MYTHICAL FORTUNES

Evening Star, Issue 20129, 20 March 1929, Page 12

MYTHICAL FORTUNES

ROGUES WHO EXPLOIT FALSE HOPES HUGE SUMS IN CHANCERY. 'Hie operations of a typo of. adventurer’who battens on the poorer classes by pretending to trace their claims to dubious fortunes have come to light through a recent case, says 'the ‘ Snn- • day Nows.’ A 'man who was stated by the police to have “specialised in finding dubious fortunes in Scotland for working people”—without a single success—was recently scut to prison for libelling a client who had hot “come up to scratch ” as well as had been hoped. At the present time there is “wanted” by the police another map who has made an extensive practice of extracting fees from people who believe they arc entitled to unolaimed_fortunes, lie is a member of a fraternity which has a carcfully-worked-out system of conducting business. COMMON NAMES. Their method is to advertise a list of people—usually common enough names owned by thousands—who arc believed to bo entitled to share in moneys which lump long been lying dormant for want of claimants. Replies come in from many people who fondly believe themselves to bo the rightful claimants, and who have traditional stories to go upon which have boon handed down from generation to generation of some mysterious relative in the dim and distant past having amassed big moneys and died unknown or estranged from his family. There are, of course, many variations. The “agent” thereupon replies to everyone in the same strain, that ho or she is the very person indicated. But, as they will readily understand, a great deal of research is needed. So aif initial fee of a guinea or .so is extracted, and “inquiries” are, to all intents and purposes, sot on foot, and reports of fictitious progress sent to the client so long as “refresher ” lees arc forthcoming from time to tune. Eventually, however, the client is either hied of his savings or else becomes suspicious. Sometimes ho realises Ids own foolishness and lots the matter —and his money—fade out of his memory. In any case, the “'agent’' has, a ready talc with which to got rid of him. it is always the same—the “last link” is inevitably missing; perhaps a vital document has mysteriously disappeared or been burned in some legendary lire. But for this his client would now have been a very rich man. ITCH BORNE CASE. It is fairly certain that this lucrative business —which is often run by lawyers’ clerks who have _ lost their bibs, and sometimes by solicitors who have been “struck off’’—originated largely through the famous Tiehborno ew-.e. ‘ Of recent years, due mainly to uolice activities and Press publicity, there has been a falling-off in the numbers'who make a living out of deluding people in this way, hut they are still too* plentiful, and their victims aro usually the ignorant and the credulous, far too often they are willows of very slender means.

Undoubtedly there arc a large number of unclaimed fortunes, some or which arc locked up in Chancery. A list of moneys in Chancery is issued periodically, and it is a very significant fact that the last one, issued is only about half the size of the previous ones, which means that many of the claims have .been settled or disposed of. This process of elimination, or rather reduction, is steadily, if slowly, going on, and another important point is that there are no new accounts in Chancery being opened. Some idea of the numbers of people who believe themselves entitled to either the whole or a share in big fortunes may he gathered from a lew prominent eases within recent tunes, ignoring entirely the hundreds of smaller and lesser known eases, hi the most recent, the Angoll Estate,, at Brixton, tiicre were about fifty claimants for a reputed £60,000,000. For the Blake fortune of £20,000,000 there were 300 claimants, and for the Drake £70,000,000 there was a similar number of claimants. In the famous Edwards case, in which there wore about 300 claimants to the stupendous sum of £100,000,000, the law officer in New York, who prepared a detailed report at the request of the British Consul-General, stated ui a letter to ‘The Sunday News’ : “There aro no records in any State department hero of any Edwards or Webber estate. I could not conscientiously permit any person to have false hopes or spend money in attempting to establish their title.” FAMILY HISTORY. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the total of dormant fortunes awaiting claimants in this and other countries, notably the British colonies, is a tremendous figure. Before a person can have an assurance that there is something due to him, however, it is usually necessary to have some legal document or other evidence to point to the existence of the fortune. The next stop is to collect all the family history and links. Such documents as birth and marriage certificates of various generations, presuming it is worth while to go to that extent, are often of vital concern, and the next steps are to secure lejjal assistance and to have an application made J - > a judge in chambers. The genuine investigation of such claims often involves a great amount of research over a long period and entails a lot of expense. Only bona fide and qualified legal people are capable of doing the work right through, and the chance has to bo taken of disappointing results at the end. Big fortunes are. still unclaimed in some of the British colonies, in the case of Australia, early settlers made in some instances large sums of money in gold rushes and lost trace of their relatives. The only way to get a possible clue to the existence of those fortunes and the establishment of next-of-kin title is to write to the legal department in the capital of the particular State, such as Sydney, or to each State in turn. There is no central authority, in Australia or anywhere die which deals with such matters. The very last thing to do is to be led away by any self-styled “ agent ” who holds out glowing prospects of sudden wealth.