Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10

In the Victorian Era no novel or play
was quite complete without the intro
duction into the plot of missing heirs or
missing wills or both. While that theme
has become less popular in ultra-modern
times, wills and heirs still cause tire
mendous amount of trouble. Banks
recently have made q speciality of urging
customers to write wills and trust COM
panies are eager to have estates put into
their hands, all in legal order, IN adj
vance of decease. Lawyers are not so
enthusiastic concerning this president
nicely as they thrive upon the litigation
which springs from the solid fact that
there is no pocket in shroud.
How uncertainty as to the existence
or non-existence Of property on the one
hand or of heirs on the other affects
the lives of people has recently been
somewhat dramatically demonstrated In
the case of Urban F. Diteman, the Mon
tana cowboy, who attempted to fly the
Atlantic alone. After his departure 1t
came to light that, while the idea OF
achieving the Atlantic flight was his
uppermonst purpose, also he wanted 10
go to England to press claim to the
estate of Sir Francis Drake, Queen Eliz-
abeth's admiral, who defeated the Span.
ish Armada and whose ships ploughed
American waters in the early days. The
flyers wife, who lives ut Billings, Mont,
let it be known that Diteman believed
himself an heir to the Drake estates in
England and felt that, with material ne
had already gathered on this side OF the
water, he could continue his researches
in England and bring his claim to sue
cessful issue. The fame which would
attach to him II he succeeded In hying
the ocean would aid him, he thought,
in getting prompt assistance in his re-
searches and attention to his claim.
The Drake estate and its missing heirs
is q myth of old standing. In fact. the
American State Department has been
called upon repeatedly to lay claims OF
Americans before the British authorities.
This was done so frequently that as
recently as 1922 the British government
issued O formal communication to the
United States explaining that there are
no missing heirs and that auckland
Abbey, the home of Sir Francis Drake,
has been continuously In possession of
his descendants since his death. The
British courts have turned down several
claims.
A Few Claims Are Substantiated.
But in other cases it has not been so
easy. Americans are especially ad-
dicted to the conviction or hallucina-
ton that they are heirs TO titles or
landed estates. Every little while one
of these dreams comes true. The news
papers will print reports Of street car
conductors or plumbers helpers or
some one who has received the well
known dream letter from the lawyers
saying, in effect, that the addreSSee has
been identified as the heir of title or
estates or both of some deceased for
eigner. Perhaps the benefactor has just
died; perhaps he has been dead two
centuries and the line only now traced.
These things do happen, but the per-
centage in proportion to the number OF
persons who hope for such good for
tune Is almost infiniteSimal.
There are some persons living in this
country who know that they are heirs
to titles. In fact, II all Europe be in
cluded, there are q great many such
persons. Heirs to English titles who
let them go begging are few. Although
the Fairfax family of Maryland lived
their lives calmly for several genera
tions as American citizens, utterly ig-
noring the peerage which awaited any
eldest son of any generation who want
ed to claim it. 1t finally was claimed
about Is years ago and the present
Lord Fairfax Is former Maryland
farmer.
The difficulties of the claimants of
estates here and elsewhere lie very
largely with missing wills. The dead
hand Of q testator is about the strong
est hand in the world. The law Is firm
IN the matter of holding to the letter
of the last expressed wishes of q dead