Evening star., 1937-03-21
BIG ESTATES DRAW
THR0NC0FK|NFOLK
$4,000 Present Claims to
Millions in Three Huge
Fortunes.
By the Associated Press,

NEW YORK. March 2O.-Long-lo
relatlves-droves of them from all
parts of the world-are battling TODAY
for a share in three multimillion-
dollar estates
At least $4,000 missing sisters
cousins, uncles, in-laws and near and
far descendants have appeared as
prospective heirs in current court pro-
ceedings involving estates in the
process of liquidation.
So many relations are reaching
for a slice of the s2o,000,OOO left by
the late Mrs. Henrietta Garrett in
Philadelphia that the State of Penn
sylVania accused lawyers of drawing
them out of hats instead of family
trees.
It's getting to be a racket" Thomas
j. Minnick, jr., deputy attorney gen.
eral, charged early this month
Family trees are being manufac-
tured."
State Claims Fortune
The State is claiming the fortune
by default.
Regardless of how many of the
10000 claimants to the Garrett mil
lions are authentic, none was close
enough to Mrs. Garrett to be men
toned in her will when she died in
1880
The will gave S62,400 of her hus-
bands snuff fortune to servants and
the few friends she had during her
hermit-like existence in her big,
brown, stone house.
The long-lost kinfolk bobbed up
like magic after Mrs CARROTS attor-
neys disclosed she had forgotten to
note IN her will Sl7,OO0,0OO Many
were in Europe.
In Ulm. Germany, a 19-year-old
heir" shot his uncle who was also
his step-father) and an aunt in a
quarrel over haeir respective rights
When his aunt died of the wounds he
killed himself.
In Paris a woman proprietor of
French bar was so sure of her share
of Mrs. CARROTS money that she
bought $4,000 worth of wine on the
strength of it. When she failed to
pay on the appointed date she was
sued for sWindling, Her legacy" was
her defense in court.
In South Bavaria peasants of a
whole area of the countryside, certain
of their relationship, are still wait
ing confidently for the golden rain
from Philadelphia
Old Records Checked.
Who the real heirs are will be de-
cided only after long checking of family
Bibles, yellowed ship manifests and
faded birth and death certificates
How long that will take no one knows
The case has been in the courts six
years already.
With every year of delay the market
value of the estate grows. Mrs. Gar
rett's shrewd investments have in
creased in worth to s20Oo0,oO0 since
she died.
The stakes in the estate of Mrs. Ida
Wood of New York are not so high,
but the growth of her family" after
her death is almost as amazing.
One relative, a nephew, publicly
expressed concern when Mrs Wood
locked herself in her hotel rooms in
1881. A year later more than thou
sand persons were claiming her as
kin.
1t was not until after the funeral
that the news leaked out that Mrs.
Wood locked herself in her rooms so
she could carpet the parlor floor with
$50 bills.
Those paper bags she toted around,
it turned out, were filled with green
backs, and trunks she hadn't bothered
to open for years boosted her fortune
to around million dollars.
All the money she built up from the
$4,000 left by her husband she willed
to two people who died before her.
1,193 Have Filed Claims.
That left the field open. This week
the number of claimants was up to
l,193. New applications will be ac-
cepted up to June l. After that the
courts will not be responsible for men,
bers of the family" unaccounted for.
The case of Jackson Barnett, In
dian, of Oklahoma, is equally rs
strange
Court records indicate the Indian
lived alone with his dogs and his
ponies for IS years. His neighbors
avoided his tumbledoWn shack near
Henryetta.
Oil was discovered on Barnett's land
in 1920. He was worth millions, but
he still lived with his ponies and his
dogs until he married Anna Laura
Lowe, once in Kansas and once in
Missouri. They went to California
and built a mansion.
Barnett's fortune stood high in the
millions when he died at "a in 1884
Despite his lonely life, 800-odd rel
atives' have put in claims for his
money, which the United States Gov
ernment is administering until the
estate Is settled. One claim will be
argued In Federal Court in Muskogee
neff Mnnda2.