Show BROADWAY AND MAIN STREET STREET Widow Curses Legacy That Kills dills Faith of a Lifetime R D. D R nil RII Rill i v Pl once CF I V Whenever an towner out-of-towner says What have you got in New NewYork NewYork NewYork York that we haven't got in Punxsutawney I throw a copy of the Manhattan Classified Phone Directory at him On page 1067 listed under Missing Heirs is a man named Theodore W. W Roth whose business it is to find money I first heard of this gent on a radio program and this morning in a mood to muse and meander I stopped in to see him at his office on West Street Glad to see you said Mr Roth You dont don't happen to be related to toa toa a Sam Bramson of Paterson do you Not that I know of I said Too bad said Mr Roth Bramson Bram son left a hundred thousand dollars and Im I'm trying to find a relative I Ican Ican can give it to Is there much unclaimed money AH ya lying around fl About eight billion billion bil bil- lion dollars said Mr Roth mostly in forgotten bank accounts s stock t o c k held in escrow un un- Billy Rose collected insurance policies and inheritances inheritances in in- nobody has claimed THE biggest case you ever worked on I asked The Garrett case in Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadel Philadel- phia said Mr Roth Back in 1930 a n lady named Henrietta Edwina Garrett died and left property worth l million dollars So far over sixt six t usand people have claimed it I six of them have been thrown Into jail a couple have committed suicide suIcide suicide sui- sui cide and several lawyers have been been disbarred for up evidence One of ot the applicants was Adolph Hitler who argued that the next of ot kin was a German citizen and that the money should be sent to the Fatherland Im I'm happy to report he didn't get a dime You must meet a lot Jot of screwballs screwballs screwballs screw screw- balls in n your profession I said Mr Roth dug into his bus dIsk desk and nd brought out a it letter It 11 was from front fronta froma a it woman in Massachusetts who tibo claimed that on one of her ancestors ancestors ances ances- tors lors bad had dC deeded ded a it cranberry bog to 10 an Indian squaw but bul that Ih the deed was faulty and mJ she wanted the property back baek The Th bog she explained is now known as Manhattan Man Man- battan hattan Island Last year Mr Roth went on I got one that was even wackier A girl In Texas wrote in to say that only a second cousin stood between her and a chunk of oil land worth wortha a million dollars She was planning to murder her kinsman but before I going to all that trouble she wanted me to check and make sure her claim to the estate would be clear and undisputed I of course turned the letter over to the police DO YOU HAVE any trouble collecting col col- letting your fees I asked As a rule said the climber of ot family trees the heirs I turn up upare upare upare are pretty grateful There have been cases of ot course where the only thanks I got was a dirty look As for instance Well fell said Mid Mr Roth there was the l time m a it widow r refused to 10 believe m me when 1 I told laid her 1 I bad had located a it twelve thousand bank account left by her husband nJ I 1 finally convinced her to sign Ih the necessary papers a ers but when 1 I banded her ba lh the twelve thousand Sh she said I 1 curse the day 1 I ever er ermet met you and I curse this Ibis money too It turned out she had hd always loved her husband and was devoted to his memory despite the fact that their life ille together had been a hard one He had always pleaded poverty ty when she needed a D dress or a anew anew anew new pair of ot stockings and she had believed him Now that she saw him for what he was she was understandably understandably understandably under under- bitter Sure twelve thousand dollars was a lot of money but it had destroyed destroyed de de- de- de strayed the faith of a lifetime |