A NEW YORK ROMANCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 3559, 11 May 1901, Page 4

A NEW YORK ROMANCE.

An eccentric millionaire, a missing-will, and a fight for a huge fortune, variously estimated at from ten to seventy million dollars, are the chief features of a romance which is now (March) filling the columns of the American newspapers, exciting society, and putting joy into the hearts of countless; lawyers.

George Francis Gilman was a tea merchant, owning nearly 300 shops, scattered over the length and breadth of the United States, and all, it is said, prosperous. He was a very unpopular man, and all his life dreaded being assaulted by his enemies. Mr Gilman succumbed to Bright's disease.

No will could be discovered after his . death. Yet it seemed incredible' that \ a man so notoriously shrewd, despite" his ■ eccentricities,- as the deceased, should have- i 'i omitted to determine what should be "done I l with his ■ millions-.-. ■For tin past week '; the cellars of the safe deposit compsthiez, : the safes, of the Connecticut and New York -, banks, like the cupboards and desks at - his mansion near- Bridgeport, have been ransacked. ' All in Tain. Kis'relativestaking it for granted (rather too hastily, maybe) that Mr Giiman died intestate, are/ now'preparing rfor what bids fairto'beone of the least) I edifying and most s'ensa- - tional law contests of our time. The deceased is believed to have bee'n ; and a widower.-. But even this is not certain. It is quite conceivable- that, being a naturally.: secretive person, of Quilp-like qualities-, he may have- been married. Developments -"and revelations of the'most startling-description are possible when or if the case goes into court. The" direct descendants of the dead millionaire's father, with the deceased's two •half-brothers and- his half-sister- ,an -the chief parties in the quarrel.■ .'", The half-, sister—Miss Anna K. Giiman—'is'said-to be living at Clapham (in London). _T-he survivors, who fancy themselves entitled to share in the Giiman property, also' include four nephews, sis nieces, three grand-, nieces, and one grand-nephew. The issue of the quarrel, so far as" "all the relatives are concerned, hinges, firstly, on whether -there was or was not a will, and; <s«condly, I on whether Mr Giiman was technicalSy and legally a resident of New^YoTk-State or. of Connecticut. ' HeTseemsrat 1 different" times to hava given out that hj« was a, citizen of'both- States. - 'According to thV law of one State, relatives of half-blood have no rights until the extinction of full-, blooded relatives. Under the Connecticut law, both categories hare claims." ;But this is not all; A new claimant has sud-, denly arisen, in the person of Mrs Blakely Hall, a< uncommonly good-looking woman (an ex-actress), who for three -years' prior to Mr Gilman's death, had officiated 'as his : housekeeper. Mrs Hall (who- is the wife of a well-known New York' journalist) alleges that she, and she only, is the heiress to the disputed millions.- Up , to the present," she has obstinately de- . clined to state on what grounds her claim , is based. . "Altogether, the quarrel is a | nice one as it stands, and if- gossip may [be credited, it will grow nicer—or nastier—- [ ere; -*t ends.' -'■-'-'■ .•'-':'!