English Estates

1895

You Will Save Time and Money by Letting Them Alone.

"It always amuses me when some poor deluded soul comes into my office and wants me to recover a vast English estate."

Thus spoke a well known attorney.

"And why does it amuse you?"

"Because," said the lawyer, "there is so much folly in such cases. I suppose there are not a dozen families in Cincinnati who have not some tradition or another about a great inheritance over the water. For generation after generation these chimerical hopes are nursed until finally some branch of the family with more money than judgment concludes to prosecute the claim. The result is nearly always the same. The victims come out of the experience with less money and more judgment.

"Of course there are rare instances in which Americans have recovered money from the estates of foreign ancestors, but in the great multitude of cases the rights of the claimants have been so long delayed or were so imaginary to begin with that it is only a waste of time and money to pursue them.

"I have handled many claims for foreign inheritances, and in just one case was there anything realized. After fighting for 12 years my client succeeded in proving his interest in some English property. The litigation, however, stirred up about 2,000 other heirs, and after the estate was divided and the costs were paid my client got precisely $4.20.

"Let me give you a piece of advice: If your family are heirs to untold millions in Europe, don't breathe it to a soul. Get all the satisfaction you can out of the reflection that you ought to be in the house of lords and the master of an old ancestral home, but keep your weekly wages in your pocket." — Cincinnati Tribune.

Woman Hater for 60 Years

1905

Now Daughter of Girl Who Jilted Him Gets His Fortune

Isaac Showers of Webster City, Iowa, religiously kept a vow for sixty years that no woman should cross his threshold or enjoy a cent of his wealth. Now that he is dead the carefully drawn will by which he hoped to perpetuate his vow has been broken, and the bulk of his estate goes to the daughter of the woman who jilted him and made him a hater of all womankind.

Showers came West years ago from New York to make his fortune, leaving behind him a girl who had promised to wait for him. When he became wealthy, as wealth was counted in those days, he journeyed back to claim his bride, only to find that she had married his brother. Without a word he returned to Iowa. When his father died, leaving a considerable estate, he refused to take any share of it because his brother was administrator.

In his own will he left his vast acreage of valuable lands to various schools, aid societies and churches. Mrs. Edward Price, daughter of the girl who jilted him, contested the will and has broken it, and will inherit something more than $250,000.

Must Face His "Gold Brick"

1915

Also Victims Who Claim to Have Been Fleeced

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Dec. 16. — E. A. Starkloff, an alleged "gold brick" king, recently arrested in Altoona, is accused of defrauding wealthy French and English persons of considerable cash. Starkloff's alleged scheme was uncovered in 1910, when he was arrested, placed under a cash bond of $22,000 and, after securing his release, jumped the bond. He has now been returned to Philadelphia, where a big brick, apparently of gold, which figured in the indictment, has reposed in the safe in the postoffice building since 1910.

According to Inspector Calvert of Altoona, who made the arrest, Starkloff would address letters to English and French people who had visited this country, but who had since died. The letters, written as tho the writer was ignorant of the person's death, would fall into the hands of the heirs. The letters always referred to "Frank Thomas," a prospector who had staked out a claim in Wyoming gold fields, had struck it rich and advised the purchasing of an adjoining claim.

Jazz Music Not a Nuisance

Feb. 1920

Los Angeles County Judge Refuses to Give Relief to Disturbed Nerves

Los Angeles, Cal. — Jazz music is not a nuisance, according to a decision by Judge Lewis R. Works, in the Los Angeles county superior court. The city of Pasadena had brought suit against a social club, whose neighbors complained its jazz music "jarred on their nerves."

"Once jazz music might have been construed as a nuisance," Judge Works said. "It is no longer so construed. If the music disturbed the residents of the neighborhood, I am sorry, but this court cannot give them relief."


Wealthy Pauper

In a cheap lodging house in William street, New York, an aged man died, leaving a will showing that he was wealthy enough to live in a brownstone mansion in Fifth avenue. He was Edward Campion, aged sixty-five. Why he chose the habitat of the "down-and-outer" may remain a mystery. The house is one of those where the unfortunate can get "bath and bed" for 15 or 25 cents.

In his will, Campion disposes of several valuable parcels of Manhattan property, as well as real estate in other sections, in addition to considerable cash, to two daughters and three sons.

Disinheriting Sons

1906

A Suggestion for the Chastening and Improvement of Rich Parents

The idea occurs to me that one of the laws most urgently needed would make it impossible for a son to inherit even a cent from his parents. Of course the female progeny of a man would have to be excepted from such an arrangement. Such legislation would oblige the indulgent father to give his son a common sense education, cultivate in him a sense of healthy independence. Secondly, the young man who, under the present dispensation, has more money than sense or conception of his ethical obligations to society would find his path less slippery and would have the rough corners of his self-conceit rounded out. Thirdly, parents would find life much easier and would get a chance to cross the Styx in a natural way, not accelerated by the heartache due to the behavior of their children; and fourthly, the proposition would act as a very convenient regulator for the distribution of the national wealth.

Let every man continue making all the money he can — the more the better. He may also spend it in whatever manner he pleases; but after his demise the money he has accumulated should revert to the State, except that part necessary in order to keep the wife of the deceased and the female members of his family in the degree of comfort enjoyed by them during the life of the individual concerned. In the case of the daughters of a man so deceased their share should also revert to the State at the time of their marriage; the benefits of their father's estate, however, should be assured them in case certain conditions should make matrimony an undesirable state. The widow should be subject to the same conditions — remarriage should cause her to forfeit all claims to her former husband's estate. In her case, however, the portion due should be subject to no other conditions. The last named arrangement would prevent a good many of the old man's darling marriages, and would cause a decided decrease in moral iniquity of a very obnoxious character.

This proposition naturally sounds radical enough to be called Spartan, yet such a law, while placing no curb on personal ambition, would rob thousands of misguided parents of the only pleasure they really have — that of slaving for an ungrateful posterity. A suggestion like this could, of course, only come from Sans Galette et Sans Famille, in the New York Sun.

An Extinct Animal — Saber Toothed Tiger

1907

The Saber Toothed Tiger Was a Formidable Creature

The most remarkable of all the extinct feline animals are those known to naturalists as the saber toothed cats or tigers, a group comprising the greater part of all the fossil forms. They date back to the earliest times of which we know anything about the family in North America and reach down to the time of man himself.

A large and powerful species described from the Indian Territory by Cope lived contemporaneously with the hairy mammoth, as evidenced by the commingling of their skeletons. There can be little or no question but that the hairy mammoth was contemporaneous with man in North America as well as in Europe. Its geological range is from the close of the Eocene to the latter part of the Pleistocene.

The chief peculiarity of the animal is the extraordinary elongated canine teeth. The tail is of unusual length and the legs are short. The animal measures about seven feet in length aside from the tail. The lower jaws have a downward projection in front, due to a flange-like widening of the jawbones, which doubtless served as a protection to the teeth, preventing their injury or loss. In some of the larger forms from South America this flange was not present, while the canine teeth were even more elongated than is the case with this species, attaining a length of over six inches and protruding far below the jaws when closed.


A Chinese Solomon

Two Chinamen, brothers, well advanced in age, quarreled over a piece of land which they had jointly inherited from their father and went to law. The native magistrate heard the testimony on both sides and determined that both were wrong and both right, according to the different points of view. Therefore, instead of rendering a judgment in favor of either, he ordered that both be locked up in a cangue with their heads fastened face to face and kept there until they settled their quarrel. The cangue is a sort of cage in which prisoners are placed with their necks locked into a hole in a board. It resembles somewhat the stocks which were used for the punishment of malefactors in olden times. When the brothers were placed in the cangue, they were both very stubborn and indignant, but toward the end of the second day they began to weaken and on the third day reached a satisfactory settlement and were released.

Swindlers 'Giving to The Poor' Take More Than They Give

Ohio, 1921

OLD GAMES

Prove Good In Relieving Northwestern Ohio Residents of Their Wealth.

That the same tricks swindlers have been using for many decades are still good, was proven this week at Toledo, when George Kostak, fifty-one, was swindled out of $2,400 by two confidence men. Posing as an heir to $1,800, one of the swindlers said his father's will instructed him to give the money to the poor. Ostensibly he placed the money in a tin box with Kostak's cash and then told the victim to hold the box for safekeeping.

After waiting vainly three days for the strangers to re-appear, Kostak opened the box and found nothing but a wad of paper. The victim was first approached by a stranger who said he was seeking his wife who ran away from Lorain. Kostak solicitously accompanied the stranger downtown, where they were joined by a second stranger, who incidentally related the story of inheriting the money. Both men prevailed upon Kostak as a sign of Good faith to withdraw his $2,400 from a bank before they produced the tin box.

—Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, April 29, 1921, p. 5.

Women and Property – Advice for Handling Estates, 1878

1878

There can be no question that for women good registered bonds are specially desirable, being less troublesome than any other securities. But it often happens that women inherit real estate, and a few remarks on its management may be useful.

A very wise man of fifty years' experience in taking care of property, especially for women, once said to me: "If a woman is left with a house at all suited to her condition, I always advise her to keep it. A woman with a house of her own — a home — will usually get along even on a very small income; and she and her family, if she has one, will be much happier if they have a home than they could be without it. Without a home of their own, they are usually unsettled and subject to many discomforts."

And so, if a woman inherits other real estate, and it yields her a moderate income, it will scarcely be wise to part with it, especially if it is situated in a village or city that is growing. The mere retention of real estate in these circumstances has made thousands rich. Avoid incurring a debt for the improvement of such property. A lady recently called on me for advice. She inherited $50,000 of real estate, which yielded her a fair income, equal to every want. But not contented, she borrowed money to make costly improvements and to erect new buildings. Now, with the decline of property, her rent roll hardly pays her interest and taxes, and she is liable to heavy losses by foreclosure.

Of course good securities, of whatsoever sort, should be kept, that is, not exchanged for others for the sake of a little hoped-for gain. While it is not wise to carry all one's eggs in one basket, it should be remembered that eggs are liable to break in handling. It is easy to loosen up property, but not easy to re-establish it. — Bazar.

She's Worth $1,000 a Pound

1909

She's Worth $1,000 a Lb.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Because she was jilted and lost twenty-five pounds weight in consequence, Miss Luella Lowstetter wants $25,000 damages — $1,000 for each pound lost. She is a school teacher of the fashionable suburb of Sheraden. Her suit is against Prof. Earl W. Reed, principal of the school. Miss Lowstetter asserts that Professor Reed jilted her in a most humiliating fashion after she had agreed to marry him and had got her trousseau ready. She and her attorney said in court today that she lost at least twenty five pounds owing to worry over her jilting, and that the wedding clothes would not fit her now.


Eskimo Is a Cannibal

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland — Tragedy in the far North formed the burden of the news brought to port by the Hudson Bay Company's steamship Adventure, which arrived with the crew of the lost Dundee whaler Paradox. The crew told of an Eskimo, who driven to cannibalism by starvation, ate his child and after shooting several neighbors who attempted summary punishment, fled into the trackless wilderness of ice.


Tramp Heir to $25,000

William Close, who ran away from his Baltimore home when he was 16 years old, was found — a typical tramp — in a lodging house in Chicago Thursday night and informed that he had fallen heir to a fortune of $25,000 left him by his father. The next morning he started for Baltimore with Attorney J. D. Goldboro of that city, who has been searching for the prodigal for two years. Close, attired in a new suit of clothes, bathed and barbered, ascribed all his troubles to drink and declared he was determined to reform.

Farmer Inherits Old Scrapbook of Distant Relative

Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1908

HAS OLD SCRAP BOOK.

Record Kept by "Uncle Peter" Kiser Now Owned by Ossian Man.

L. F. Snyder, a farmer residing near Ossian, has in his possession an old scrap book made by "Uncle Peter" Kiser, one of the best known Fort Wayne pioneer merchants, whose death occurred some years ago. The volume was originally a canal register kept in Fort Wayne in early days, showing the movement of boats on the Wabash and Erie canal through this city. In the book, also, Mr. Riser pasted newspaper clippings of local historical events, election tickets of many years and specimens of the old state bank notes and the "shin-plaster" money which was in circulation years ago. Mr. Snyder is a distant relative of the Kisers, and the valuable old volume fell into his possession upon the death of Mr. Kiser.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, October 3, 1908, page 4.

Big Jim, Shawnee, Says Education is "Bunk"

1920

Indian Chief Declares Against School for Papooses

NORMAN, Okla. -- Education is the bunk -- or the Indian word to that effect -- in the opinion of Big Jim, chief of the Shawnee tribe. Indian agents here plan to force Big Jim to permit the 300 children of his tribe to attend the agency school. Big Jim holds that the white man had nothing of value to teach papooses.


So Shines A Good Deed

DAYTON, Ohio -- A little matter of $15,000, left him by a man he had befriended years ago, did not disturb Harry Levy, tailor. He is still at his bench and will stay there. He says: "Fifteen thousand dollars is not as much as it was in the days when I knew my friend, but I have forgotten the good turn I did him which brought forth the money."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 10.

Bride Fools Many As Fake Heiress

Girl-Wife's Acts Inspired By Famous Novel.

Law Steps in When Winsome Fabricator Gets to "End of Her String."

TWO RIVERS, Wis., May 20. - Day dreams of a winsome lass, coming true for three thrilling months by reason of her own forceful imagination and convincing inventions, went all to smash when detectives brought Mrs. Harold Haltaufderheide here to face charges of obtaining money by false pretenses.

It was revolt against the unmusical names of Herzog and Haltaufderheide and against the prosaic role of a factory worker's wife that impelled Helen, whose name before her marriage last summer was Herzog, to enter upon her romantic adventure.

This is the story, as Helen constructed it:

Helen, the beautiful daughter of a stolid farmer, lives and toils in obscurity until she is 16. In an amusement park she meets the clean-cut, tall, wavy-haired youth whom, at a glance, she recognizes as the man of her heart.

Heroine Elopes With Harold.
From the dull farm, her hard-working father and an unsympathetic stepmother she elopes with Harold. Harold returns to his labor in a veneer mill. The honeymoon wanes and the high cost of living gets in its deadly work. Helen and Harold live with Harold's family in Two Rivers. The girl feels out of place, a bit neglected.

One evening at the supper table she appears in a state of intense excitement.

"Harold," she says, "you didn't marry a poor girl after all!"

A letter from her aunt, Mrs. Ben Strupp of Manitowoc, has informed Helen that her name was not Herzog, but that she is actually the daughter of Herbert Earle, a wealthy opera star. her mysterious father has left her a vast estate - a ranch in Montana, a plantation in Virginia and much other valuable property.

Helen at once insists that Harold quit his factory job, and his parents, overjoyed at their daughter-in-law's good fortune, are prevailed upon to purchase a new home.

Draws All His Money.
Mr. Haltaufderheide draws money from the bank to keep the heiress supplied until her own shall come rolling in. The girl travels about the State on important errands, scorning the interurban for hired touring cars. Her slender beauty is arrayed in becoming and costly garments.

Then Harold and Helen go to Milwaukee for a second honeymoon and nothing is heard from them day after day. Suspicion and finally panic invade the serenity of the Haltaufderheide household. The police are notified. At the home of Adam Horning, Helen's cousin in Milwaukee, Helen and Harold are found by large, unsentimental detectives.

Helen confesses and weeps; Harold embraces her and weeps. They weep together and Helen sobs.

St. Elmo Is Responsible.
"I thought you'd love me more if I was rich," she explained as she weeps on Harold's manly breast. "I got the name Herbert Earle out of a book called 'St. Elmo.' I wrote the letter to myself and I fixed up the lawyer's paper and everything myself. I am all to blame."

Behind is a trail of notes signed at the bank, of grim attorneys chagrined at the revelation that a slip of a girl has fooled them and, worst of all, the exasperated family.

"Why," gasped Papa Haltaufderheide, "the little minx had even ordered a special limousine from the factory. No ordinary automobile would do for her when she got her million."

And Helen, in the midst of her troubles, says she is sure John Herzog, plodding farmer, and her honest-to-goodness father, will come to her aid, even tho he has to mortgage the family acres.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 3.
--Picture from The Ogden Standard Examiner, May 16, 1920, page 6.