LEGACIES OF ILL-LUCK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5364, 14 December 1928, Page 1

LEGACIES OF ILL-LUCK.

HEIRESS BECOMES PAUPER. RE HES NOT WANTED. When the late Mr Clifford, a resident of England, made his, daughter a gift of £17,000, he could never have dreamed, that the result of this geher-, ous present would be to| force ’her into the Bankruptcy Court (says a London paper). Yet that was the result. The money was in £1 shares of an assurance company, which afterwards, failed and was liquidated. But the shares had never bean fully pail up, and by law the holder of such shares is bable for. the whcjle of the unpaid) balance. This, with unpaid calls and interest, came to £16,781, and ince Miss Clifford could not pay it she was made bankrupt.

If one suddenly heard, that someone had left him £lOOO one should be highly delighted. Yet there are people whcj stand in terror of great riches and their, responsibilities. A girl named Sonia Lauricz when told the was heiress to £2.000,000 poisoned herself. A naturalised; American (named: Kaufman had a letter to say that he had inherited a fortune in Germany, but the lawyer added that he must claim the legacy within, a certain time. His doctor told Kaufman that he was riot fit for a long journey, but Kaufman vowed that this was nonsense, and started from New York with his wife and child in the liner St. Paul. Two days opt and he had a serious heart attack, and on the third day he died and was buried at sea.

Precisely the same fate befej a a Scottish lady, Miss Agnes Grey, who had sailed from Liverpool to claim a Large fortune left her by a relative in Mexico. She also was warped by her doctor that she was not fit to travel. It is a curious coincidence that she was also a passenger on the St. Paul.

With his last breath the miiser Maximilian Harshel tried to whisper, to his adopted daughter Bella the secret of where he. left his money, but death cut short the words explaining te whereabouts of. his fortune, which was known to exceed £200,000. After his death a will was found, leaving everything to the adopted daughter, but giving, no details of where the money was. The girl spent years and every she possessed in a search for the money, but never succeeded in finding it. In the end she died a pauper, the unfortunate victim of her lost legacy. One cannot claim a legacy without giving his real name and submitting to certain legal formalities. An Italian woman, a cook named Teresa Tirbne, was informed) that a relative in France had died, and that she was next heir, to a fortune Of sojne £14,000. She borrowed enough to pay her fare to Lyons, and successfully claimed her money. Then she rashly allowed herself to, be interviewed by a reporter, and her photograph was, published.

A detective, happening to see the photograph, put on. his thinking cap, ~and presently turned) up the police re- ' cords. He fqundl that the Woman had been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment some years earlier, but had forfeited her bail. So before enjoying her legacy Teresa had to serve her sentence*

Legacies are sopaetimes accom-i panied by conditions unpleasant to the legatee. In a recent <yuse a poor London woman was left a house, with a proviso) that a man and his Wife should be allowed to remain on in two rooms, rent free.

The legatee herself went to live in the house, but found that she could not get on with the tenants. She offered to buy them.out, but the, man sc.ornfully refused to move. Matteis went from bad to worse, and in the end the unfortunate woman poisoned herself and died.