| Show MARK HOPKINS MILLIONS foet FOB some days past the thought was entertained that an amicable settle ment in the hopkins searles will case would be finally reached the latest latent news new a from salem mass dispels this belief there the preliminaries are already arranged for a long and bitter contest the lawyers engaged on both sides bides are men of national reputation mr searles to is represented by butler stillman and hubbard of new york dodge dolge dodge of boston and solomon lincoln also of boston on theother the other hand timothy hopkins la is represented by joseph choate of new york ex J judge VV C E endicott of salem E T burley of lawrence russell y U wilson and ex Judge boalt of san francisco this is a formidable array of legal talent all the way through judge endicott presented notice of the contest on the part of timothy hopkins at salem mass on the ath ins dinst though there is still a slight hope entertained that a settlement will be made outside the courts yet the general opinion is that a long fight is imminent and that the courts alone can ultimately settle the ownership of the contested millions this is one of those cases which afford food for the moralist and philosopher every old resident of this fur far western country has heard of mark hopkins Hop kius the many millionaire rail catl road magnate of california healed he died some years ago leaving it was stated a fortune of and a widow an aged woman not no in the best of health he left no children of his own but had however an adopted son named timothy hopkins Hop kius who was regarded in every respect as an actual and legitimate son by both mr and ana mrs hopkins this young mans family name is nolan he was an irish lad whom mark hopkins took a fancy to and legally adopted as his own son this young man grew up in the belief that he be was to inherit the hopkins millions he received all the care fondness and education that a real son of the hopkins house could have received he has so far in life conducted himself in every manner as propriety good citi zenshin and respectability demand lae he has baa in no way corf tied his right to tle the claims of in the hopkins ism family ily at the time of mark hopkins Hopkin death timothy was a recognized member of the family for some time after the de death ath mrs hopkins regarded him as her son and it is said assured him that the bulk of her millions would go to him mrs I 1 op ia bas a twenty one blood relatives with ill all of whom she was on the most tr ta adly fendly and in intimate ti mate terms until her marriage with searl cearlea Se arlea ea which occurred in mass a few years sifter a ft er the death of her birot husband when this marriage took place she was seventy years of age her relatives and her son all combined in denouncing noun cing it searles was a paper hanger by trade he was 45 at the time of the marriage after that mrs hopkins disclaimed all her relatives and her adopted son it ts to said that a will ig agreement was made shortly after the marriage between gearles earle and sand his wire wife this was that mrs searles make a will bequeathing I 1 everything to her husband provided provi deJ she died first he was to make a will bequeathing everything to hia big wife provided he died first As he had bad but a day days 8 wages and she had the trade seemed greatly in his favor two dependent relatives relative ts of mrs searles Se arlee who were receiving stipends of a year each did not receive any more from searles after the death of mrs hopkins I 1 no searles Sear lep there Is one feature in wis this rather peculiar will which challenges tb the attention of all right minded persons it is in the grasping avarice of the man searles he know knew that his big wife had a number of dependent blood relative lelath ep he know knew that timothy hopkins was wan an adopted son and yet he permitted his wife to ignore all the ties of kinship and duty had he be persuaded mrs hopkins to bequeath even a few m millions 11 to relatives and friends public opinion would not be so pronounced against him as it is at present therill the will agreement savors a good deal of the confidence trick practiced by bunco sharps when they plan the robbery of a verdant citizen purses parses or pocket books or satchels areef are exchanged to manifest trust in each other ather but the verdant victim finds that he has been confidences before long of course st beadles arles will make a 91 big fight to retain the millions but he be must patronize the baw law profession pro 2 liberally taki taking ng a politically economic view of these large fortunes perhaps it is better that they should bathus be thus distributed than that they I 1 e permitted to rest in individual hands the cases of fr hopkins of tilden of davis of AT stewart and several others ought to make an object lesson for other mil aires yet in the flesh here are the vast fortunes of these men being wasted in litigation while relatives kinsmen and friends have not received a cent and probably never will had mark hopkins the wisdom to dispose of his bis money among his own and his cifes relatives his industry and economy would have done some good in the world but leaving it as he did he did an injury to his big unfortunate fortunate widow as well as tarnished his own memory it was absolute cruelty to leave the management and disposition of to an invalid woman of 70 Is it any wonder that she looked for help and assistance to a stronger arm and brain Is it any wonder that searles accepted the offer not at all timothy hopkins would no doubt have accepted it himself under the el reu instances and he would have fought as searles now does A wise man might have accepted the widow and contented himself w ith a portion of her wealth but wise men are few and hoggish men are many |
