FIGHT FOR A FORTUNE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1926, Page 23

FIGHT FOR A FORTUNE.

ENGLISH BEAUTIES IX WILL SUIT. One of the greatest legal battles ot modern times is being fought out in Chicago—a battle between English society and American finance. The Dowager Lady Suffolk, formerly Miss Margaret Hyde Leiter, youngest daughter of the late Lev! Z. Leiter, Is trying to remove from the trusteeship ot her father's £20,000,000 estate, her brother, Mr. Josepn Leiter, one of the greatest speculators ot the age. Associated with her are the daughters ot the late Lord Curzon by his flrst marriaze with Miss Mary Leiter, another daughter ot Levi Z. Leiter. They are Lady Cynthia , Mosley, wife ot Mr. Oswald Mosley, Socialist exOLP., Lady Mary Irene (Baroness Rarensdale), ana Lady Alexander Metcalfe. who last year married Major Edward Metcalfe, formerly the Prince of Wales' equerry.

Storekeeper's Romance, A co-defendant with Mr. Joseph whom the Dowager Lady Suffolk alleges has mismanaged her father's estate, is Mrs. Nancy Carver Campbell, wife of Colonel Colin Campbell, and the third daughter ot Levi Leiter.

The millions over which the great battle is raging were the product of dogged application and hard work. Levi Leiter was a poor man when first he set out to wrest fortune from life. He was no Wall Street genius but a direct-minded slogger, wno tried to anticipate the needs of the people and supply those needs. He was a storekeeper. Day in, day nut, he worked, giving people what ,they wanted, and eventually he. built up an organisation that stretched from one end of the United States to the other. Exceptionally conservative in his business methods he never speculated. He invested money in mines and in real estate, but he never took any great risks. There was imagination and acumen in the way he gradually became the controlling head of that wonderful organisation whica was known first of all as Field, Leiter ana Co., and later as Marshal Field and Co. It was at the firm of Marshal Field and Co. thnt Mr. Gordon Selfridge served his apprenticeship.

Huge Trust Funds. ■His daughters were exceptionally beautiful girls and became the most popular heiresses In American society of the "nineties. It is said that when Lord Curzon fell in love with Mary Leiter, her brother Joseph opposed the' marriage. Statements have been made that Mary received no less than £200,000 as a marriage settlement, together with a trust fund of a further £250.000. Lady Suffolk and Mrs. Colin Campbell also received large settlements. In Engjand the three daughters became popular as gracious hostesses, ana took their place amongst tne greatest in the land. Tien the fattier died, and the mighty fortune he had accumulated througn his long years of toil was left in the hands of trustees for distribution in accordance with his will.

One-third of the amount went to his widow, who only survived her husband a comparatively short time. When she died there was another £6,000,000 to be distributed amongst the children and grandchildren and, with regard to the latter, trust funds were created for their benefit to the following extent: f30,000 to Lady Mary Curzon, daughter of Lord Curzon. £30,000 to Miss Mary Campbell, daughter of Colonel Colin Campbell. £20,000 to Viscount Andover, now Lord Suffolk. £20,000 to Lady Cynthia Curaon, daughter of Lord Curzon. The Allegations. All these beneficiaries under the will play their part In the action. When old Mr. Leiter died he appointed five trustees. They were his widow, Ladr Suffolk, Mr. Seymour Morris, and the son, Mr. Joseph Leiter, the man who is now the subject of the present proceedings. Some years passed and then iMr. Morris died. That, according to Lady Suffolk, is

where the alleged maladministration of the estate began. She asks that a strict investigation of all the moneys that have passed through Mr. Letter's hands shall be made, and urges that he is no longer acting on his own initiative, but under the influence of another man whom he him self appointed without any discussion uitb the other trustees in place of Mr. Morris. One cause of complaint is that the elder Leiter gave the famous Zelgler coal mine, which at one time had to be defended by machine guns, searchlights, and stockades against the lo.'ked-out miners, to his son on condition, it Is alleged, that he paid the existing value into the estate. Another cause of complaint is that when K the younger Leiter los; 9,000.000 dollars in wheat speculation the father paid his losses, but the amount debited against liini was only 2,000,000 dollars. Corter in Corn. This point is argued to support the contention that 750,0110 dollars given to the late Lord Curzon and 1,000,000 dollars given him and his first wife when the elder Leiter died should not be charged against their share of the estate. Joseph Leiter Is one of the most romantic figures in the whole of American finance.

When in the 'twenties he ran the famous "corner in corn," which nearly made him a multi-millionaire. He failed and is said to have lost f1.500.000 as a result. Lady Suffolk emulates her husband, wno was killed in action in 1917, in being a most daring horsewoman. Her second son, the Hon. Cecil Howard, figured in a mishap In Charlton Park in 1920 when he was accidentally shot by his elder brother, the present Earl. They were with a shooting party, which included the Countess, when the young Earl slipped while carrying a loaded gun. ' The Earl, who is 20 this month, has taken up work in a small mixed farm and sawmilling oonrern, near Port Maequarie. New South Wales, labouring as an ordinary •■hand" without privileges. He recently sailed round the world as an apprentice in a sailing clipper, his duties being those of every other bare-footed and rope-hauling cadet aboard. He returned an enthusiastic admirer of Australia which, he said, was "a Jolly-flne country."

Question at Bow County Court: What is your wife's name 7 Poplar husband: PaTisy, and she is a pansy, too!