A ROMANTIC LAWSUIT.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3146, 19 March 1879, Page 1

A ROMANTIC LAWSUIT.

A carious case has just been engaging the attention of the Paria tribunals. A young man who lived in a small town in the wilds of the Human Sfeppei.many years ago, gradually improved in hii business until he at length emerged pu * the Bourse as the grrtt Meyer Garfunkel, t the happy possessor of a fortune of , several millions of francs. He bad married a Muscovite of rare beautyMile Rosalie Loury—and he ended by adopting another Mile Loury, whom his wife gave ©ut to be her sister. 'In 1876 M. Gartunkel died, leaving the bulk of his fortune to his wife, and adopted daughter, but excepting therefrom the sum of 1,500,000 francs,: : which was bequeathed to a Mrae. Babinovitz, living at the town of Bodmiz,; in; Russia/ >Nofv, this Mme. Babinovitz has a curious'history according to hep own showing. She declares herself :io be -Mhe only daughter of M. Garfunkcj by ,a widownamed Taoule, whom tfe* wedded in his poorer days, when he wa Jknown as Meyer. In support of her pretensions Mme. Rabinovitz presents several letters written to herself by t l;e millionairej'inlwhich he addresses her as " Ma chere unique et bienaimee filte," and on the strength of it she claims not merely the 1,500,000 irancs left her by M. Gartunkel, but also the money bequeathed to the two Lotlrys. It appears that, according to the French law as well as the Eussian, no one'is allowed to adopt a child while he lias one still living. Hence M. Gart.unkel's act w^as utterly., illegal,' supposing Mme. Babinovitr, or Bebecca, as she was called, to have been his child. A most romantic and sensational lawsuit* bus, therefore, originated out of this case, which has, ss'l iaid, already engaged the^ attention of the Paris tribunals.—Paris Correspondence.