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Show I HALF MILLION IS INVOLVED intricate Problems for Ferry Estate. Much of the Property in Question Is in Park Testimony la Being- Taken Horo for Use in Courts of Michigan. Michi-gan. Intrlcato legal questions, d Ml cult mathematical problems and over half a million dollars worth of property are Involved In the testimony now being takon before Reporter John "W. Christy In the United States District courtroom. It has also a bearing on the fortunes of pdwnrd P., W. Mont and Edward S. Ferry, throe well-known citizens of Utah. Ever since the tenth of June the respective re-spective nttornoys, Henry C. Hall of Colorado Sprlngu and E. B. Crltchlow, for the Michigan heir, who aro the plaintiffs, and Joseph T. Richards and W. IT. Dickson for tho defendant, Edward Ed-ward P. Ferry, have been questioning witnesses, examining documents and verifying records tending to throw light on the source of the Ferry millions. "Witnesses Esnniined. Senator Thomas Kearns and George W. Lnmbourne, secretary of the Anchor Mining company, were tho witnesses who were examined yesterday, before the commissioner. On account of tho Innp IIiha flint hai oIsidrm! slnr J ho I business transactions being Inquired into in-to were made, the testimony token must necessarily bt disconnected and rover a groat deal of ground having no apparent direct bearing upon the main dsaueH Involved. Senator Kearns testified concerning the development of the Park City mines In which he Is interested, of the formation forma-tion of tho Kearns-Kelth company and the claims which went Into it. Mr. Lambourne's testimony rolated mainly to the absorption of tho old Anchor company by the Daly-Judge company. Harvey J. Jones, secretary of the Woodslde Mining company, woh called for examination, but refused to testify on account of his being In the employ of the guardian of Edward P. Ferry, who la the defendant In the case. Will Take a "Week. Tt will be fully a week beforo the taking tak-ing of testimony In Salt Lake will be concluded and. after that, evldenco will be secured In the same manner in California, Cali-fornia, it la said. Even after all this mailer Is submitted and examined by the trial court and a decision rendered the ease will certainly be carried to the Supreme court of Michigan, so tha end of the litigation Is far off. The testimony taken here and In California Cali-fornia will be Introduced before the Probate court of Ottawa county, Mich., in which the brother and sisters of Edward Ed-ward P. Ferry are suing for an accounting account-ing and restitution of their father's estate. es-tate. The complications arise from the effort to trace the prollts said to have accrued from the Investment of the parental fortune In Park City mines. Original Ferry Fortune. William M. Ferry, a pioneer missionary, mission-ary, died In Grand Haven, Mich., leaving leav-ing a fortune of about 5200.000 and a will directing that It should be divided Into equal parts, of which his three .ons should receive one quarter each and his three daughters the remaining fourth. Edward P. Ferry was named as executor exe-cutor of tho will. The other heirs were Thomas W. and William M. Ferry and Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Eastman. East-man. Thomas W., who was for many years United States Senator from Michigan, and acting president of the Senate during dur-ing Grunt's administration, was engaged en-gaged In the lumber business with his "brother, Edward P., under tho firm name of Ferry & Brother, 'in western Michigan. Edward P. Ferry loft his homo In 1&S7 and enme Wost. hrlnplnir the undistributed estate of his father. It la contended by the petitioner that with his own money and money from Hj the ostoto he purchased property In California and Invested heavily In tho Park City mines. His Park City In-vestments In-vestments became Immensely valuable B nnd have created a fortune of more B than a million. . B Firm Becomes Involved. gM In 1SS3 the firm of Ferry & Brother Bj became Involved. Its outstanding pa- B) pore, amounting to nearly a million dol- lars, threatened to be discredited. In Bj this emergency. William M. and the three sisters signed over their shares In B their father'H estate to save the credit B ? in" urm In which Thomas W. and V, Richard P. were partners. Bankruptcy j was averted chiefly through the curn- B! lngs of the Park City mines. In 1R02 Edward P. Ferry, who became B a prominent man in Utah, was elected 1 to the Territorial Legislature. About 1 the same time his mind failed com- Bi plftoly and his business was managed B by his eons and brothers. It became MMY apparent in 1900 that his mind would j never be restored and W. V. Rice was B appointed us administrator of his es- B lite. The Michigan helra In 1008 ap- mmV, rle1 to Lne court ln that State for tho j appointment of a new executor for their B father's will and also demanded an ac- B counting and tho distribution of the B T-roperty. They claimed not only the original sum committed to tho caro of mmm Edward P. Ferry, but the profits ac- rrulng from thw Investments In which K It had been used. B! Much of the disputed fortune is stilt Bi Invested In mining stocks. The estate B: includes 18,000 sharos of Silver King, 30.000 shares of Kearns-Kclth and Ftock ln various other mlnoB and In banks. Hj While the plaintiffs have set no value 1 on their claims, the testimony already H taken before the commissioner show Hj that the usufruct on what they assert i tn have been their original shares of j the es tat, raises their claims to somc- thing over a half million dollars. Hl It is contended by Edward P. Fer- ry's guardian at litem, David D. Er-wln Er-wln of Muskegon, Mich., that at the time of the failure of Ferry & Brother In 1883, In Michigan, where the firm was conducting lumber business under the management of Thomas W. Ferry, and said failure being occasioned very largely by stock speculations of the Senator, In which the firm name was used by him, a large lndebtness accrued, ac-crued, und at that time to Insure Its payment, Edward P. Ferry transferred all of his own property as well as that belonging to the firm, and ln addition thereto, received authorizations from the residuary legatees, the petitioners herein, empowering him to use all of the funds of the estate which he then held or might ever hold, as executor, for that purpose, and pursuant to said powers, he did subsequently and within the next year or two. transfer all of said property for the paymenfof said Indebtedness. It Is denied by the guardian, representing repre-senting Edward P.. Ferry, that any of the money of the estate of his father ever came to Utah, or was Invested here In any manner, or that the petitioners pe-titioners have any Interest whatever therein. Edward P. Ferry, when ho first came here, was Interested with Thomas W. Ferry in the Marsac Mining Min-ing company Park City townsltc, and other enterprises which were not profitable, profit-able, it Is claimed, but that their business busi-ness relations were severed at the time of the failure referred to, and that Edward Ed-ward P. Ferry embarked In mining enterprises en-terprises subsequent to that time which have become profitable, and out of the same has paid over a million of Indebtedness Indebt-edness of the nature referred to. Ho Becomes Incompetent. In 1E02 he became Incompetent, and subsequently his business was conducted con-ducted by his business friends until 1900, when Ills sons wore appointed his cuaraians, iook possession of his estate es-tate and have since continued to manage man-age It. The last accounting was mado ln 1S7L From that time until 18S3, tho time of the failure, twelve years, whllo all the parties were living and the facts and cirmcumstances were fresh ln tho minds of all concerned, no accounting was asked of Edward P. Ferry ln this connection, says the defendant- From 18S3 to 1S92, at tho time of Mr. Ferry's Incapacity, a period of nine years, no such acountlng was asked. From 1S92 to 1903, a period of eleven years, no accounting ac-counting was ttskod from those representing repre-senting Mr. Ferry and no proceedings were had to that end, thus covering the period of thirty-two yearn Tho business busi-ness of Mr. Ferry during this time has been extensive and varied. Ho himself, on acount of his mental condtlon, Is In such a poeltlon that he lo unable to account ac-count or explain any of tho transactions transac-tions In connetion with this .matter. Many Havo Died. Many of those most familiar with his buslnesa affaire havo died. Three fires In various parts of the country have destroyed de-stroyed his books, papers and docu-mcntp docu-mcntp and It Is contended by those representing rep-resenting him that, had the petitioners or any of tbem felt themselves entitled to an accounting, that request should have been made when Mr. Fern was ln a condition to do so hlmsvlf and the evidence was accessible. It Is contended con-tended that, were Mr. Ferry In a position posi-tion to manaxc his own affairs. Instead of the court finding any sum to b due petitioners several times the amount which Is said to be unaccounted for In this estate would be found to bo due Edward P. Ferry. Following the disposition' of the caws now on trial more litigation Is In prospect, pros-pect, resulting from the death of Thomas W. Ferry, which occurred In 1K9C He died Intestate and left no lineal lin-eal heirs and hence his surviving brothers and slstera claim th property which would have come to them had the Ferr- estate been distributed according ac-cording to their ideaa before his death. |