POOR MAN’S FORTUNE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 832, 28 November 1929, Page 11

POOR MAN’S FORTUNE

£IO,OOO IN SAVINGS BANK

MANY FICTITIOUS NAMES A remarkable story of the discovery in the Post Office, after the death of an apparently poor man, of securities and Post Office deposits valued at between £IO,OOO and £II,OOO belonging to him, is told in the report of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies for 1928 issued recently, says a London exchange. The deposits had been made in 10 different names, but the man’s real name was William Frederick Emery, and he was employed by the Civil Service Supply Association at a small salary. The report states that he lived with his sister, Martha Ellen Emery, and apparently had no means except his salary. “At or about the time qf his death,” says the report, “which occurred on August 2, 1927, there were found in his possession 10 deposit books and a large number of certificates for securities in the Post Office Register, the value of which was between £IO,OOO and £II,OOO. “No one knows where the money came from. One deposit book and some of the certificates were in the name of William Emery, printer, at the address at which William Frederick Emery lived. The others were in fictitious names at various addresses. A private address was given in each ease at the opening of the account, but, on application for the purchase of securities, an address was invariably given at some post office. “The whole of the documents in the custody of the Post Office, and the whole of the many addresses entered in the deposit books, with one exception. that of William Jackson, were in the writing of William Frederick Emery. In the case of the one exception, the name of the depositor was written in the book, apparently, by some Post Office official. “Besides the documents, there were found envelopes for the return of the books by the Post Office, and these, including that in the case of William Jackson, were addressed in the handwriting of William Frederick Emery. “Inquiries were made at all the addresses at which the fictitious depositors were supposed to live, and in no case was it found that any such person had ever lived or carried on business there. The Chief Registrar was of opinion that the whole of Ihe deposits and the securities formed part of William Frederick Emery’s estate, and awarded them, subject to payment of the Treasury fee, to Diana Frances Sutcliffe, as administratrix of his estate.”