MILLIONAIRE'S WILL

Shannon News, 22 March 1927, Page 3

MILLIONAIRE'S WILL

A DOZEN CLAIMANTS. SYDNEY WOMAN'S HOPES. There arc in Australia about a dozen claimants to the estate, now in chancery, of the late Sir Thomas Hall, concerning which a cable message was published recently. The amount awaiting distribution is estimated at £1,500,000. More than a century ago a prosperous Yorkshireman, Sir Thomas Hall, married Mary Ann Wilson, of his own village. The marriage settlements which were then made indicated the disposal of one-third of the knight's estate, which was then a considerable one, in favour of his wife. For reasons which are still obscure, that third interest in the estate, which, is now "in Chancery," and which is assessed at a value of £1,500,000, has not yet been distributed. A cable message lately published 3tated that Alfred Davis, a music hall press agent, of Tottenham, claims to be one of the three direct-line descendants of the late Sir Thomas Hall. The other two, named, by Davis are Amelia Pinkerton, of Sydney, and Mrs. Sulley, of Vancouver. Mrs. Emily Amelia Miles (formerly Pinkerton) has been interviewed at the Cottage Hospital, at Manley, Sydney, where she was waiting to receive news of the progress of her husband, Mr. A. G. Miles, a well-known boatman of Bay View, who is at present receiving medical attention. "Mrs. Amelia Pinkerton," said Mrs. Miles, "is now dead. She was my grandmother, and she was not a claimant for the Hall millions. It was my grand-aunt, Mrs. Wallace, of

Petersham, a sister of Amelia Pinkerton, who first instituted an inquiry into the disposal of the money in dispute My grand-aunt is still living, in residence in Petersham, and, though the inquiries which she initiated wero fruitless, we still claim that our rights in the millions are intact."

Mrs. Miles said that her brother James Pinkerton, who is in business at Camden, on the Ne'pean River, holds a copy of the original will of th< late Sir Thomas Hall. It was plainly shown in that will that all the heirs and assigns of the late Mary Ann Wilson, his wife, are entitled to sharein the distribution of the portion of the estate which fell to her. "I should explain," continued Mrs. Miles, "that there are not less than a dozen descendants of Sir Thomas Hall in Australia—all of them qualified to share in the estate. "But I must admit that in my own case, the money would be very welcome. While I am far from destitute the fact is that I cannot see far beyond the next two years. My husband is in hospital, and only to-day my son, who drives a bus, was unfortunate enough to have an accident, in which a child's leg was broken. What can you do with luck like that? We are related to the famous Pinkerton firm of American detectives. Allan Pinkerton, of that firm, is my cousin."