Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-04
Man, Who Would Be 80 Now,
Is Believed to Have Been
Born in D. C. Hospital.
MOTHER, WED SECRETLY,
GAVE BABY TO ANOTHER
Bank Seeks to Clear Up $650.000
Estate Left by Farmer to Two
Daughters or Children.

An application filed in Trenton, N. j.,
yesterday for authority to begin search
for an heir to 1926, 900 shed additional
light on the mysterious family history
of man supposed to have been born
at Providence Hospital 80 years ago
to a secretly married mother who
entered the hospital under an assumed
name and then gave the child to
another woman with instructions never
to reveal his identity
The story of the case, as revealed
in the application of the Bankers
Trust Co. of New York, trustee of a
S650,000 trust fund created under the
will of a Pennington, N. j., farmer,
reads like mystery thriller. The pc
tition of the trust company was grant
ed by Vice Chancellor Malcolm z.
Buchanan, and it is believed that an ex-
tensive search will be instituted for the
missing heir.
cousin" May Get All.
The farmer, who died in 1912, was
William E. Emery. Two daughters of
Emery and his widow, since deceased,
were named benefciaries. There was a
provision IN the will that if either
daughter died without issue, the entire
fund should go to the other. Both
them, the late Mrs. Mary E. Cornelius,
left a daughter, living in England. as
her sole survivor. Unless the bank sue
ceeds in establishing that the other
daughter was the woman who bore a
child here, and in locating the son,
the entire sum will go to the descend
ant living in England.
The trust company's application sets
out that the other daughter, Florence
Emery, married in Brooklyn, N. j., on
July Is, 1895, secretly, and under the
assumed name of Florence Baker. to
Frederick Frances Georger, who in turn
had assumed the name of Frederick
Francis Gray. On September Is Of
that same year, however, they were re-
married in Pennington, N. j., under
their right names.
Fifteen years later they were divorced,
anc Mrs. Georger married Henry B..
Billings. She died last year. Through
George B. Case. once a trustee for the
Emery estate, the bank learned that on
February IL, 1896, Mrs. Georger gave
birth to boy at Providence Hospital,
| where she was registered as Mrs Gray.
The child was turned over to Sophie
Landgraf, with instructions to find a
home for it and never permit its true
Identity to become known.
Search Leads to Germany.
According to the petition, MIR. Case
did not learn of this until 1926, when
he started search for the Landgraf
woman that later led into Germany.
After Mrs. Georger was divorced, the
petition says, she told a number of
friends of the birth of her son and said
that her husband kept it a secret be-
cause ne did not want her family to
learn she had become a mother.
Georger died prior to 1926, when Mr..
Case first heard of the child. The
bank states it has received a reply
from advertisements of inquiry in Phil
adelphia, Baltimore and New York
from a James E. Nicholson of 1910
North Eutaw street, Baltimore, but that
his claim has not been established
L. F. Cordova. head of a large firm
of private detectives, was in Washing
ton last month going over records at
Providence in an effort to trace the
missing heir and to establish his identi-
ty. It is expected that further inves-
tlgation will be undertaken here.