Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-09-25
KNOT
|SLEFT BY WIDOW
60 Volumes of 800 Pages
Hold Part of Claims of
25,O0 to Estate.
BY the Associated Press,

PHILADELPHIA, Sept IA mys-
FERROUS widow who died in 1890 as
quietly IS she had lived posed = tough
question:
Who is entitled to the $4,000, 900
fortune she left?
No satisfactory answer has been
found nearly eight years later. On
Wednesday officials resume hearings
to determine the rightful heir, or
heirs. II any.
One Of those who would like to
know Is Attorney William M. Davi-
son, jr, court-appointed master in
the estate.
Others are the $4,000 claimants
from every part of the World-that
Mr.. Dawson has been attempting to
weed out.
The widow was Mrs. Henrietta E.
Garrett.
She died disposing by will Of only
a paltry few thousands OF the ST.
000, 900 which had piled up through
the years on the snun fortune left
by her husband, Walter Garrett. He
died in the last century.
Since the widows death, in the
presence Of only few servants. the
estate has grown steadily at approx
mately $4,000 a day.
Recess Called to Dig Out.
A recess in the hearings was called
for the summer months to enable
stenographers and printers to dig out
from under a mass of testimony that
had swamped them during a year of
sessions
The hearings will be resumed at the
point where they were suspended last
July in the case of Isaac Newton
Sheaffer, a paint and wall paper mer-
chant in Newark, Del. He came for
ward last spring with 4 claim he was
the son Of Mrs. Garrett, born before
her marriage to the snun manufac-
turer.
Mr.. Dawson Immediately gave his
claim precedence over those OF other
relatives"
Others asserted they were cousins,
but one claimed kinship as close as
the Delaware man
Witnesses for Mr.. Sheaffer have
testified that Mrs. Garrett, then un-
married. gave birth to a child in
Lancaster County, Pa. They identi-
fed him as that child. Church rec
ords We're introduced purporting TO
prove the birth
Deputy Attorney General Thomas
j. Minnick, jr, who is representing
the Commonwealth Of PENNSYLVANIA in
an effort to obtain the estate through
escheat proceedings, will attempt to
refute Mr.. Sheaf1er's contentious. Mr..
Dawson expects the Sheaf1er hearing
to continue at least until November. :"
Six Claim They're Cousins.
After that. he and the examiners,
Clinton A. Sewers and George Ross,
will turn to the case of half a dozen
persons who claim they are first cous-
ms. once removed, Of the snuff kings
widow.
These cousins" are members Of the
Kretschmar family, scattered in Bos-
| ton. New York and other American
cities. They claim kinship through
Mrs. CARROTS mother, whose name
was Kretschmar.
On conclusion Of the Kretschrffar
hearings. Mr.. Dawson and his assist
ants will turn to the case of Johann
Peter Christian Schaefer Of Bad Maui
helm. Germany, who also claims he
Il first cousin. He traces his rela-
tionship through Mrs. CARROTS father,
Christopher Schaefer.
A State Supreme Court ruling sew
eral years ago barred claims by rela-
tives Of Mr.. Garrett on the grounds he
had given the estate to the widow.
Mr.. Dawson estimates that a scant
thousand have been eliminated from
the long file Of claimants who con-
tinue each day to come personally to
his ONCE high in q Philadelphia bust
ness building or send letters stating
why they should have the big fortune.
60 Volumes Of Records.
The legal record Of the fight for the
estate is gradually being built up into
= stable library. Sixty or more VOL
umes Of 500 pages each already have
been printed.
The scramble for the s2O, 0Oo. 900 at
one time led to opening Of the grave
Of the widow.
Mrs. Henrietta G. Ferguson Of
Haverford, Pa, named for Mrs. Gar
rett, claimed she witnessed will later
than the one by which the eccentric
widow disposed Of $4,000. She &C
cused q servant Of having hidden the
later will in Mrs. CARROTS coffin.
Nothing was found when the grave
was opened.
Every other likely place has been
searched-but there was no will. only
the odds and ends and little treas
ures collected by the woman who
chose for 40 years to live alone, ex-
cept for servant or two, in house
that was equipped with no modern
conveniences.
Mr.. Dawson thinks It is unlikely
that anything in the way OF will
would turn up at this late date. The
solution to the question Mrs. Gar
rett left behind her, he believes, will
come from the hearings.
Something important should de-
yelop this winter" he said.