THE GREAT GAINES CASE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 582, 1 June 1868, Page 4

THE GREAT GAINES CASE.

'i'roiii tbe New York Hera'A) ' Tur. Supreme Court of the United States, in three - decisions in iter favor, lias finally settled the great and remarkable case of Mrs General Gaines. These - three decisions were ma.de upon appeals brought up from tin- Louisiana courts touehhig the right and title to va.-t amounts of real estate In New Orleans and in the State of Louisiana, the contestants, ineluding the city of New Orleans, churning said ' ! properties upon transfers resting on a will of Mrs J Gaines' father, Daniel Clark, made anterior to [ that, bequeathing her all his estates. But she had a more serious uatrie to tight in the outset, upon ' questions raised bv the holders of the property as to iho fact of the'wi!! >!!!nn which she based"her i claim and tonchine - her Witimacvas a daughter of ii Daniel Clark. She first heard of this will accidentally, some , thirty odd years ago, from an eye witness of its execution, her father's best friend, at that time living at Havana, and who had heard of her whereabouts. Mrs Gaines was then, we believe, the wife ' of a Mr Whitney, a worthy and enterprising man, and the news to her was a complete surprise ; for < her father had died when she was a child in years, i and her guardians had kept her in total ignorance ; on the subject She forthwith proceeded to an investigatiou of her case; but before she had unra- ( veiled its mysteries her husband died, from the violence and persecution other enemies ; and she, in the struggle for existence, was left a poor widow, ' with three helpless children upon her hands. In this extremity, though, resolved to establish her good name and her rights as the one great purpose of her life, she was shortly brought to the verge of despair, when Major-General Gaines, of the United States Army, learning of her story and her distress, and believing in the justice of her cause, sought her out in her humble lodgings at New Orleans, and volunteered his assistance. Such an offer at that crisis, from such a man, was like the veritable appearance, of a good fairy. The General was captivated by the fair widow ; but, like 'ichivalrous soldier, he stated that considering their ages he could not presume to talk of marriage ; he would leave her perfectly free upon that point; but in any event she might count upon his services in her cause. The young widow accepted the offer and the man, and, as the wife of General Gaines, worth a quarter of a million, she soon brought her case before the courts. His fortune was sunk in the litigation, and she, in the lapse of years, again was left a widow, without the means needed to cope with the powerful league of her wealthy adversaries. Upon the strength of her cause, however, she still contrived to tight them from court to court, frequently baffled, often penni less—but never dismayed—an indomitable little woman, dispossessed, engaged in the unequal contest of the law against the holders of twenty millions of her property. At length, in 18G0, she gained a decree of the Supreme Court of the United States, establishing her claim as the legitimate heiress of her father and the validity of his will bequeathing her his estates. Then the war of the rebellion interposed, and for five years cut off all further proceedings. l At its close claims of a rightful possession by the city of New Orleans and other parties of large amounts of her property, resting upon a previous will, were brought into the local courts and ear-1 1 ' ried thence up to the Supreme Court of the United I States, where they were decided in her favor on ' Monday last. Thus she becomes the wealthiest ■ woman in the United States, and still apparently I not over sixty years of age. Her case is one of! the most remarkable of its class on record ; her history, embracing her successes and defeats, her ; troubles and trials in connection with this case is , one of the strangest of romances. She has become, ' through her long experience, a learned lawyer in ' the most difficult branch of the profession, and is • still one of the most charming of her sex. She has fought one of the most unequal and unpro- ' niising conflicts in all the annals of litigation ; 1 she has achieved one of the completest and greatest > victories, and long may she live to enjoy it.