyer won. j..
c. -Four trips Of Bernhard Goethe t,
rs London proved fruitless because h,
to was unable to present his claims in
form that the English courts wOul,
accept.
We A complaint 20 the then Prime Min
nd lister Eaifuur brought the reply tina
a he should employ an English lawyer
but as Gortze is penniless, this is vail
1t, service.
Mystery is added to the case by tn
TACT that documents in the files sho,
Mrs. Teichmann had died in the near
- time. Goethe maintains, however. hi
sister is stiI living as wife Of a BAN
- director in Stuttgart.
80 Waiting and fighting for his il
h~eritance, Bernhard Goetze meanwhile
nm has grown to be seventy-nine year
=, old.
He is supported in his fight by
"GOetZe association" which wa
iouHueu IN iJLI anu CONSISTS OF aDOt
ou thirty members. Every member pay
5 : cents a week, which goes To Goet2
3 and on which this heir to million
3 lives
g In return, however, the associate
B is to get 10 per cent Of Goetze's II
2 heritance-if he ever gets 1t.
5 Goethe himself says only the co,
g victiun Of his legal right keeps hi
3 going and ne firmly believes that son
2 DAY the s1O0.000,O00 viii GENE 10 hi