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Show PASADENA MILLIONAIRE KNOWN f TO POLICE AS BILL THE BRUTE i 1 Contest Over Will Begun as Former Criminal Leaves Thousands to Masons, Elks, . Friends and Acquaintances. By STFTMI1 N .U Ml M (Copyright, 192:. by Tho Standard-Examiner.) Standard-Examiner.) PA S A I 'EN A. Cal.. Dec. 30. Easv dollars havo an uneasy way about them. Like poker chips they seem to havo no regular abiding place or specific direction. Th easy dollars of Clark Parker, late Par-adena millionaire, are now Invented In a contest filed In the probate pro-bate court of Los Ansjalss county by Ir. Frederick P. Gay. a Berkeley pro- : feasor, a nephew of Parker who seeks to have set aside the two score and more requests and legacies made by his uncle In the four documents purporting pur-porting to be his will and codldla Dr. Gay. as the Dearest of kin. sues for th entire estate of Parker on tho ground that the will Itself and tho I codicils are Illegal, and that the testator testa-tor was unduly Influenced In maklnst his numerous bequest. The result of ,the content begun by Dr. Gay may b a long and bitter right over a largo fortune, but whatever the outcome, the story behind the ntt is one probably prob-ably without parallel In court annals (or as a modern and modified version of the romance of the Count of Mont Cristo. 1 Some years ago there camo te Pasadena an aging couple, the mar upward of CO, and the woman abrenst .f three scores, she wasted and falling In health. As Mr. and Mrs. Clark ParkST, from one of tho New England" Mates, there was nothing about them to attract attention except that they, appeared to bo In easy circumstances, retiring in disposition and In search of a comfortable home. B s fin 1 HOME If there was any one thing to notice no-tice it was the unfailing courtesy and consideration of the gray-haired husband hus-band for his wife. Parker purchased) a beautiful home at 681 South Madison Madi-son avenue, and lived there In virtual 1 'retirement with his wife, except when I they appeared at some large social f unctions, usually those given for charitable purposes When the frail little woman, gradually growing whiter whit-er and weaker, finally passed away, ("lark Parker had the sympathy of ; neighbors and all who knew them,' .even casually. He mourned his dead alone, but seemed to find a solace in1 his Interest In the welfare of the lodges an.i fraternal orders of whiOO ho had becomo a member In Pasadena, Pasa-dena, and in civic and charitable enterprises en-terprises to which he contributed liberally lib-erally In time and money, j While it was known that Parker was certainly to be olasssd BS well-to-do and possessed of a liberal Income.1 an absence of all display and his re-! I tiring manner did not stamp him ns a I man of great wealth, and gave no hint of any great surprise In store for those who knew him as a pleasant pleas-ant acquaintance. THEN PARKER DM 9. Iate la.st January Clark Parker, like his wife, weakened and died In his beautiful . home. His passing was regretted. It was the topi, of a day. Then the will of Clark Parker was made public and was a real sensation. He had scattered a great fortune- easily eas-ily a million dollars, in princely fash-1 Ion. Thero was a long list of beneficiaries bene-ficiaries In Pasadena some of them more than acquaintances, none to receive re-ceive less than five thousand, and most of them ten thousand. Among inOSO Iiuunjia n ciw Duiiiu K ,w"" I men and women of the city. Another! I long list named beneficiaries In New York and Ma.achusetts and the legacies lega-cies were of five and ten thousand dollars each. Ills final and largest; 'bequests were 5225.000 to three lodges 1 1 1 Musona In Pasadena, and f 1 50,000 to tho Elks. It was so proved that ; there was nothing fanciful about thi fenerous scattering of wealth for Par-j Iker's California holdings exceeded a quarter of a million dollars and his 'papers revealed that tho bulk of his' 'estate was back In Massachusetts. I Months after the death of Parker, due; perhaps to over-anxiety on the part of some legatee In Pasadena, Inquiry was directed to his life and fortune back homo. The shock can probably 'bo Imagined when word camo back that Parker was well' known In the east, In fact was famed for his name was listed In "famous criminals of history' " an authentic work by a police po-lice commissioner of New York. bill Tin; lmiTE. In police and criminal circles Parker Par-ker was better known as "Bill the. Brute." In 185S ho began his criminal ; career by killing a deckhand aboard a sailing vessel. For this crime he served a term In the Massachusetts P- n. Aftor that ho took up a llfo of , daring crime and gradually led up lo ihii grand coup, a dramatic robbery In 188.', of tho Bank of Franco of J247.- !600. He eluded the police of Europe and fought off a hordo of man hunters hunt-ers In America until ho had forced a compromise whl. h left him free of j threat of prosecution and with th". greater part of the loot still In his, hands. That was the real foundation founda-tion of his fortune. As a confldcnco and bunko man "BUI the Brute." now turned gentle I In his art, was really the artist at his! calling, and added to Qls fortune 'without definite conflict with the law. 1 ft0 His broth, r. who had alo ac-umulat-i fach ed a fortune, nut by legitimate means, fi c ill I and left his estate to the control ori . f M.irk Parker There v as a con-1 E test, but Parker won out and dlsap-; El peered from the place that nce knewfl K him. Qt Even the police lost track of him. g& It was then that he came fro Pasa- fa d( n l fl' It Is not of record that after the - i 'diath v.i L amed that any of thsi mm beneficiaries of thi vvin served nothw that they would decline their be--MR quests, especially when It was shown Egjf that the estate was well abl to pay Wj every penny bequeathed. .t Now on. d In the v. dl rjg; I Of Parker for a blrtlv 1 nt" of i yf $100. Intervenes and the fight Is on.lC Dr Gay fought Parker over tho es-l R lt of his oth. r uncle nnd Parker did . lL ' not forgot or forgn. It Is l n.-vod ..( that other relatlvi 1 over light- .1 W. ly In th will may J in with Pr. Gay R in his contest. The principal specific H chargi .11 the attack m be that! R bxul repr. .-ntatlves, a Bo 8-1 H : ton firm f lawyers, headed by for- : Governor Batos of Massachusetts j M Induced the millionaire to provide. jJJ .'munificently for certain persons, this1 jam 1 1 constituting the alleged undue lnflu-,' 1 1 ence. :At oo nfo |