HEIR TO MILLIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 109, 8 April 1926, Page 10

HEIR TO MILLIONS

’BUS DRIVER’S CLAIM

1714 SHIPOWNER’S FORTUNE. £15,000,000 AT STAKE. Though he says that he has official documents to prove that on the death of his father in Melbourne ho will be tho rightful heir to London property and money worth anything up to £15,000,000, William Bailey, a war-scarred man just over 30, drives a Darlinghurst ’bus and lives in an old two-storeyed house in Bayswater road (says tho Sydnoy Sun). Ho is making a fight to clnim hia fortune, which ho says represents about £60,000 in the Bank of England; 100 shares in the Bank of England worth £75 each, and property worth nearly £15,000,000, which includes mansions in Hyde Park facing Mann and Crossman’s brewery, and land in Spitalfields market and at tho Stepney Green railway station.

Here is his remarkablo story, which ho claims to bo true in eveiy detail, and for which he says he holds documentary proofs. “In tho year 1714 my great, great, great grandfather, was a very wealthy shipowner, who, owing to the plundering of pirates on the Spanish Main, sold his ships. Ho retired to privato life, and thereupon, as an investment, bought large areas of land, which at that time wore only fields, in and around London. On his death ho left his fortuno to his son Thomas Francis, who died at the age of 97 on January 11, 1845. The fortuno then by will was lift to his son John Francis, who died at the age of 72, March 5, 1869 tho fortune succeeding to his brother’s son, William Francis, who died on November 17, 1871, at the age of 58.

His will was proved on December 7, 1871, and it was found that lie had bequeathed his entire fortuno to his sistor Mary Bailey (nee Francis), the fortuno automatically reverting to her heirs and heiresses for ever and ever.

Mary Bailey moved about in the highest circles in London, spending most of her time in “amusements, witli tho results that the mansion in which sh© resided was left unguarded solely to the servants’ caro and trust. During one period of her absence there was a conspiracy between ono of the maid sorvants, her sweetheart, Nod Pine (alias Nc-d Spiney) and his employer, Frank Moseley (alias Frank Newton), to rob her of the title deeds and bankbook. The robbery was carried out. For his services Ned Pine received £lO, which at that time was considered a lot of money. SON’S DISCOVERY. “Shortly afterwards Mary Bailey died suddenly, ignorant of the fact that tho bank-book and title-deed had been stolen, and, the fortune being entailed, she loft no will. When her only son, Richard Bailey, my grandfather, inherited tho fortune, ho discovered that the title-deeds and bankbooks were missing. Under the impression that they were only concealed in the house, and being very weathy at tho time, ho neglected to try and locate them.

“Frank Newton (alias Moseley) then added Francis to his name and made himself known as Newton Francis, Being unable to claim the property, he collected the rents and revenue derived from the properties. “My grandfather gradually found himself becoming a poor man, through his intemperate habits, which fact served to bring him to his sensosi. He then tried to discover tho whereabouts of the deeds and bank-books, and was informed, for a small consideration, by Ned Pine’s daughter, that her father had stolen them, and that they were then in tho possession of Frank Newton. I have a signed declaration from the daughter, who is still alive, to the effect that her father stole the papers. Her father died a year aftor the robbery. She i 3 now 85 years. My grandfather then issued a writ against Frank Newton for tho recovery of the deeds and bank books. IN DONKEY CART TO COURT. “I remember tho day well that my grandfather, grandmother, father and myself drove along in a very stylish donkey cart, the donkey being a prize trotter, to tho High Court of England, where the case was to be heard before Mr Justice Eaves. My duty was to look aftor the donkey and while doing this I could see my grandfather pacing the corridor of tho court impatiently awaiting the arrival of his solicitor, who did not arrive. The case was adjourned through the non-ap-pearance of the defendants, and my grandfather’s solicitor. We then started for home, and when about 100 yards from his house my grandfather alighted at a public-houso. “My father continued home to feed the horses, leaving my grandmother and myself outside tho inn in the donkey cart. My grandfather brought me out a largo round biscuit, similar to ships’ biscuits of to-day, and as lie was turning round to go into tlio inn ngain ho was brutally assaulted by three men, who knocked him unconscious to tho ground and then ran away before being recognised. “With the assistance of somo people who congregated, wo managed to put him in the car* and take him homo. “It was learnt shortly after this incident that the solicitor who should have acted for my grandfather, lmd accepted £15,000 and had left for Barcelona, in Spain. Next followed the death of Frank Moseley (alias Newton) in the year 1898.

THROWN FROM WINDOW. “My grandfather, having had wliat ho considered enough experience of lawyers, decided to accept the advice of hi 3 old-time butler, who had since joined the police, which was to take possession of an empty houso in Harbour Square, near Whitechapel, being part of the property due to him. With live cottage loaves, lib. dripping, a large tin of jam, and 61b. of beet, he entered tbo houso at midnight with my grandmother. After being there nine days tho enemy hoard of their whereabouts, and instead of calling the aid of the police to eject them, which they wore challenged to do, employed ruffians, who entered by a cellar window quietly and stole up to tho second storey, where they > brutally assaulted both my grandfather and roy grandmother, cptting a deep gash in my grandmother’s forehead and throwing my grandfather from the window to the courtyard below. “My father made several attempts to recover tho property, but his life was attempted two or three times, which scared him, and he went to the ixfiico to get help to find the nssailants, but he ooulu not identify them. "With all debentures, leases, birth certificates, marriage linos, and a host

of other papers, he came to Australia. After being here about eighteen months ho gave my brother power of attorney to reopen the case. My brother received . judgment against defendants, in default of appearance, on May 13. 1922. “The following day he was assaulted by someone unkown' to lnm, shanghaied aboard the s.s. Beltana, where he worked as a trimmer, the other trimmer, we later learned, being paid to lose his ship. The result was that ho landed at Capetown. Tho day after he arrived there he was walking up Dock street when ho was asked by two men for a match. While handing it to one of them ono of them tried to strike him, so he got for his life, and took the first ship he could secure for Australia. He was over here for a time, when two men in a motor car hailed him. Fearing ho was being trapped again, he went straight to the Box Hill (Melbourne) police station to get a license to carry a pistol, but coming home that night he was knocked out and spent five weeks in the Melbourne Hospital. Now be is a nervous wreck.” AMERICAN FORTUNE. £20,060,000. On March 12 a cable from America told of the death of Senator William A. Clark, the U.S.A. copper king, at Butte (Montana), and stated that he had left £20,000,000. So far there have been three American women claimants and ono Australian, Mrs Ellen Seymour, of Junee. Now comes Henry Clark, of Charles street, Manly, Sydney. Ho believes that the late Senator was an uncle of his. Mr Clark stated recently that he had an uncle named Clark who went to the United. States about 60 years ago. What strengthens Mr Clark’s belief is that his uncle was a bachelor —and tho late copper king was a bachelor, too. Mr Clark, through a solicitor, is making inquiries, and if he is a nephew of tho late William Clark he intends to put in a claim for portion of tho <£20,000,000. i