CURIOUS SEQUEL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 102, 27 October 1931, Page 10

CURIOUS SEQUEL

EECLUSE ON EIVIEEA

OWNERSHIP OF STOCK

(Received 27th October, 1.30 p.m.)

LONDON, 26th October

A phase in the curious lifo of the recluse John Driuan, who died at Nice in February last at the age of 82, was revealed in a King's Bench action, in which the Public Trustee sought to establish whether the stock of the value of £80,000 in the Canadian Pacific Kailway, and at present in the custody of a New York bank, belonged to Drinan's estate or the estate of J. Haiat, also deceased,, who-met Drinan on the Biviera in the" closing days of Dinan's life. Shortly before death Haiat instituted an action against the bank to recover the stock. Counsel described Drinan as a pathetic iigure, who dragged himself about" the Riviera from one cheap hotel to another, lonely and suspicious of prac-tically-everybody, thinking that they were trying to persecute, poison, or cheat him. His income was £13,000 a year, and he lived at the rate of £200. He was shabby to a degree, and dressed somewhat akin to a scarecrow. He'was so miserly that ho did not give anything away. It was startling' therefore to learn that in the eveuing of his life he parted with stock worth upwards of £80,000. ' The case was adjourned.

Oil sth February John Drinan, a recluse of 83, was found dead at the foot of the stairs of a boarding-house in Nice, where ho had been living in miserly fashion. It was presumed that the fall was accidental, but comment was aroused when the terms of his will wore announced. Practically the whole estate of £76,000 was left to poor-boxes at London Courts for relief of "dowa and outs" at the discretion of the Magistrates. Friends and relatives immediately expressed surprise at the smallness of tlui fortune, which it had been expected would be over £200,000. It was first thought that the missing thousands might have been placed in an unknown- bank, but it was later suggested than Drinan might have been swindled.