Friend of Man Lost on the Titanic Has Found Many Persons Who Heard Father Speak of Them
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A FORMER QUEST IN VAIN
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Lawyer Ryan Thinks Children Provided for by Mother's Will May Not Want Father's Estate
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The search for the children of J. Montgomery Smart, President of the American Cold Storage and Shipping Company, who was one of the passengers lost when the Titanic sank, has been taken up by Frank J. Ryan, a lawyer of 111 Broadway. Mr. Ryan said yesterday that he had always believed Mr. Smart was the father of a son and daughter. In the last few days, the lawyer asserted, he had met many persons who had given him information which tended to confirm his impression. One man he said, told him that he had seen the children.

Mr. Ryan, before he became a lawyer, was employed in the Hotel Victoria, at Twenty-seventh Street and Broadway. Mr. Smart lived there when he was in this city. Mr. Ryan said he had known him for more than ten years, and had often heard him speak of his children. He was astonished, he asserted, when he read in THE NEW YORK TIMES on Jan. 7 that Mr. Smart in his will had made no mention of the children and that, after a world-wide search, no trace of them was found. The will, which was filed on Jan. 6 in the Surrogates' Court, provided that after all debts had been paid one-third of the estate should go to Jeremiah Twomey and the rest to Annie Frances Brown, friends of Mr. Smart, who lived in Melbourne, Australia.

The signature attached to the will is John Montgomery Smart. Constance H. Baldwin, an associate of Mr. Smart in business, filed a contest of the will on Tuesday. She said that the signature to the document was not in Mr. Smart's handwriting, and that his name was James Montgomery Smart. Mr. Ryan said yesterday that "Jim" was the name by which Mr. Smart was known among his friends, and that an old directory gave his name as James Montgomery Smart.

According to Mr. Ryan, a night clerk of the Victoria said that Mr. Smart had once given a package to a porter to deliver to his children, but that the porter had forgotten the address.

"Mr. Smart told persons," Mr. Ryan said, "that when his wife died she left the income of her estate to him and that after his death it was to go to the children. He said that he never touched any part of the estate, either the principal or the income. He told me once that he was a relative of Cardinal McClosky, and I have tried to establish the relationship, but have not succeeded yet"

It was possible, Mr. Ryan said, that the children were amply provided for by the mother's will, and did not wish to share in their father's estate and that they had kept silent on that account. Mr. Smart's estate, according to an application made by Gilbert F. Gregory for temporary letters of administration, was worth $9,890. His interest in the American Cold Storage and Shipping Company was estimated at $6,090.