Heir to £7,000,000.

Manawatu Herald, 31 July 1902, Page 3

Heir to £7,000,000.

Mr Peter O’Rorke, who carries on the business of a fishmonger at two shops in Belfast, says the Daily Mail, in the early part of this year received an inkling of bis wonderful luck of being heir to £7,000,000. Drumnahare Castle, County Leitrim, is a well-known place ... in the land of Breffni, and there countless generations of O’Rorkes have seen the light. In 1888 one Pandrig (PRdrke resolved to seek his fortune in America. His first aot. onr reaching the States was to discard his Celtic Christian name* He called himself Page O’Rorke, and as Page O’Rorke he set about amassing hia great fortune. It was the day, of big things, of mushroom towns and cities that sprang up in a night, and the heir of Breffni went into the real estate business. He bought large tracts of land, and fortune smiled upon him. His profits on purchases and resales in Chicago and New York realised millions. For years this went on, and meanwhile the family at Drumnahare had disappeared. Many died, others migrated to various parts of Great Britain, and oommnuioition With the American millionaire ceased. In 1868 he died, leaving no will. He had married, and there was one child, but both the wife and the heir predeceased him, and there was nothing but a .memorandum in his diary, to the effect that his fortune should go to ms next of kin, or failing them, should be divided among the O of Drumnahare Castle, fo indicate his wishes. The estate at that time was valued at £7,000.000. Every effort was made to find the heirs. I - vertisements were inserted m the Irish and American papers, and there were no claimants. Germans, Frenchmen, Poles, and Jews sought to prove their title without success. An army of O’Rorkes failed to satisfy the American authorities of their bona- " and meanwhile the mffhons K Ja January last Mr Wxmk

order that the estate might be woupd up, After many inquiries, and as the result of some interviews with Mr Peter O’Eorke, he concluded that in the Cormao Street fishmonger he had at last discovered the grandson of Pendrig’s brother, the rightful heir. Mr O’Eorke goes to America in July to prosecute the matter to a conclusion. He is about 34 years of age, and has a family of seven.