Like Ali Baba’s Cave.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43075, 30 March 1907, Page 2

Like Ali Baba’s Cave.

SOVEREIGNS AND CHEQUES IN WASTE PAPER BASKET.

A remarkable story was told before the Master of the Rolls in Dublin, of an eccentric lady’s mansion in Meath, which was said to resemble Ali Baba’s cave A difficulty had arisen in administering the estate of the late Augusta Elizabeth Magan, formerly of Dublin and Killyon Manor, Meath, who died, unmarried, last year, leaving personal estate valued at £59,000. A valuer, who had been sent to make an inventory, said at Killyon Manor where Miss Magan had resided prior to her death, every passage and every room was packed with parcels and packages of all kinds. Piled on furiture, underneath it, and littering the floor were packages, deed boxes, etc. On the vestibule and main stairway the litter was knee deep and it took three days to clear her bedroom alone.

Every apartment in the mansion was in the same condition, but the most astonish - ing discovery was that amongst this accumlation were money and securities for money, jewellery, and valuables of every description. Bank notes for small and large amounts adhered to old newspaper wrappers on the floors and in waste-paper baskets. Sovereigns and coins of smaller value were found at almost every step, And in tea-cups and kitchen utensils and in many heaps of rubbish £5 notes were discovered. "When the solicitors came to examine the great pile of deed boxes large sums of money and uncasbed cheques which had been lying there for 50 years were brought to light. Valuables were found in piled-up rubbish heaps, and cheats broken open were found filled with silver plate and plated ware, and there was a vast amount also of valuable furniture and costly wearing apparol. When the lady’s house in Dublin, which had been closed for 30 years, was opened it was found even in a worse condition. The Master of the Rolls made an- order for the administration to be proceeded with by the Court officials. (