MILLIONAIRE’S FORTUNE

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1933, Page 9

MILLIONAIRE’S FORTUNE

FROM AFFLUENCE TO BANKRUPTCY FINANCING OF INVENTOR. .... London, Dec. 15. An astonishing reverse in, fortune was revealed in the Law Courts this week. A woman of the simplest tastes, once possessed of-fluid assets valued at £450,000, v in addition,to a life interest in : £390,000, is so reduced to penury that she is now dependent upon the charity of relatives, Miss Susan Schintz is the daughter of a Swiss millionaire, Hans Schintz, who made a vast fortune out of nitrates and settled 'in England. When Mr. Schintz died in 1912 he left his daughter his ’fortune approximating £1,000,000. For several years Miss Schintz lived the life of a well-to-do woman at Thickthome, near Kenilworth. Very small sums served for her personal needs. Much of her income was devoted to charities, the management of the estate being in the hands of a flrm of solicitors in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, of which Mr. Joseph Wyatt was-managing, clerk. Miss Schintz bred hackney horses, and during the war she .conducted a large hospital for soldiers in Lancashire. In 1916 Miss Schintz advertised for a chauffeur. Frederick Rapson answered the advertisement.' He was a competent chauffeur, and was also an inventor in a small way. Learning, of Rapson’s mechanical gifts, Miss Schintz generously .offered to finance one or two enterprises on his behalf. Eventually Rapson found that he could get large sums of money from Miss Schintz. He persuaded Miss Schintz that Thickthome was not a suitable home, and on his advice she purchased an estate of 1000 acres, Ottershow Park, Chertsey, paying £120,000 for it, and spending £40,000 more in improvements. Ottershow Park became a wOnder-house. It included an underground swimrning bath. Rapson, the chauffeur, living in a suite of apartments, dictated the method in. which Miss Schintz should spend her fortune. Rapson invented a motor tyre and formed the Rapson Tyre and Jack Company, with himself as managing director at a salary of £lOOO a year, in addition to a large allotment of shares. Miss Schintz became the owner of £50,000 worth of shares, but she lost £300,000 in the Rapson company before 4ts career ended. RAPSON COMPANY FORMED. •- * s A distributing company, known as F. Lionel Rapson.Limited, .was. also, formed. Counsel said that, in the hands of Rapson, conducting affairs as he did, it was impossible that the company could be a success. Apparently Rapson’s inventions were not devoid of merit in a small way, though they in no way justified his assumption of the role of a “merchant prince.” \ According to the evidence in the Chancery Division, Mr. Joseph Wyatt, as the representative of Miss Schintz s solicitors, advised her to lend Rapson large sums of money to prevent his enterprises from going into liquidation. At the same time Wyatt, in partnership with a mar. named Park, was alleged to be acting as an unlicensed money-lender, and was providing Miss Schintz with further moneys cn the security of mortgages on Ottershow Park and Thickthome. The crisis.came in July, 1931, when,-Miss Schintz was forced to file her petition in bankruptcy, with liabilities of £238,000. The law case in Chancery Division took .the form of proceedings against Mr. Wyatt for a declaration that the mortgages were null and void, and were procured by undue influence. After evidence for Miss Schintz had been given Wyatt assented to a settlement upon terms which were not disclosed. Sir /illiam Jowitt, for Mr. Wyatt, pointed out that the case for the defence had not been presented. During the trial Sergeant Sullivan, counsel for Miss Schintz, announced - that actions were proceeding against other persons.. Miss Schintz is now a bed-ridden invalid. She is living in a small hotel at Eastbourne, occupying her days with needlework. She is still a middle-aged woman, but her spirit and health alike have been broken.