ROMANTIC WINDFALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81881, 5 November 1906, Page 4

ROMANTIC WINDFALL.

£600,000 AWAITING A LONDON CLERK. Quite a flutter of excitement has been caused in one of the great store firms of London by the news that ;he clerk who superintends the "trouble'" department has recently become heir to some ,£600,000. It should be explained that the "trouble" department is the office to which all queri s and complaints raised by customers R are referred for elucidation.

A London "Daily News'' representative had an interview with Mr C. F.. P. Drouet, the fortunate heir. "I am not so sure." he said, "that I •t-i as much store by the money as >1 me folks would.'' I lost a fortune of £3O 000 once; so money and I are jno '

Quite a romantic little story was unfolded by Mr Drouet. ' Reading a weekly papft one afternoon he saw that a Mr C. C. Knapp. of Beatrice, Nebraska, had died, leaving a fortune of three million dollars. Inquiries were made for next of kin.

"I knew at once that the Mr Knapp referred to via- my cousin,'' said Mr Drouet, '"and that beyond myself he had not another relative living, with the possible exception of one lady, who had not been heard of for years. I had no idea of claiming a share of the fortune at the t mj. I only wanted to be sure about mv living relatives. so I wrote and made enquiries, and now I am going to Nebraska to for myself.'' The history of Mr Drouet's relationship to Mr Knapp is, however, far more interesting. The grandfather of both men was an officer in the British Army, and held the post of Chief Supply Officer in the Bahamas, under the old system of ordnance supply. In later years he was stationed in Canada. During his stay in the Bahamas his daughter married Captain Knapp, whose son, the late C. C, Knacp, settled in Nebraska. Mr Drouet's father was Captain and Brevet-Lieutenant-Colone! Lloyd Rchter Creake Drouet, who acted as A.D.C. to Governor Eyre in Jamaica. The family have always been connected with military affairs. A cousii of Mr Drouet's grandfather was the famous Marshal Drouet, Count D'Elson one of favorite generals, who afterwards became Commander-in-Chief of the French Army. Mr Drouet, who is related to many ooble families of England, is also a nephew by marriage of the Hon. John Burns M.P.