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Show jm.SALT XAKE, TKIROX SOmYJUQJ?XI:G, APGrST 30,. 1525. M FOffl 61?, 1 IntothTFight for. the Crabtree MillionsCmshes a Mysterious Claimant , with a Tale of Hidden Love andcTFarmlyTBible That Lands Her in Jail - -- . AM the daughter ' Lotu Crsbtree. they want to Jail in simply pat tease I hart rotated to deny my owa mother, very well! Bat in the end right will prevail" Ida Ji me MayBlankenbatg.oi Oklahoma. Tulsa, On all the evidence, the it lett than a btaten adventurest." Judge Brest in the Suftok Probate Court, Boston. Such are the astounding contrasting statements that have thrown Boston into the most extraordinary legal controversy In the history ef that conservative city. actress. That the once world-famoLotta Crabtree, had a secret romance, separation husband, a baby, and a tragic bomb-shell during her early life, was the New shook the city that England assertion In the suit of Ida May Blankenburg to claim a ihare'in the three million dollar estate of the lete star: The court denies the elairo; Mrf. Blankenburg clings to her , story; and the public is in a quandary What is the truth? Is Ida May Blankenehild by burg really Ldtta Crabtrees secret marriage; or la she a designing fortun- V 1 e-seeker? LotU Crabtree, who was known to be the only actress who ever hiade millions of dollars by her art and who doubled her fortune after her retirement from the to charity, sUge, left her entire estate half of it in the form of a trust fund for the World Wars disabled and their dey pendents. During her long and exception-alltuecewful career aa the foremost comedienne of the day, ahe was always actress and spoken of as the "maiden . never was known to have married. Not even her most intimate friends had romance , an inkling of the supposed hidden in the life of the star. But no sooner had anthe disposition of her propertya been veritable nounced to the 'public than horde descended upon the eourta in an effort to have the' will broken on the grounds that they were relatives and entitled to a share of the estate. Eventually all but two of these claimants The were eliminated. to fight narrowed down ahd Mrs. Bldnkenburg Mrs. CarlotU Cockburn, of Denver, Colorado, who said she was a cousin. Both these women presented elaims that eouldn t be conscientiously ignored. And the delving into the personal life of "La Petit Lotta was begun. But her history, as It was known to the public, subyielded nothing to stantiate the story that Lotu had been married and had a child. of a The daughter Scotchman, named James Crabtree, who emigrated with his wife and two children to California during the early days of the gold rush, Lotta began her career at the age of six by dancing and singing for the.miners. As she grew je 1 d e r she traveled front one camp to another, always accom- - Lotu Crabtree panied by her mother, Ju,t Before a At Right, Snapshot of the Judge Who Branded Har An produced which apparently proved Mrs. Blankenburg! contention. Witnesses were introduced who completely denied it. Friends appeared from all quarters of the country to testify as to whether or not Lotta was ever married. "If Lotta Crabtree was fever married or the mother of a child, stated Miss Dorah Ann Crabtree, of Birkenhead, England, a cousin of the famous star, "she kept it an absolute secret from the entire world, Not even her family knew it. "Ever since I first knew Lotta, when she was just a young girl, I Vi John Crabtree, gave her and discovered - for the first time that she was the daughter of Lotta. But the court was not impressed by Mrs. Blankenburg1 story of the Biblea. In. fact, it denounced her in no uncertain terms. 'Judge Prest in Suffolk Probate Court said: My duty as a public servant, unpleasant though that duty be, require me to say something determinedly. "He continued, "The case of Ida May Blankenburg la pockmarked with fraud. "This claimant aweara that she has made extended trips East, West and South with Lotta. Yet she could not even identify Lqttae life-lik- e photograph. "Since LotUa death, however, the naa hfeard and learned, too, I think, storiea alluring, yet sinister; stories that mada her and her agenU and promoters lust for money; stories that so seduced her as to deny her own mother, whose own eweet voice, now hushed, sang to her that very lullaby; stories that led her to deny her own real parents, in order that aha might rob our soldiers of the World War of the benefits of the trust fund in this estate. - Said the Judge, "This woman did not even hesitate to suppress the Crabtree family Bible and to use apother Bible aa a .vehicle for fraud. On all the evidence she is nothing less than a brazen adventuress! The judge not only ordered Mrs. Blankenburg to furnish bail of $1,000 on n perjury charge, but included a charge of obstructing justice. "For the reason, said Judge Prest, the defendant knowingly and corruptly came into court with a wholly fictitious and fraudulent claim of lunshiP' and supported that claim by giving perjured testimony not only on one r contemporary of Lottaa, and at one an actress. According to her, Lotta, died "an ojd maid, succumbed to the admirer m London, wiles of a stage-dohad a child the year after her marriage to George Manning and brought the baby to this country. "1 Was training to become an actress to loin John Stetsons company, she said, "and in the school where I was studying, in Boston, I met Lotta Crabtree. She was have never heard she a single word a recognised actress then. One day said to me, What would you think if you about her marrying or having a were in your teens in a foreign country child. And so far and met somebody you thought perfect, as I know, no but who left you alone to struggle for other members of yourself? Thats a hat hurts a woman. the family that I My husband, left me stranded after two short months. Then I came back to this have been in touch with ever heard country. Miss Couhig continued, "And .then she anything of it But Miss Mary told me about the child. She went West, she said, and placed it with friends. Lotta , Couhig, of Lynn, Mass took quite. showed me a picture, of a baby, too, and the other stand. said, May, this is my pet. -- 1 asked Miss Couhig is a why she didnt keep the baby with her-alittle old lady, a she said, T will never tell the or nd was a tremendous hit with the miners, who would throw gold pieces,' jewelry, everything they possessed at her feet. When her father died her mother became her manager, mentor and constant companion. Lotu made her first appearance in New She York at Niblos Saloon in 1861. played chiefly in musical comedies, her greatest success being "Mamselle At the height of her success, in 1888, and without any farewell tout, she suddenly retired from the stage never to reappear again on the boards. After her withdrawal, with a fortune which even then ran into millions Lotu endeavored to find amusement and interest in a dozen different ventures. One of her hobbies was a racing stable. She owned many famous horses and spent a great deal of money. But die also made a great deal of money. By clever real estate investmenU she more than doubled her fortune and at the time of her death owned two hotels in Boston, a stock farm, a theatre and country place in New jersey as well as other valuable property. The recipient of unprecedented applause and adulation, the adored favorite of the sUge for 25 years, Lotu Crabtree never had a scandal attached to her name. There never was any corroborated public announcement of an engagement, to say nothing of marriage. Now, only a few months after her death, comes a woman who cla.ims to be Lottaa daughter. The battle was waged with furious assertions and contradictions. Testimony was Photograph of LotU Crahtroo in tho Heyday of Her Glory. world my secret The entrance of Major-GenerClarence R.- - Edchief of tho former wards, Yankee Division, into tho case caused excitement in Boston. He had been called to the stand thrtwgh the effort of Mr. Blankenburg, since he is one of the administrator! of the will. But his testimony did not help the claimants case. He said that he had seen at some time another will of LotU Crabtrees, one which she destroyed In favor of tha last one. He had not found, ha declared, the slightest evidence at aliy time that Lotu had had a loe affair and had heard no mention of a child. Furthermore, he added that never among the actress things was there found a tintype of the sort' Miss Couhig showed in court, saying it was a duplicate of one Mise Crabtree had. al Tho Tintypo Said by Mr. Ba Blank-anbu- rg to Lottaa Deaouncad in Court a Bogus. Coowt!. f IKS, by fetamatliMl Jtotu a ba Oral BftUla The testimony piled up. Mystery followed mystery. The most conspicuous of these was the case of the loot family Bible. Mrs. Blankenburg claimed that there was a Holy Book in Which Lotu had written something oa the flyleaf which would prove the existence of a daughter. This, she Said, had been given to her by John ..Crabtree, son of LotUs brother. But an- other Bible figured in the case. Mrs. Blankenburg had gene to the home of Joseph and Edmund Crabtree, at Drury, Illinois, and there had borrowed another copy. And this wa stolen i According to Mrs. Blankenburg, during . the ride by motor from Drury, they stopped to change a tire. Another car drove up, the chauffeur helped therfi, and later, when they were on the road once more, the Bible had1 disappeared. In this second volume, Mrs. Blankenburg claims there was a slip of paper which she declared was of material assistance to her case. This slip was taken by Mrs. Blankenbur when she read the inscription on the flyleaf of the Bible her cousin,. Btfbti I occasion "but on many. Mps. Blankenburg in defending herself I am not afraid, because I am said, sincere. 1 am the daughter of Lotta CrabIf they want to put me in jail tree, simply because I have refused to deny my own mother, very well. But in the end , right will prevail. y "The judge is. simply wrong in hia judgment, thats all," added Mrs. Blankenburg. Did ycu know that I am a grand- mother? That I have three grandchildren? splendid boys, who are now married, and one daughter. Do you think I am a brazen adventuress? Why, even if I wanted to corrupt witnesses, I didnt have the money t do it. -Whatever money X have is tied up in m oil fields. I have rto ready cash. And am charged with robbing the soldiers. Its almost too absurd to discuss. Imagine me, ft" mother and a grandmother, trying that. What money my mother (Lotta) left belongs to me. . She promised it to me many times, often telling me that .she meant to deed all her money and property to me by transfer. Then I was under the belief that she wag ijny half sister. In spite of the courts denunciation of Mrs. Blankenburg and her astonishing cla m to be the daughter of Lotta 'Crabtree, speculation still persists. Was ' Lottas retired life really the result of an unhappy marriage in her youth? Did she aacnfice herself and her baby if she had one to her career? Was she a brokenshe a hat the or hearted. mother world has always known her ns, an "pld-mai- d millionaire! I raised a family of three |