Chapter V: Criminal and CIVIL Courts (2)

After the Lemoines had settled in the West, the
children became much in demand at church socials
and amateur theatricals on account of their talent
along that line. Later, the girls were offered a
vaudeville engagement with a song and dance act.
At first the mother refused to allow her daughters
to go on the stage, but after a flattering salary
had been offered, she finally consented. She
accompanied them on their tour as chaperone. The
season was about half over when Florence met with
her accident. The father remained on the ranch in
Idaho because of his poor health.

During the trial of the case last April, Florence
was brought into the courtroom on two occasions,
both times on her cot. She nervously twitched at
her bedclothes and at her jewelry while she told
the story of the affair as she remembered it. She
told the jury that she was spending most of her
time now drawing sketches and that until she got
well enough to get back to the stage she expected
to devote her time to art.

The two girls were earning from $75 to $140 a week
with their act, according to testimony which was
adduced at the trial.

* * * * *

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISION

_San Francisco Chronicle_

The Supreme Court of the United States has decided
in the case of Mrs. Ethel Coope Mackenzie of
San Francisco that the federal expatriation law
of 1907 is constitutionally applicable to women
that continue to live in this country after
marrying foreigners as well as to those that marry
foreigners and live abroad.

The ruling settles finally a test case that has
become internationally famous in suffrage circles.
In effect, it is much more sweeping than the bare
recorded fact would indicate, including in its wide
range a host of women, in and out of states where
they have the vote, who are married to men not
citizens of the United States.

It means, applied locally, simply this: A woman
born in California, herself a citizen of the United
States with the right to vote, automatically
relinquishes her citizenship and that right the
moment she becomes the wife of a foreigner, whether
the foreigner is a resident or not.

Mrs. Mackenzie, who brought the test case, is the
wife of Gordon Mackenzie, known on the concert
platform as Mackenzie Gordon, the Scotch tenor. Her
husband, who is a nephew of the late Sir Morell
Mackenzie, a famous English surgeon, has been a
resident of San Francisco for the last twelve
years. He has lived in this country for more than
twenty years. She was herself born in California,
the daughter of J. F. Coope of Santa Cruz, a well
known California pioneer. But the fact that her
husband, born a British subject, has never taken
out citizenship papers in this country, makes Mrs.
Mackenzie, by the ruling of the supreme court, an
alien in the eyes of the law of the United States.

A curious feature of the unusual case is that Mrs.
Mackenzie was one of the most ardent of the workers
for suffrage during the campaign which resulted in
the women being given the vote in California.

The ruling affects also, in sweeping fashion, a
large number of other women socially prominent in
San Francisco. It includes Baroness Van Eck, who
was Miss Agnes Tillman and who is still a resident
of this state; Baroness Von Brincken, formerly Miss
Milo Abercombie, also living here; Countess Von
Falkenstein, who was Miss Azalea P. Keyes; Mrs.
John Hubert Ward, who was Miss Jean Reid, and a
great number of others.

Mrs. Mackenzie, who, since her marriage to the
famous tenor in August, 1909, has been living at
2832 Jackson Street, was among the first to appear
at the polls after the state had enfranchised its
feminine population. She was refused the privilege
of voting. The California courts, in which the case
was instituted, decided against her. Now the ruling
of the highest tribunal in the country upholds the
lower courts.

“It was something of a shock,” she said, “to learn
that after two years of hard work to bring suffrage
to California I could not enjoy the right I had
helped to give other women. Investigation showed,
of course, that I could gain my citizenship and my
right to vote, and also retain my husband, by his
application for naturalization papers, but I did
not wish to accept citizenship on those terms, and
so I brought a test case.

“My husband kindly delayed his citizenship until my
case might be presented in the courts. Now that it
is decided, he will become a citizen. This means
that I shall be received back into the fold, but
only because I am his wife.”

Concerning the effect of her test case, Mrs.
Mackenzie stated that she had just heard that a
Mackenzie Club had been organized in Oregon, for
the purpose of “looking into the matter.”

* * * * *

OPINION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL

_Wisconsin State Journal_

Excess fare cannot be charged of passengers on the
railroads of Wisconsin when tickets are purchased
on the trains, unless provision is made to refund
the amount of overcharge.

This is the effect of an opinion rendered by
Attorney General F. L. Gilbert today. Prior to the
passage of the two-cent fare law the Northwestern
and St. Paul roads charged 10 cents in addition to
the regular fare when the fare was paid on trains.
This practice was temporarily discontinued when the
two-cent fare law was passed, because of the heavy
penalty provided for violations. An attempt has
been made to find out if the railroad commission
would not permit this additional fee being charged.
An opinion was asked of the attorney general. He
said:

“It seems to me that the plain spirit, intent and
purpose of the law in question was to establish a
maximum passenger rate beyond which common carriers
could not, in any event, go and retain the excess
as their absolute property.

“I am therefore of the opinion that such excess
fare cannot be legally collected from a passenger
unless provision is made for refund, or an act of
the legislature is passed allowing the collection
and retention of said excess as a penalty for
failure to purchase a ticket at a point where
facilities are provided.”

About two weeks ago, Lloyd W. Bowers, general
counsel for the Northwestern and Burton Hanson,
general solicitor for the St. Paul, brought this
matter before the commission. During the course
of a conference, the railroads claimed that the
old law allowing an excess fare to be charged had
not been abrogated. The attorney general held
differently.

* * * * *

INSANITY CASE

_Chicago Herald_

Baptiste Bardoli is on his way.

Over in Italy, on a big estate at Lenno, near the
shores of Lake Como, Baptiste’s aged father is
waiting to see him--that is, he was waiting to see
him when Baptiste last heard, about three months
ago.

Baptiste was on his way to Italy last June when he
left his home in Oakland, Cal., provided with some
$200 in cash, long green tickets for the train and
small red tickets for the boat--clear to Italy.

Baptiste also took with him two large bottles of
Zinfandel. The bottles were wrapped in twisted
straw, through which the red wine could be seen
sparkling inside the green glass.

The traveler arrived in Chicago without the bottles
but with the contents. Policemen met Baptiste at
the railroad station. They stopped him from biting
the iron fence of the train shed. They took him to
the Harrison street police station.

A man wearing a white coat came in and looked at
Baptiste. The man took a yellow sheet of paper and
wrote as follows:

“June 30, 1914.--I have examined Baptiste Bardoli
and believe him to be insane and recommend his
commitment to an institution. He is on his way from
Oakland, Cal., to Italy and arrived in Chicago on
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company.
Respectfully,
ALFRED LEROY, M. D.,
Assistant City Physician.”

Baptiste was taken to the detention home. On
July 2 a jury composed of one physician heard
testimony concerning Baptiste’s actions and
returned a verdict to the effect that Baptiste was
insane--that he had “alcoholic hallucinosis”--that
he manifested suicidal and homicidal tendencies and
had about $96 on his person.

County Judge John E. Owens appointed Walter F.
Sommers, an attorney, conservator for the money,
and turned Baptiste over to the Chicago State
Hospital for the Insane at Dunning.

Baptiste “came to” on July 4 and called for his
trousers. He was denied. He protested his sanity.
He admitted his temporary inebriety, but swore that
he had no more bottles of green glass wrapped in
straw. It was no use.

Baptiste wrote letters to the Italian consul. He
implored the doctors and pictured for them the
father who was waiting to see him on the shores
of Lake Como. About a month ago he convinced the
Dunning authorities of his sanity, and they began
to arrange for his release.

Investigators at the office of the Italian consul
declared that they tried to get Conservator
Sommers to turn over some money to Baptiste, so
that he could be released. They say Attorney
Sommers replied that under the Illinois law he
had been appointed for a year, and as far as the
court records showed, Baptiste was still insane.
Moreover, it was vacation time, and there was no
session of the Probate Court.

Yesterday Judge Owens entered an order restoring
Baptiste to his civilian rights. Probate Judge
Gregg ordered the restoration of the funds held by
the conservator. The funds were restored. He was
freed from the asylum.

In Illinois the records, however, will show until
a year has passed that Baptiste is insane and that
he can only conduct business legally through his
conservator, who can’t be removed for a year.

But Baptiste is happy--he’s on his way to Italy.

* * * * *

PROPOSED LAW SUIT

_New York Sun_

For why should the Kaminoka Strumolova Sick and
Benevolent Association pay out money for burying a
man who is not yet dead? For why that hearse, $8;
that headstone, $35; those two funeral coaches for
$11 when Leon Welfish, the dear dead one, is alive
already and in his own town of Kaminoka, Galicia?

Not for often will the Kaminoka Strumolova Sick
and Benevolent Association make such a fool of
itself and those money spendings for the hearse,
the headstone, the funeral coaches and all the rest
making of Two Hu-u-ndred dollars!--to the court
here by a lawyer the Kaminoka Strumolova is going
for recovering. To the court by Lawyer William
Schneider the Kaminoka Strumolova is going and
make for getting back all that money because Leon
Welfish did not have the use of it, being not at
all dead and buried.

Aye-yah; it is all right enough for the hospital
people in the place at Central Islip to say that
there was mistaking in sending Leon Welfish to be
buried by the Kaminoka Strumolova when it was not
Leon at all who had died, but some one else. It’s
all right to say these things, but that does not
pay back the moneys for such a comfortable funeral
that some one else enjoyed. Oh no. The State of
New York by the courts will have to pay back those
moneys for those mistakes. It is to the Court of
Claims in Washington that the lawyer is going
to make the State to pay up these losses by the
Kaminoka Strumolova.

Listen.

Came to this country from Kaminoka, which is in
Galicia, which is of Austria, Leon Welfish, a young
man who did not have great strength but who was
honest and who would never try to cheat anybody.
Came Leon Welfish by New York and he worked as
tailor until one night when he didn’t work, but
fell down on the sidewalk by Lewis street and they
takes him to Bellevue. They looks at him for three
days--observations, they calls it--and then they
sends him to the State hospital for poor insane
ones at Central Islip. Leon goes and everybody is
sorry that he is one of the poor insane ones.

But then, before Leon Welfish is by the hospital
very long, comes the immigrationers from Ellis
Island and they say Leon Welfish is unfit for being
in this country and never should have come by New
York. Back he goes to Kaminoka, Galicia; so say
these immigrationers.

Everybody believes that Leon Welfish must go back
to Kaminoka, and his friends by Rivington street
are mourning that such a good boy goes home. Then
one day--it was the 5th day of August, two years
ago--comes to one of Leon Welfish’s friends by
Rivington street this message from the hospital:

“Leon Welfish is dead. Pleurisy makes it. Shall we
bury him or do his friends make the buryings?”

Of course it is to be that the Kaminoka Strumolova,
which is the society belonging to Leon Welfish,
shall make the buryings. Leon was a member standing
good and every member has for his money a good
burial or good doctors when in sickness. So says
the Kaminoka Strumolova, “We make the buryings.”

They makes. It costs all the $8 for hearse, $35
for headstones and the rest of those $200 which
belongs to Leon Welfish for being a dead member of
the Kaminoka Strumolova. Nobody sees Leon Welfish
before the buryings, for the hospital people sends
it so no one sees. All of the society makes of
itselves assessments for paying the funeral and
three members of committee wear white gloves and
rides in those for $11 hacks to Mount Zion Cemetery.

Leon Welfish’s papa and mamma, which are by
Kaminoka yet, gets a letter from the Kaminoka
Strumolova which says Leon is dead and has a good
buryings for $200--a very good buryings--and very
sorry to have to say these sad tidings. Then Leon
Welfish’s papa and mamma make mournings by their
dead son, and all of his friends by Kaminoka make
mournings.

Comes to Kaminoka then one very dark and rainy
night Leon Welfish, who was sent home by the
immigrationers. Comes Leon and knocks at the door
of his papa and mamma’s house.

“Hello, my papa; hello, my mamma!” says Leon when
they opens the door, and Leon’s papa calls for
police and Leon’s mamma has a fit on the floor
right in front of him.

After that Leon Welfish and Leon’s papa and mamma
make a great rage because he was dead and is not
really dead. They make writings to the Kaminoka
Strumolova to know for why was that mistake made.
Strumolova makes investigations and now it goes to
court by a lawyer.

* * * * *

SUIT FOR SEPARATION

_New York Telegram_

Alleging that for the sake of her three children
she had endured verbal and physical abuse of
violent character for seventeen years, Mrs. Clara
Hansen, of No. 10 Western Parkway, to-day filed
suit for separation in the Supreme Court against
her husband, Harry L. Hansen, worth a million,
and half owner in the Schmidt and Hansen Brewing
Company of Newark. Mr. Hansen makes his home at No.
190 East Ninety-ninth street.

Accompanying the affidavits of Mrs. Hansen is a
deposition from her sixteen-year-old son, Oscar,
in which he corroborates many of the stories of
beatings and other abuses alleged by his mother,
and makes the statement that his father’s treatment
of himself was such that he was glad when his
mother established a second home and took the
children with her. In addition to Oscar, the
Hansens have a daughter, Nellie, thirteen, and
another son, Henry, twelve years old.

Mrs. Hansen was represented in the preliminary
court proceedings by Mrs. Harriette M.
Johnston-Wood, of the law firm of Wood & Wood,
No. 2 Rector street, a well known leader of the
suffragist movement.

In the papers filed Mrs. Hansen states that she was
married to Harry L. Hansen in this city in 1897
and that they went from New York to Washington to
begin their honeymoon trip. Three days after the
wedding, she alleges, while they were still in
Washington, her husband became violently angry and,
after choking her, threw her against the furniture
in their room.

Later, at the Grand Hotel, at St. Augustine, Fla.,
he refused to talk to her, she asserts, and they
returned to this city without speaking to each
other. Their first home, she says, was established
in a house owned by Mr. Hansen, at No. 99 East
Eightieth street, and there, she sets forth, he
beat her frequently and repeatedly swore at her,
and said, “I hate your peaceful face; I’m tired of
it.”

Before Oscar was born, in 1898, she further
alleges, her husband accused her of being on
friendly terms with the tradesmen who came to the
house. After the boy was born he told her that,
since he had an heir, he had no further use for her
and, opening the front door, said, “This way out.”

In 1900, she says, while she was in Berlin with her
husband, she was compelled to go to a sanitarium,
and later, when they were in the Alps, he left her
and went to England, where she finally located him.

To escape his abuse two years later, she went to
Philadelphia, and in 1909 she went to Europe with
her daughter, returning later at her husband’s
earnest requests. The final separation, she states,
took place in 1911, when she established a separate
home for herself and her children.

In the deposition made by the son Oscar, he states
that on several occasions he saw his father beat
and abuse his mother. The boy also states that his
father had violent fits of temper on an average
of once a month and that on one occasion, when he
became displeased with the boy, he drew a knife and
destroyed the wireless apparatus which the child
had spent an entire winter in building.

Mrs. Hansen asks for $200 a week temporary alimony
and $25,000 counsel fees. She states that the
brewery in which her husband is interested turns
out 750,000 barrels of beer annually and that he
has other sources of income.

* * * * *

DIVORCE CASE

_Detroit News_

The story of the married life of Dr. Arthur and
Mildred S. Smith, from 1900 to 1913 reads the same
as that of any struggling young physician in a
large city. But--

In 1913 the physician found fortune smiling on him
and he turned to look at his wife and his gold. She
had faded during those years when $1 was made to
last longer than $10 would now.

“I am just in his way now,” said Mrs. Smith to
Judge Van Zile, while testifying in her suit for
divorce. The doctor filed his bill several months
ago and she filed a cross-bill.

A younger girl, with golden hair, red cheeks and
lips has come between the doctor and his wife,
according to Mrs. Smith.

“I filled in all right when someone was needed to
slave and dig the dirt out of the office floors
and dust the furniture,” continued the woman. “He
didn’t have time to look at me then to see whether
I looked good to him or not.

“We worked mechanically, shoulder to shoulder. I
played my part and he played his. The business and
my husband’s bank account would lead anyone to
think that it was a success.”

Mrs. Smith, a little woman, her eyes filled
with tears, seemed to reflect a moment and then
continued:

“Perhaps it is a success. It seems that success
must be measured in dollars and cents no matter who
gets the gold. He undoubtedly is happy, but--I--I
am a wreck.”

Mrs. Smith said that when her baby was born her
husband told her not to stay in the hospital too
long as she was needed in the office. She says that
she left the hospital in three weeks and the child
died at the end of five weeks.

“It was always so,” she continued. “He always
wanted me in the office and I was willing to stay.
It was only a few years ago that he went abroad,
and I remained at home, as we both agreed that
it would cost too much for us both. Then he took
several other equally expensive trips, but he never
asked me to go.”

Mrs. Smith said she and her husband had always been
active in the Summerfield Methodist church, and
that her husband even carried his dislike for her
to the church, urging her not to go to any of the
meetings, either social or religious.

“I was active in home missionary work,” said Mrs.
Smith, “and he told me that it didn’t look well for
me always to be mixing in with the church affairs.
I told him I couldn’t conscientiously drop my
church work and wouldn’t.”

Mrs. Smith declared her husband had told her he
couldn’t afford to live with her any longer as she
wasn’t so attractive as another girl he knew and
her company tired him instead of affording him rest
and comfort.

“His father also told me that I might as well
get out right away as Walter had to have some one
younger and more attractive,” she said. “The old
father said: ‘You don’t fit into Walter’s station
in life and you might as well get out without a
fuss, as you will have to move some time.’”

Mrs. Smith testified that her husband’s practice
is worth between $400 and $600 a week, and that he
owns three automobiles.

“I just rode in one of them, however,” she added.
“The office girl rides in them most of the time.”

Dr. Smith stated in his bill that his wife had an
ungovernable temper and that she called up his
patients and advised them not to consult him. The
doctor further stated that these and other things
ruined his health and his business.

Mrs. Smith was given the decree.

* * * * *

RECEIVERSHIP PROCEEDINGS

_Chicago Tribune_

Inflated reports of sales by managers of branch
houses, extending over a period of three years,
and resulting in a misleading annual statement,
it was said yesterday, were responsible for the
receivership proceedings for Robert Z. Link & Co.

The Chicago banks which were the principal
creditors of the corporation discovered the
character of these statements a few days ago in
an audit of the books, and at once took steps to
protect creditors.

The other explanation advanced for the crisis in
the company’s affairs came from Secretary William
H. Arthur.

“In the panic last fall,” he declared, “poor
people, who are the firm’s principal customers,
could not afford to buy even the cheapest fish.
They became vegetarians. If we could have tided
over our financial difficulties until after Lent
we would have weathered the storm. Trade was just
beginning to pick up.”

Developments of the day were as follows:

Receiver William T. Harrison, learning that fish,
oysters, and other sea foods were lying in the
cars, took measures to obtain the fullest powers in
conducting a business based upon transactions in
perishable products.

Four Chicago banks that hold nearly $2,500,000 of
the firm’s paper, some of it accepted two months
ago, held a conference and discussed reorganization
of the company.

Minority creditors prepared to organize.

Efforts were made to find out what the company
did with the proceeds of $1,000,000 worth of
preferred stock issued last October. Officials say
it was used to take up short term notes and to
buy warehouses and plants to prevent competition.
Creditors believe exorbitant sums were paid for the
plants.

Ancillary receivers were appointed for branch
plants of the company in various parts of the
country.

Receiver Harrison issues a statement practically
exonerating Link brothers for blame for the
financial straits of the Company.

An official of one of the four Chicago banks which
hold nearly $2,500,000 of the firm’s paper said
that the receiver was appointed after the banks had
learned that some persons connected with Robert
Z. Link & Co. had issued misleading statements
concerning its volume of business. The Link
brothers are not believed to have known anything
about these false statements.

The company, it appears, has a number of ambitious
managers of its branch houses in various parts
of the country. Each manager gets a percentage
on his total sales. Some of them, to obtain the
commission, it is asserted, juggled their reports
in such a manner that their total sales appeared
to be much larger than they really were, and the
annual report was in consequence misleading. The
company had no system of checking up these reported
sales, and it was not until the bankers put an
auditing firm upon the books, after they suspected
something following the issuance of the last annual
statement, that the discrepancies were discovered.

The fact that the last annual statement does not
account for new money, the proceeds of the last
stock issue, also is being investigated.

Secretary Arthur had a different explanation to
make.

“The panic of last fall, and vegetarianism to
which the poor were reduced when thrown out of
employment,” he declared, “are responsible for most
of our troubles.

“It is a well known fact that the company supplied
two-thirds of the oysters, fish, and all sea food
eaten in this country. The bulk of this trade is
among poor people. The company’s chief business has
been in fish that retails at 8, 10, and 15 cents a
pound, especially in large cities. We depended most
upon our business in fresh water fish--the largest
in the world in herring, lake perch and such
cheaper varieties. This trade came from working
people.

“When the working people were thrown out of
employment and stopped buying fish, our trade fell
off tremendously. It has just begun to pick up, and
if the bankers had not taken alarm and had given
us a little more time, we should have come out all
right.”

Mr. Arthur said that the $1,000,000 acquired in the
last issue of preferred stock had mostly gone to
pay short term notes.

Receiver Harrison in the afternoon went to Lake
Geneva to hold a conference with Judge Kohlsaat,
who had been originally selected as the judge
before whom the receivership proceedings were to be
held.

“I wish to secure the fullest authority for
conducting the business, which is based so largely
upon perishable products, so that there will be
no loss,” said Mr. Harrison. “I already have
that power, but I want to have it specified more
clearly.”

Representatives from several railroads called on
Mr. Harrison before his departure to ask what
should be done with quantities of fish that were
standing in the cars on sidetracks. The company
has $600,000 in available cash to carry on its
business. It is estimated that $1,000,000 will be
needed.

Mr. Harrison made a statement in which he said:

“From the examination of the books of Robert
Z. Link & Co. that has been possible since my
appointment as receiver I should say that the Link
family owns about 60 per cent of the preferred, and
about 50 per cent of the common stock. When the
$1,000,000 of preferred stock was issued within the
year, it would appear that the Link family paid
their assessment on this stock and took their full
pro rata, and I cannot find that any transfer of
any of their shares has been made.”

* * * * *

ASSIGNMENT

_New York Times_

Henry W. Williams, who carried on a banking and
brokerage business at 33 Wall Street, assigned
yesterday for the benefit of his creditors, to Mark
T. Cox of the firm of Robert Winthrop & Co. Mr.
Williams was the publisher of Williams’ Investors’
Manual, and is a director in several other concerns.

No figures were given out yesterday as to the
extent of his liabilities, but it was said by a
representative of important banking interests that
no complications involving other Wall Street houses
need be expected as a result of the failure. First
estimates put the loss at between $5,000,000 and
$10,000,000, but as the part which H. W. Williams
& Co. has played recently in the money market has
been steadily diminishing, it is believed that
the liabilities will amount to from $1,000,000 to
$2,000,000. Hawkins & Delafield are the attorneys
for some of the principal creditors of the firm.

Lewis L. Delafield of this firm conferred yesterday
afternoon with John L. Cadwalader of Strong &
Cadwalader, the attorneys for the assignee. They
gave out this statement after the conference:

Henry W. Williams, transacting business in
the State of New York under the name of H. W.
Williams & Co., has made a general assignment for
the benefit of creditors to Mark T. Cox of Robert
Winthrop & Co. There are no preferences beyond
such as the statute gives to employes.

A superficial examination justifies the belief
that if the creditors, who are few in number,
will co-operate in enabling the assignee to
effect a favorable liquidation of the assets, a
large sum will be realized for their benefit.
Written assurances of important financial
assistance to such creditors as will co-operate
to that end have been given.

Neither Mr. Cox, the assignee, nor Messrs. Robert
Winthrop & Co. are interested as creditors or
otherwise in the assigned estate.

None of the lawyers yesterday would make an
estimate of the extent of the failure. Some
surprise was expressed at the wording of the deed
of assignment filed in the County Clerk’s office.
It read: “H. W. Williams, trading as H. W. Williams
& Co.” as though the assignor had no partners in
the firm. The latest corporation directories give
the firm’s personnel as H. W. Williams, Frederick
A. Farrar, W. N. Phoenix, Franklyn W. Hunt, Charles
F. Cushman, and Henry V. Williams. Of these Messrs.
Farrar, Hunt, and Cushman live near Boston, where
the firm had a branch office.

It was said at the office of Hawkins & Delafield
that Henry W. Williams some time ago filed the
necessary deed with the County Clerk authorizing
him to use the firm name after his partners had
resigned their interests. No information could be
obtained as to when the dissolution of partnership
took place.

It is understood that Mr. Williams’ resources have
been dwindling for some time. His firm engaged in
several unprofitable consolidations, and in the
slump in stocks of March, 1907, it was reported
that the concern was hard hit. The October panic
found it again in bad shape to meet a financial
storm.

Mr. Williams began business in 1865 as H. V. &
H. W. Williams, and became widely known as the
publisher of Williams’ Investors’ Manual. In 1880
he entered the banking business as a partner in the
house of Anthony, Williams & Oliphant. A year later
this concern was succeeded by Williams, Oliphant &
Co. It was, however, as a member of the house of
Williams & Greenough that Mr. Williams attained
his greatest prominence in Wall Street. He was
particularly active in leather and ice, and is said
to have made about $5,000,000 by his operations in
these lines.

In 1899 the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Williams
continued in business as H. W. Williams & Co.
Since then he has been interested in a number of
consolidations which have turned out to be heavy
drains upon him. Among these was the Colonial Sugar
Company, which has since been absorbed by the Cuban
American Sugar Company.

Mr. Williams formed the Colonial concern by merging
a number of Cuban and Louisiana sugar properties
in which he was interested. The venture was
unprofitable, and it was said last night by an
officer of the company that Mr. Williams’ firm had
dropped between $300,000 and $400,000 in it.

Another of his interests was the Newton &
Northwestern Railroad of Iowa, which has since been
taken over by the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern
Railroad. Suit was brought against him recently by
Howard Willetts on account of the investment which
he had made in the road on the recommendation of
Henry Williams & Co. Mr. Willetts is suing for
$243,000, the price of 200 of the bonds of the
company, on the ground that the line is not earning
enough to pay its fixed charges. The case is still
pending.

Other concerns in which Mr. Williams has had large
interests are the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway
Company and the United States Casualty Company, of
which he was a Director, and the Postal Telegraph
Cable Company of Texas, of which he is President,
now a part of the system of the American Telegraph
and Telephone Company.

For some years H. W. Williams & Co. has maintained
an office in Boston. It has dealt exclusively in
bonds, bidding for local, as well as Massachusetts
State, and city issues. The last issue in which the
Boston branch figured was that of the United States
Envelop Company of Worcester, Mass., which issued
$2,000,000 worth a couple of months ago. The firm
has also invested heavily in American Telephone
Company and Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic
Railroad bonds. Boston bankers do not consider that
the failure will have any important effect on other
houses.

Outside of financial circles Mr. Williams occupied
an important position in society and was an art
lover. His house at Tuxedo Park has been known
as one of the finest examples of modern country
residences. His town house, 1 Lexington Avenue,
facing Gramercy Park and exactly opposite to the
residence of the late Stanford White, one of his
warm friends, has been renowned for its rich and
artistic decorations.

Mr. Williams was a liberal supporter of music, and
helped many students to follow their profession. He
is, however, best known as a book collector. For
years he spent large sums on rare editions and fine
bindings. He brought together a library with hardly
an equal in America. Among his special treasures
were a first edition of Thomas à Kempis’s “Imitatio
Christi,” Higden’s “Polychronicon,” and some rare
Americana. His collection was estimated as worth
between $200,000 and $300,000.

A few months ago it was announced that this library
was to be sold at auction. It was the first
intimation to the world at large that Mr. Williams
was in financial difficulties. The sale began on
Nov. 12, and the first day’s offerings brought in
$19,000. Some of the leading book collectors of the
country, such as J. Pierpont Morgan and Senator
Henry C. Lodge, sent representatives, and by the
time the first two sections had been disposed of
$75,000 was realized. It is understood that the
three other sections are still more valuable.

Five years ago Miss Edith Williams was married to
Capt. James K. Modison of the Warwick Regiment of
the British Army. It was one of the most brilliant
social functions of the year, the best man being
Sir E. Stewart Richardson, and the ushers Pierre
Lorillard, R. Monroe Ferguson, Arthur Derby,
Frederick C. Havemeyer, Jr., J. Insile Blair,
Jr., J. M. Waterbury, Jr., Henry V. Poor, and
Roger Poor. The bridesmaids were the Misses Violet
Cruger, Janet Fish, Muriel Robbins, and Helen
Cutting.

* * * * *

NOTE--_The way in which the human interest can be
brought out in what might ordinarily be considered
routine news, is shown by the second of the
following two stories._

PATENT AWARD

(1)

_New York Times_

The Board of Examiners of the Patent Office decided
that the man who made the hydroaeroplane possible
was not Glenn H. Curtiss, but Albert S. Janin, a
poor cabinet maker of Staten Island.

In 1910 Mr. Curtiss began testing a canoe device
to carry the planes on the water till the momentum
necessary to lift them was obtained, but it did not
work.

In the controversy that followed the use of the
present device, which consists mainly of outrigging
to keep the planes on an even keel, it came out
that Mr. Janin had really produced the device in
1909, about a year before Mr. Curtiss had failed to
raise his machines at Hammondsport.

Thomas A. Hill, a lawyer, of 233 Broadway, took up
Janin’s claims and put them before the examiners of
Interference of the Patent Office. Mr. Hill alleged
that on July 3, 1910, Curtiss tried four times in
vain to raise his plane from Lake Keuka; also that
Curtiss admitted the failure. It was shown that
drawings of the successful device now in use were
made by Janin long before this date, and that he
tried to build a machine to test it in operation,
but couldn’t get the money.

Mr. Curtiss contended that the device was his, and
that it had failed at Lake Keuka because the motors
were not strong enough to do their share of the
work. In deciding against Mr. Janin the Examiners
of Interference said:

While he (Curtiss) was thus engaged Janin was
sleeping on his rights, from which slumber he did
not awake until after the achievements of Curtiss
had been widely published.

Then the case was taken before the Board of
Examiners, who found for Mr. Janin. Their opinion
reads in part:

He (Janin) is a poor man, evidently struggling
for a sufficient income to meet his current
living expenses. From what his witnesses testify,
it is apparent that he was continuously striving
to raise funds to develop his ideas, which were
regarded by many as illusionary.

It also came out that Janin, in the years he was
working on his water flyer, was the butt of many,
who looked upon him as unbalanced by one idea.

Concerning the statements of Curtiss that his
motors were not powerful enough, the Examiners said:

An excuse of this kind for failure to make
flights could probably be advanced in good faith
by hundreds of inventors of aeroplanes, who have
been seeking patents for the last forty or fifty
years.

Mr. Hill said yesterday that Janin’s success
probably would make him wealthy; also that an
order for 200 hydroaeroplanes is awaiting any
manufacturer who can furnish security that they can
be delivered. He said the order was from one of the
belligerents in Europe, but did not know which.

“The Curtiss factory,” he said, “can turn out about
ten planes a week at a cost of about $7,000 each.
But no matter who turns them out they will have to
pay a royalty to Mr. Janin.”

(2)

_New York Evening World_

Albert S. Janin, cabinet maker, the other night
took off his apron in the shop in which he has
worked eight hours a day for the last fourteen
years at Rosebank, Staten Island, walked up to the
foreman and resigned his job.

He didn’t quit in a huff--a fact that was plainly
attested by the manner in which the foreman wrung
his hand and his fellow workmen crowded around him,
their faces beaming.

“Congratulations, Al,” said the foreman simply.
From somewhere in the crowd spoke one of Janin’s
intimates:

“The ‘Bug’ has made good. Whaddaya know about
that?”

“Well,” rejoined Janin, good-naturedly, “it no
longer will be Janin, the cabinet maker, or
Janin, the Bug, the dreamer and the impostor.
I guess the handle to my name has been pretty
firmly established as ‘Janin, inventor of the
hydro-aeroplane.’”

And that night the modest little 5-room Janin flat
was the scene of a celebration the like of which
has never been seen at Rosebank. Most enthusiastic
of the guests were men who, for the last ten years,
have scoffed at the strange looking winged craft
in the Janin back yard, which, the poor carpenter
persisted, would some day be recognized by the
patent office as the first flying boat.

Rosebank went on the map to stay at 2 o’clock
in the afternoon, when word was received from
Washington that the board of examiners-in-chief of
the patent office had decided unanimously that the
man who made the hydro-aeroplane possible was not
Glenn H. Curtiss, but Albert S. Janin, the poor
cabinet maker of Staten Island. For four years the
powerful Curtiss interests had fought the claims of
the obscure and almost penniless carpenter, through
the patent office and to its highest court--the
board of examiners-in-chief.

He would not have won out probably had not Thomas
A. Hill, a patent lawyer of New York, taken
the case, out of a sense of justice, without
compensation. As a former president of the
Aeronautical Society of America, and at present a
director, Mr. Hill went into the litigation to see
fair play.

Just how it feels to a struggling workman, whose $5
a day is barely enough to provide the necessities
of life for a wife and seven children, to find
himself suddenly famous with a fortune within his
grasp, Janin tried to explain.

“We put it over, didn’t we, mother?” Janin beamed,
affectionately patting his wife. “If it hadn’t been
that she stuck to me--believed in me, when all the
rest were poking fun and scoffing--I never would
have made it.”

“And if it hadn’t been,” Mrs. Janin interrupted,
“that after your hard day’s work for almost
every night in the last ten or fifteen years, you
burned the oil at your work bench until long after
midnight, you never would have made it.”

“The best part of this invention is that, unlike
a whole lot of others, it’s going to bring us
money--gobs of it,” Janin broke in. “For years we
have felt the pinch of poverty, but thanks to Mr.
Hill and his work in Washington, I guess that day
is past. You know the decision of the patent office
gives me a royalty on every hydro-aeroplane turned
out in this country dating from the day a few weeks
hence on which my patent is printed and issued
by the government. Mr. Hill tells me that the
royalty can be fixed arbitrarily by the inventor.
The failure of any of these companies building
hydro-aeroplanes to come to terms, of course, would
be followed by an infringement suit, but we don’t
expect any such difficulty.

“What will I do with the money? The first thing
will be to get a home of our own with plenty of
ground around it for the kids to play in. No more
of these flats for us. But we are going to stay
right here in Rosebank, where my wife and I were
born and brought up. You know we were sweethearts,
even at old public school No. 13, around the
corner. Most of the kids are now going to that same
school. The oldest girl, Antoinette, who is now 14,
can realize her ambition to go to normal school and
take up teaching, if she wants to--but she don’t
have to now.”

* * * * *

AN ADOPTED CHILD

_Kansas City Star_

The Patrick Sullivans had a bad three hours last
night.

You see, it was only a month ago that theirs was
a childless family. Mary had grown up and was
teaching and there were no babies around the house.
Then they found a 1-month-old baby boy, abandoned
in St. Aloysius’s Church, and adopted him. The
cheery household it has been since then!

But yesterday a young woman arrived at the
Sullivan home, 961 Walnut Street, and said that she
was the baby’s mother, and that the baby’s father
had only abandoned him temporarily because they
were then in desperate straits, but that everything
had come out all right financially and now wouldn’t
the Sullivans give her back her boy?

The Sullivans wouldn’t. Not last night.

That’s when their bad three hours began. If their
hearts were wrung so at abandoning a baby not their
own, what must be the mother’s feelings? That won
the day.

Papa Sullivan went to Judge Hinton this morning.
He, had been to him last week to adopt the baby
legally. Now he wanted to know if that legal
process would stand in the way of his returning the
baby to its mother. Judge Hinton said it would not
prevent such action, and he believed that it would
be best to give the child to its mother. But he
didn’t look at Papa Sullivan when he said it. Men
don’t like to see each other wet-eyed.

“She’ll come back,” said Papa Sullivan, “and she
can get him.”

Judge Hinton this afternoon made an order at the
request of Mr. Sullivan declaring the adoption of
the baby by the Sullivans void. The request was
made on the ground that the mother had appeared and
had shown herself capable of properly caring for
the child. The mother did not appear in court. No
further action will be necessary. The mother need
only go to the Sullivan home and get her baby.

* * * * *

NOTE--_The provision in the will given in the New
York court story making bequests to Chicago nurses,
formed the basis of the local story in the Chicago
paper; both stories follow._

WILL ADMITTED TO PROBATE

(1)

_New York Sun_

The will of Walter H. Hammond, the wealthy
butterine manufacturer, who was shot dead in the
Pennsylvania station in Jersey City ten days
ago by Peter Grew, who had a fancied grievance
against him, was admitted to probate in Jersey
City yesterday. After making a number of specific
bequests, including amounts of $500, $250 and
$100 to thirty-seven old employees, the residue
of the estate goes to the next of kin, share and
share alike. Col. Robert A. Hammond is one of the
brothers.

Col. Willard C. Ward, who drew the will on October
1 last and filed it yesterday, said that he didn’t
care to discuss the value of the estate, as he
believed that the bequests indicated about what
the value is. He wouldn’t give an opinion as to
the value of the butterine business or how much of
the estate will be left for the four brothers, two
sisters, two nieces and a nephew after the bequests
have been settled. The estate is believed to be
worth at least $800,000, and probably $1,000,000,
as Mr. Hammond is said to have owned much property
in addition to his butterine business.

Mr. Hammond leaves his entire holdings in the firm
of Hammond & Person, of which he was practically
the only stockholder, to three legatees. They are
Miss Alice C. Hagan, daughter of a Jersey City
policeman, who had been his private secretary for
many years and was said to have been engaged to
him; Dr. Oscar Bauer, his physician and one of
the executors of the estate, and Henry C. Berger,
superintendent of his butterine plant.

One of the first bequests provides for the payment
of $25,000 to Anna Louise Cooley of New York city
as soon as possible. Of this amount $500 is to be
paid at once and the balance at the rate of $100
a month. Sarah B. Johnson and Mabel E. Wilkins of
Jersey City, employees of the firm of Hammond &
Person for many years, receive $1,500 each. Nellie
P. Hamilton, a stenographer in the office of Col.
Ward, who assisted in drawing the will, gets $250.
Gertrude M. Burns, a daughter of Henry Burns of 314
Devine avenue, Jersey City, where Mr. Hammond lived
for seventeen years, receives $500. John J. Jones,
manager of Mr. Hammond’s butterine company, gets
the shares in the American Butter, Cheese and Egg
Company that were owned by Mr. Hammond. Concerning
one of the bequests the will says:

During several days’ illness in Chicago I was
a patient in the Presbyterian Hospital, where
I was faithfully nursed by the trained nurses.
I desired to recognize the care I received at
their hands. I therefore give and bequeath to the
following members of the Illinois Training School
for Nurses: Nellie G. Burke, $500; Minnie C.
Phillips, $500; Jennie Van Horn, $1,500.

This illness occurred about six years ago, when
Mr. Hammond had typhoid fever. His physician, Dr.
Bauer, was with him at the time, and was also ill.

In making the bequests of from $500 to $100 to
thirty-seven employees, who include men and women
working both in the office and in the butterine
plant, and truck drivers as well, the will says
that they are remembered for their faithful
services to the corporation of Hammond & Person.

The will allows the executors five years in which
to make payment of all the legacies, and the
remainder of the property, real, personal and
mixed, is bequeathed “to the next of kin and their
survivors.” The relatives named are Robert A.
Hammond of New York, and Samuel A., Frederick D.
and Franklin A. Hammond of Pittsburg, brothers;
Josephine Block of Greensburg, Pa., and Anna Emma
Dell of Los Angeles, Cal., sisters; Paul Martin,
nephew, and Gladys Brown and Madeline Martin,
nieces, all of Pittsburg and children of Mr.
Hammond’s deceased sister, Sadie Martin.

The total cash bequests amount to $41,710, of which
$10,460 goes to the thirty-seven employees named
together.

Col. Robert A. Hammond, who was in Jersey City most
of the afternoon yesterday, said when he returned
to his office at 16 Broadway that he was acquainted
with the provisions of the will and had been at
Col. Ward’s office during the afternoon. He said he
was to see the will at 9 o’clock this morning, and
was not aware that it had been admitted to probate.

“No one has any cause for complaint over the
will,” said Col. Hammond. “It was just what might
have been expected from the fairest, smartest boy
that ever walked the face of God’s green earth. No
more generous chap ever lived than that boy, and if
he had not remembered his employees as he has done
it would have been most unlike him. His relatives
do not begrudge the money he has left to those he
chose to reward.

“There has never been the slightest break in the
cordial relationship between Walter and myself or
between him and any other member of the family. All
this talk that has come up since my brother’s death
is pure foolishness. I am the oldest and the head
of the family, and the relationship between Walter
and me has been almost that of father and son. I
gave him his first start in life when he was a boy.
I have never asked anything from him or from any
one else in my life and I do not ask it now.

“Walter was the pleasantest, sunniest boy you ever
knew. He did not sit at the right hand of Mr.
Parkhurst, but nothing ever came up to smirch his
record during his lifetime, and nothing will come
up now that he is dead.

“We are all sorry that our best brother was killed
and our thoughts are not on the provisions of his
will, but on seeing that the man who shot him down
without giving him a chance for his life is made
to suffer the full penalty of his act. My entire
time from now on will be devoted to that purpose.
There isn’t the slightest doubt that I will get my
brother’s murderer. I haven’t been wasting any time
since Walter’s death.

“I know that the man who murdered my brother has
been sleeping well every night and eating three
square meals a day. I don’t propose to permit
him to escape with an insanity plea. I have been
going over the testimony of seventeen witnesses
with the prosecutor and helping to get it into
shape. My experience in that line makes me of some
assistance, and I intend to see the prosecutor
every day if necessary, in order that full justice
may be done to my brother’s murder.”

(2)

_Chicago Evening Post_

Three Chicago nurses came into their reward to-day
for faithful services and devotion six years ago to
Walter H. Hammond, a wealthy butterine manufacturer
of Jersey City, who was shot dead on Nov. 17
in that city by Peter Grew, who had a fancied
grievance against him.

Under the terms of his will, which was filed
yesterday in Jersey City, $500 is bequeathed to
Miss Nellie G. Burke, 981 Carroll avenue, a like
sum to Miss Minnie C. Phillips, 14 Green Tree
street, and $1,500 to Miss Jennie Van Horn of
Chicago, who is now with a patient in Japan.

While in the city on a business trip six years ago,
Mr. Hammond was taken ill with typhoid fever at the
Annex. His physicians, Dr. J. B. Herrick and Dr.
Frank Billings, had difficulty in finding nurses
who suited the patient. At length Miss Burke was
sent for and placed in charge of the case, and she
selected for her assistants Miss Phillips and Miss
Van Horn.

“I remember Mr. Hammond very well and the
circumstances attending his illness,” said Miss
Burke to-day. “He was seriously ill and for a long
time it was a question as to his recovery. We made
every effort to save him and felt a keen personal
delight when we knew we had won. He had always, up
to the time of his death, remembered all of us,
sending us presents and flowers at the holidays and
in many ways showing his deep gratitude.

“We were notified by his secretary immediately
after his death, but until to-day we had no idea
that he had remembered us in his will. I had charge
of his case two months and then had to take another
patient. Miss Van Horn was with him five months
during his convalescence.”