THE CONNELL FORTUNE A MYTH

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 36, 11 August 1934, Page 25

THE CONNELL FORTUNE A MYTH

Tho "fortune" of £80,000 which a young Molbourno woman was supposed to have inherited from a rich uncle in Now York is a myth. Mrs. Arthur Council, of Armadalo, has admitted that sho had invented her story of an inheritance. -

Mrs. Council's admission that her story was concocted was the result of investigations made by Mr. Phillip Wade, shipping detective and business investigator, of Melbourne^ on behalf of certain Melbourne firms, including tho shipping company in whose vessel she and her husband proposed to go to the United States.

It was reported in May that Mrs. Connell; who is the wife of a french polisher, had inherited a fortune from an uncle, who was a wealthy stonemason in New York —a Mr. Jambs Booth. Mr. and Mrs. Connoll were interviewed, and their story was published in tho newspapers and in "talkie" newereels. Sho spoke of a man named Butler, a member of a Melbourne legal firm, who was apparently acting on behalf of attorneys in New York. ■ : .

A lawyer from America was said to bo on his way to Australia on business connected witli Mrs. Connell's inheritance. An advance of £50 was said to have been obtained. Mr. Connell resigned from his work in. a furniture factory. A copy of a will was produced, and preparations were made for the' couple, with their baby, to travel to tho United States in the steamer Mariposa. The "Ai-gus" says that when investigations wero begun a

cable message was sent to tho address of tho New York solicitors who wore said to bo acting for the estate of tho "rich uncle." It .was returned, marked "address unknown." Other weak points were discovered in the story, and finally Mrs. Connell admitted that it was a concoction.

The investigations revealed that, to assist relatives who were in desperate circumstances, Mrs. Connell had obtained £50 from abroad. Sho lost -this sum. Sho then obtained £50 from another source in Melbourne. This was tho £50 which was referred to as an advance on tho inheritance.

Mr. Conncll, accepting the story, resigned his position. The couple, with their child, moved to the home of Mr. Connell's mother-in-law preparatory to going abroad, whore ho believed that £12,000 in cash, a prosperous stone-, masonry business in New. York, and a home in Brooklyn and two 'motor-cars, awaited them.

"Soveral points in the story seemed to call for investigation," said Mr. Wade. "For example,' one of. the 'witnesses to tho 'will' was a beneficiary, and that will Would • not hold at law. Then, no one had seen the mysterious man called Butler who, it was stated, had called on Mrs. Connell to toll her of her good fortune. There were a number of other details which proved open to question. Mrs. Connell finally admitted that her story had boon invented. I advised her to make a clean breast of tho whole thing, and signed a statement to that effect."