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Show YOUNG WIDOW mi PIGHT FOR MILLIONS OF HER iFATHER-IN-LAW Disposition of Estate of :Sarauel S. Brown, Pittsburg r Magnate, Heveals Scandal. LEFT MUCH MONEY TO HIS LATEST PET t ! 'Girl at the Last Supplanted Wife or Dead Son in the Old Mori's Affections-Will Was Made as He Lay on Ills Death Bed. "Dcttcr an old man's darling tlmn (J young man's slave," runs tho old i song. Probably Martha E. Lewis will concur, con-cur, but Mrs. draco McQoodwIn Drown, daughter-in-law of tho lato Samuel S. Drown, Smoky City mag-nato mag-nato and multl-mllllonaire, can hardly hard-ly bo expected to. Idolized and petted by her father-in-law for 15 years, taught to consider con-sider herself his heiress, nnd Introduced Intro-duced everywhere as his daughter, sho t finds herself left a paltry $30,000, while her supplantcr, Martha E. Lewis, has been given a sum exceeding exceed-ing $250,000. '' . And a contest In tho courts which i will enrich lawyers and furnish sensa- tlons to satisfy the most scandal- 9 hungry dame is promised. i For Mrs. Drown and all tho rela- I ttves of tho dead millionaire assert I that his latest will, executed on his I death bed, was mado under undue '; lnllucnce and is unjust nnd unfair. Worth Over 20,000,000. Samuel S. Drown died Inst December. Decem-ber. He left an estato scattered all the way between Pittsburg, Now York and New Orleans which is conservn-1 conservn-1 lively estimated at $20,000,000. Ho also left a will which Is tho bono of contention. Mrs. Drown, young widow of tho dead magnate's only son, had been told that she was to bo his beneficiary. bene-ficiary. A goodly portion of tho estate was to havo been hers. Yet, when the will wns read, sho found herself cut off with n pnltry batch of brewery bonds, and these to go should sho remarry. Dnt Miss Lowls, bitter enemy of tho millionaire's daughter-in-law, benefited bene-fited to tho extent of n quarter of a million anil more. Sho had already supplanted tho beautiful Kentucky bello as the head of tho old man's 4 household beforo his death. That was tho last straw; then camo tho open breach. It Is a strange btory how theso two young women camo Into tho llfo of tho millionaire. There, were a son and a daughter whom tho old man . . , Pittsburg, ri. Wllllnm Hrown, Princeton, Ky.: Walt, 1 am coming down that wny thin week, H. 8. llltOWN. For nn answer this enmo back: Can't wnlt. WILL. And this was tho reply: All right. Qo nhcml, CJoil bless you both. Urlng her homo. FATHEll. Dut it wbb not So fated. Will Drown, undisputed heir to tho larger share of his father's millions, did not bring his brldo homo. Sho brought him home in a coffin. Almost tho next day ho fell 111 and was dead within a week. Tho bride-widow, almost al-most 111 with her grief, met her father-in-law nnd went straight to his heart. "You must stay here with us, my dear," said tho millionaire, "and be my daughter, too. I know Will would havo wished It so." Old Man's Daughter Dead. So tho girl stayed nlong with tho old man, nnd yenr after year made herself better loved by him. Then camo another blow his only living child, his daughter Nellie, died In Italy. "I am afraid ray poor old heart will break," said tho old man, bowed under un-der this added weight of woo. Tliero was no one to turn to savo his daughter-in-law now. He called her to him one day soon after tho funeral, and said: "Stay hero with me, for I am left alone. Do the head of my household, and when I dlo you will bo tho same in my will ns If you were my own daughter. And why not? Arc you not the wifo of my dead son, my only boy?" Dut the girl did not need this promise. prom-ise. Sho loved tho old man ns tho father of her boy husband. Her sister sis-ter camo to live with them and sho took her place at tho head of tho Drown household. Tho servants were Instructed to obey her In everything, nnd wherever sho. went sho was introduced in-troduced by tho millionaire as "my daughter Grace, my son's widow, denr to mo ns my own." Everywhere it wns understood that the young widow was to bo his heiress. heir-ess. Folks were told that Mr. Drown's I Idolized. When they grew up moth-lug moth-lug was too good for them. Inception of Romance. Fifteen years ago William Drown, tho millionaire's only son, wns sent r to Kentucky to superintend tho build- Ing of a railroad In which his father was Interested. Thero ho met n blue gross belle beautiful draco McQoodwIn, McQood-wIn, barely turned 10. Tho boy's head was turned. It was plainly lovo nt first sight. Thero wns an ardent courtship, and tho youthful suitor won. Tlut day thero cumo to tho old man In 'Pittsburg this dls-patch: dls-patch: Princeton, Ky, 8. 8. Hrown, Pittsburg. Pi.: , I urn going to ho married to tho dearest girl In tho world. VULU That samo day this wlro went back to Kentucky; ' llfo was Insured for $100,000 In her favor. Martha Lewis Appears. Mrs. Drown's sister married and sho went back to Kentucky with her for a visit. That was tho beginning of tho end. When sho returned she found that Miss Lowls had been asked to live nt tho Drowns'. "Grace," said -tho old millionaire, by way of making clear how things stood, "Just tako Marty and buy her somo things, nnd show her how to wear thorn." "Mnrty" was what Mr. Drown elected elect-ed to call tho pretty girl ha had Installed In-stalled as his protpga In tho big Iiouho. Young Mrs. Drown balked some, but ; sho did ans sho was told. Dut sho refused t'o Introduco tho girl to her friends, and the still was Mr. Drown's entor -when b -went to New Yrk on matters social. Martha E. Lewis -was the daughter of a boat caulker employed by Mr. Drown. When only a child in short dresses the mlllionalro had taken to her because sho reminded htm of his dead daughter -when she was a tiny girl. When sho grew older ho made her his almoner In his many charities, and when she wns out of her teens he had her mado secretary of the Sunday Sun-day school which ho had endowed. difts were showered upon her Just ns the were upon Miss draco Drown. For awhile things went along smoothly smooth-ly enough on tho surface, but Mrs. Drown gradually discovered that sho was being undermined. Miss Lewis finally got control of tho establishment establish-ment and ran It with nn Iron hand. Fnmlly Makes Objections. Tho other Drowns brothers, cousins cous-ins nnd nephews didn't like this nt nil. They demanded that Miss Lewis bo nt least Bunt to live elsewhere and thnt Mrs. draco Drown bo brought back from Kentucky, where she had gone, to give tone to tho household. "Not for a minute," retorted tho old man. "draco has chosen to live away from mo and I will not trouble her." Apparently, however, the aged millionaire mil-lionaire was still fond of his son's widow. Sho spent a part of the season sea-son with Mr. Drown last year and ns tho Christmas holidays wero approaching approach-ing sho received a hurried call to como to tho old man's bedside. Ho was dying. Tho young widow caught the first train. Dut as she sped through tho dnrkness another will was being made In Pittsburg In tho old Drown mansion. man-sion. With n few strokes of the pen nil she had believed was to, bo hers was blotted out. Dut no ono told her this when sho reached Pittsburg tho noxt morning. Young Mrs. Drown was received with open arms. Twenty days later Samuel S. Drown died. During those 20 days the deathbed will did not como to light. Mrs. Drown's friends sny that It was purposely hidden so that sho would know nothing about it until It should bo too late. Tho millionaire mil-lionaire died, surrounded by his family, fam-ily, while Mrs. Drown knelt at the bedside. Will Kept Secret Never wero greater efforts mado to keep a will from becoming public. It was filed secretly. The authorities - were ordered to keep it secret and meekly compiled. Tho family lawyer furnished an extract to tho newspapers, newspa-pers, but all reference to either of the young women In tho case was carefully careful-ly eliminated. "That's nil wo care to give out to the newspapers," wns tho lawyer's curt rejoinder when pressed for an explanation. ex-planation. Dut the Now York Sunday World's correspondent In Pittsburg mado things so Interesting for nil concerned thnt finally the entire contents of tho will were mado public as provided by law. Then tho storm broke; The feud becamo public property. Promptly thero came a demand from tho ofllccrs of the Mary Drown church that Miss Lowls resign her position in tho Sunday Sun-day school. Forced to Leave Sunday School, Tho church had Mr. Drown's $70,-000. $70,-000. They cared no longer. They had bowed to his will In llfo, and they had Installed his protege to a position posi-tion of distinction In church affairs. Now they would have no moro of her. At n public hearing sho was asked to resign, and sho did. Then sho announced thnt sho Intended In-tended marrying and thnt was her ostensible reason for retiring. Sho nnd William Arthur Porter, a racetrack race-track employe of old man Drown's, had long been In love. In fact, they loved each other beforo ho was taken 111. Hero wero tho provisions of tho will concerning the young women In tho case: Bequests to Martha Lewis. Second. "I give nnd bequenth to tho Union Trust company of I'lltshurg first mortgage bond of tho Pittsburg llrow-Ing llrow-Ing company to tho nggrcgnto vnluo of 3o.000, In trust nevertheless, to pay tho net Interest ami Income therefrom to my tlntighter-ln-lnw CSrnco M. Hrown for and during tho term of her natural life. If sho ho long remain u widow unit from nnd nfter her mnrrlngo or death, In further trust to divide or dlstrlhuto the principal of mild trust fund to tho persons hereinafter provided for In tho co.no of my residuary estate, and 1 authorize au-thorize nnd umpower snld trustee to sell snld bonds, nnd to reinvest tho proceeds pro-ceeds of snlo nt Its discretion." In striking contrast with this nro the clauses In which Miss Lewis benefits bene-fits In the following sections of thu samo will: Ninth. "I give nnd beipienth to Miss Mnrtha 10. Lewis, of tho city of Pitts-Imrg, Pitts-Imrg, one-hnlf of tho residue of my library wherever the snnio mny be slt-tinto slt-tinto nt tho npprnlsed vnluo thereof, sho to hnve tho right to select books to tho nmount of one-half. 1 nlso glvo nnd bequeath to thn snld Mnrthn K. Lewis my AHtorln States Itnclng trophy and the box of silverware which I re- 2 QfMrm: cently purchased from Heron Pros. & Co." Tenth."! nlso glvo nnd bequeath to MIsh Martini 12, IajwIh aforesaid, first mortgngo bonds of tho Pittsburg Ilrew-Ing Ilrew-Ing company to tho nggregnto par vnluo of ttO.OW, which 1 direct shnll tio delivered de-livered to her by my executors within 30 days nfter my death; and If for nny reason tho snld bonds urn not delivered within tho period aforesaid, 1 direct my executors to pay to her on tho first day of tho month following my death tho sum of J125 nnd n llko sum monthly thereafter until said bondH are delivered deliv-ered to her." The library from which Miss Lewis wns empowered by tho will to select one-hnlf of tho books Is worth $50,000, and ono of the most completo libraries In tho city. Tho Astoria racing plate, which also went to Miss Lewis, was of gold, valued at $10,000. It was won by Stto Smith. Received Many Presents. Dy tho will Miss Lowls got In all $00,000. This was only a small portion por-tion of her benefits. When she was 23 her last birthday Mr. Drown handed tho delighted girl $20,000 In new bills. Only a few months before he had given her a beautiful big liouso on Oreenflold avenue, worth $20,000. This Is where tho bride will live when sho returns from her honeymoon. Sho got $20,000 worth of diamonds, too, and in nil $125,000 In cash, say Mrs. Drown's friends, beforo tho old man's death. Tho Drowns havo taken the daughter-in-law to their hcorts. 'She Is again mistress of the old Drown mansion, man-sion, thero to stay as long as she pleases. W. Harry Drown, tho brother, broth-er, even wealthier than S. S. Drown, who Inherits tho hulk of tho estate, Is understood to bo against Miss Lewis' claim. Thero was a tragic sceno when the will wns read. Mrs. Elizabeth Wil-lard, Wil-lard, sister of tho dead man, knew nothing of It. When sho heard It .gave tho young widow but $30,000 In beer bonds sho hurst out weeping and rnn from the room crying: "Oh, Samuel, Sam-uel, how coiild you have done this thing?" A strange featuro of this Strang case is that tho mlllionalro provided better bet-ter for tho young widow nfter her death than during her life. A niche by his direction has been reserved for her In tho rich marble mausoleum out at the cemetery. Thero sho will test with tho others of tho family's dead. And whether an old man's fickle, fancy changed nt tho last or a designing design-ing girl succeeded In n plot to securo wealth at tho expense of reputation nnd standing In society, Is tho question. ques-tion. Probably It will he answered in thi courts. |
