Snuff Dreams

When Manhattan lawyers were no longer permitted or willing to enter the case of John Peter Zenger in 1735, an eminent Philadelphian named Andrew Hamilton was called in to defend Printer Zenger on charges of seditious libel of New York's Governor. Indignation which importation of a Philadelphia lawyer created among Manhattan burghers quickly changed to admiration, however, when Lawyer Hamilton's brilliant defense secured Printer Zenger's acquittal, established freedom of the U. S. Press. Also established was the folk-usage of "Philadelphia lawyer" as a synonym for shrewdness.

In Philadelphia last week there was called in the Orphans' Court a case which was such a case that 550 Philadelphia lawyers were needed, and in addition, 2,500 from outside the prosperous pale of Philadelphia's bar. Proceedings in Case No. 2552 of 1932 are to determine the heirs, if any, of Henrietta Edwardina Garrett, deceased. Claiming her estate of more than $20,000,000 are some 17,000 persons from every State in the U. S. and 29 foreign countries, each of whom has been assured of a "day in court."

Days in Court will be many indeed, hearings on a two-per-week basis have been scheduled into April, providing for "days in court" for 275 claimants. At that rate it will take 15 years to hear the "heirs." To make this unlikely the court has distributed a complicated questionnaire to fill out which asks for such information as the full name and place of marriage of the one of Henrietta Garrett's 16 great -great -grandparents through which the claimant's relationship to her is asserted. Already 280 "common ancestors" have been put forward.

First day in court last week was as dull as anything with prospects of continuing 15 years might be. In the auditorium of Philadelphia's Manufacturers & Bankers Club 250 persons--the first four platoons of a division of 17,000 claimants, 3,050 lawyers--heard a handful of witnesses go to the witness stand microphone to answer lengthy questioning. Chief witness of the day was William J. Proud, for 38 years superintendent of Laurel Hill Cemetery, where Henrietta Garrett and her close kin are buried. He identified pictures of tombstones on Lot No. 320, Section X.

Snuff. Fabulous is the story of Henrietta Edwardina Garrett's $20,000,000 fortune. It came from snuff. On board William Penn's plague-ridden ship Welcome when it arrived in the U. S. in 1682 was a Garrett. He prospered in new Philadelphia with a small snuff shop on Front Street. His descendants prospered, also in snuff. One of these was Walter Garrett, born in 1831. He married Henrietta Edwardina Schaeffer, a girl of humble origin, in 1872 after a romance which began on a front porch which she was scrubbing.

When Walter Garrett died in 1895 his will disposed of $6,000,000 to his wife, directed her to have her will drawn in favor of charitable institutions because he did not want his fortune squandered on her relatives or his. Lectured Tobacconist Garrett: "Do not let any scalawags get any." Henrietta Garrett outlived her husband 35 years, dying in 1930 at 80 in a dingy house at No. 404 South Ninth Street, which had no electric light. She left no will.

Case No. 2552. Henrietta Garrett did leave, however, a scribbled "request" to the manager of her investments, Charles S. Starr, who had increased the $6,000,000 left by Walter Garrett to $17,000,000 in 1930. Since then the estate has been fattened further. The note the widow left said: "Dear Mr. Charles S. Starr--Give you my estate and belongings which are named in my book per a/c the following amounts: Give to Henrietta G. Ferguson the sum of $10,000. . . ." Thus she gave away $62,500 to friends and servants, but omitted the residuary phrase: "All the rest I give to. . . ." Neither did she have witnesses for her note.

Stockbroker Starr and Frank G. Marcellus, who claims he is a cousin of the late Mrs. Garrett, quietly became administrators of the residuary estate, but four years passed before a public accounting was made at the instance of persons who became aware of the fortune. Two years ago, when the court was to pass on the audit, the fourth floor of Philadelphia's City Hall was as crowded as a County Fair, and Case No. 2552 of 1932 became a real problem for the Orphans' Court which William Penn set up 248 years ago. Within four months, 3,000 claims were filed, since then 14,000 more.

There have been murder and suicide connected with the case, a reputedly false will has been filed, new pictures stamped "Made in Germany" have popped up in family albums, the German Government has entered the case through Adolf Hitler's consul in Philadelphia, much litigation has been started, some of it settled.

Most important was the decision of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court excluding all of the relatives of Walter Garrett as claimants.

Orphans' Court was the name of a relatively obscure London justice hall after which William Penn modeled his Philadelphia court to handle estates, wills and trusts. Kingpin in any distribution of Henrietta Garrett's estate is stubby, scholarly Judge Allen M. Stearne, 54, who went to England to dig into the origins of the court in which he sits. No snuffer, Judge Stearne likes to smoke his pipe when out of the Orphans' Court, philosophize about his work. Says he: "We do have contact with the rattling skeletons and the filth and the slime, yet on occasion life's most delightful romances and amusing comedies are unfolded before our very eyes. . . ." Actual conduct of the hearings of Case No. 2552 was assigned to Master William M. Davison Jr., a Scotsman, and to Examiners Clinton A. Sowers and George Ross, whose fees in the case are expected to top $500,000.

Escheat. In the contest for Henrietta Garrett's $20,000,000 estate is the State of Pennsylvania, which asserts there are no legal heirs, therefore the fortune must escheat, i.e., revert to the State under intestate laws. Also plugging for the money is Administrator Starr, whose claim that Mrs. Garrett's phrase "Give you" meant he should get all left after paying out $62,500 will be presented in court by former U. S. Senator George Wharton Pepper, a Philadelphia lawyer. Mr. Starr has already received some Garrett snuff money. His brother, the late Isaac Starr, was named residuary legatee by the will of Walter Garrett's sister Julia, whose adviser he had been. After settlements with her relatives in which he was represented by Senator Pepper, Isaac Starr received $6,800,000. When he died he left $50,000 to Brother Charles.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.