MYTHICAL FORTUNE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22354, 30 August 1934, Page 10

MYTHICAL FORTUNE

“RICH UNCLE IN NEW YORK” SUPPOSED FORTUNE OF £BO,OOO MELBOURNE WOMANS STORY, Tbe “ fortune ” of £BO,OOO which a young Melbourne woman was to have inherited from a rich uncle in New York is a myth. Mrs Arthur Connell, of Armadale, has admitted that she had invented her story of an inheritance. Mrs Connell’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 the shipping company in whose vessel she and her husband proposed to go to tbe United States. It was reported in May that Mrs Connell, who ia the wife of a french polisher, had inherited a fortune from an uncle, who was a wealthy stonemason in New York —a Mr James Booth. Mr and Mrs Connell were interviewed, and their story was published in the newspapers and in “ talkie newsreels. She 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 be on his way to Australia on business connected with Mrs Connell’s inheritance. An advance of £SO was said to have been obtained. Mr Connell resigned from bis work in a' furniture factory. A copy of a will was produced, and preparations were made for the couple, with their babv, to travel to the United States in tbe'steamer Mariposa; The Argus says thta when investigations were begun a’ cable message was sent to the address of_ the New Aork solicitors who were said to be acting for the estate of the “ 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 investigation revealed that, to assist relatives who were in desperate circumstances, Mrs Connell had obtained £SO from abroad. She lost this sum. She then obtained £SO from another source in Melbourne. This was the £SO which was referred to as an advance on the inheritance. WEAK POINTS IN STORY. Air Connell, 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, where he believed that £12.000 in cash, a prosperous stonemasonry business in New York, and a home in Brooklyn and two motor cars awaited them. “Several points in the story seemed to call for investigation,” said Mr Wade. “ For example, one of the witnesses jo the ‘will’ was a beneficiary, and that will would not hold at law. Then, Uo one had seen the mysterious man called Butler, who, it was stated, had called on Mrs Connell to tell 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 been invented. I advised her to make a clean breast of the whole thing, and she signed a statement to that effect.”