PARTNER SAYS SMART DIDN'T SIGN THE WILL
New York Times
This Document of Titanic Victim Was Much Discussed Because No Children Were Mentioned
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AND NONE WERE EVER FOUND
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Fortune Reputed Great, but it Turned Out to be Very Small---Constance H. Baldwin Brings Suit
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Another complication in the settlement of the estate of John Montgomery Smart who went down on the Titanic, was introduced yesterday when Constance H. Baldwin filed in the Surrogate's Court objections to the probating of the will, asserting that she had been a partner of Mr. Smart and now was a creditor of his estate. She charges that the paper purporting to be Mr. Smart's will is invalid, inasmuch as the signature attached to it was not made by Smart.
The will was filed on last Jan. 6 by Clarence F. Gregory of 3,675 Broadway, and at that time it was disclosed that Mr. Smart had been believed by friends to be the father of two children, a boy and a girl whom he was having educated abroad. The fact that no mention of them was made in the will occasioned considerable speculation as to what Mr. Smart's motives had been in ignoring the children, and presently it developed that among his friends there was none who had seen the children, though most of them had always believed that Mr. Smart had a son and daughter.
Frederick K. Seward of Curtis, Mallet, Prevost & Colt, 30 Broad Street, attorneys of record, had been abroad with Smart, but had not seen the children. However, he began an advertising campaign to find them, employing many European papers as mediums, and at last received word that the boy and girl had been discovered in a school in Belgium.
The young folk proved not be [sic] relatives of Mr. Smart, however, and though the search was continued thereafter the children were never discovered, and close friends doubted that he ever had any children. Mr. Smart spent a good deal of his tine abroad, and his will left his entire estate to Jeremiah Rwomey [sic] and Annie Frances Brown, both of Melbourne, Australia. The estate was not large.
The contestant of the will, through her attorneys, Scott, Upson & Newcomb of 27 William Street, asks that the court dismiss the probate proceedings and appoint an administrator of the estate in the person of herself or some disinterested person. The Smart fortune which was reputed to be great proved to be very small.
---
AND NONE WERE EVER FOUND
---
Fortune Reputed Great, but it Turned Out to be Very Small---Constance H. Baldwin Brings Suit
---
Another complication in the settlement of the estate of John Montgomery Smart who went down on the Titanic, was introduced yesterday when Constance H. Baldwin filed in the Surrogate's Court objections to the probating of the will, asserting that she had been a partner of Mr. Smart and now was a creditor of his estate. She charges that the paper purporting to be Mr. Smart's will is invalid, inasmuch as the signature attached to it was not made by Smart.
The will was filed on last Jan. 6 by Clarence F. Gregory of 3,675 Broadway, and at that time it was disclosed that Mr. Smart had been believed by friends to be the father of two children, a boy and a girl whom he was having educated abroad. The fact that no mention of them was made in the will occasioned considerable speculation as to what Mr. Smart's motives had been in ignoring the children, and presently it developed that among his friends there was none who had seen the children, though most of them had always believed that Mr. Smart had a son and daughter.
Frederick K. Seward of Curtis, Mallet, Prevost & Colt, 30 Broad Street, attorneys of record, had been abroad with Smart, but had not seen the children. However, he began an advertising campaign to find them, employing many European papers as mediums, and at last received word that the boy and girl had been discovered in a school in Belgium.
The young folk proved not be [sic] relatives of Mr. Smart, however, and though the search was continued thereafter the children were never discovered, and close friends doubted that he ever had any children. Mr. Smart spent a good deal of his tine abroad, and his will left his entire estate to Jeremiah Rwomey [sic] and Annie Frances Brown, both of Melbourne, Australia. The estate was not large.
The contestant of the will, through her attorneys, Scott, Upson & Newcomb of 27 William Street, asks that the court dismiss the probate proceedings and appoint an administrator of the estate in the person of herself or some disinterested person. The Smart fortune which was reputed to be great proved to be very small.
Related Biographies:
Frederic Kimber Seward
John Montgomery Smart
Contributor
Mark Baber
