Newspaper Page Text
A Vacant Lot
It Remained For Thirty
Years Without an
Owner
By MARJORIE CLOUGH
More than fifty years ago. when the
city of Chicago was springing op out of
the prtlrfcr—or. rather, out of the mud—
there were dwettings right tu the re
gioa which Is now occupied’solely for
busioesa purposes. And right to amoug
some of these dwettings waa a lot on
which the owner proposed to erect
stone building. Those who owned !
homes la -the vicinity objected to a
stone building being erected near them
and clubbed together to buy the lot
The owner asked the exorbitant price
of <I4OO. but it was thought best to
pay It and keep the neighborhood free
from what would mar It for residences
There were four persons who chipped
in to buy the property, but. since one
owner waa deemed more advisable
than four, three of them proposed to
play a game of freezeout poker, the
winner to receive a deed for the lot
But one of the four, being n dem-on In
the church and averse to card playing,
suggested that they make over the lot
to a trustee, to be deeded to the oldest
grandchild of any one of the owners
fifty years from the day the trust
was made. The men were all between
the ages of twenty-seven and forty
years, and no one of them bad a grand
child. One was not even married. Nev
ertheless. he assented to the plan; the
document was drawn up and signed
and placed in the hands of the trustee.
In ten years from that time two of
the men interested in the lot were
dead. The dwellings in the district
where the property stood were much
run down, being occupied for sa
loons and small shops. In teD years
more the other two owners had passed
away and the trustee as well, and a
successor had been appointed by the
court. The immediate vicinity of the
lot had been steadily deteriorating and
was now the worst locatiou In the city.
But handsome office bullrings were be
ing erected two or three blocks distant
Since it was probable that that part of
the city would eventually become valu
able. the adjoining property was now
held at a high figure. Inquiries were
made for the lot in question, but it soon
came to lie known that there was a
reason why ir could not lie sold, and in
time it was dropped out as a possible
purchase.
When forty-nine of the fifty years
of the trust had passed Edward Elli
son. the man who held the trusteeship
at that time, one day. looking over
some papers in his safe, came upon
the deed of trust and saw that in
about a year from that time it would
be his duty to turn over the lot men
tioned to the oldest living grandchild
of any one of the men who had made
the deed. It therefore behooved him
to take^measures to discover the per
son entitled to the property.
The first step he took in the matter
was to learn the value of the lot, and
he found that in the opinions of real es
tate men it was valued at two or three
hundred thousand dollars. He next
made inquiries as to the descendants
of the original owners of the property
and found that while one family had
remained in Chicago the others had
drifted to other places He found also
that none of them knew of the lot in
question, and he deemed it advisable
to say nothing about It until he had
learned to whom the law would com
pel him to deed it. He succeeded in
learning the whereabouts of the chi I
dren of three of the parties to the
agreement, and there were eleven in
the second generation and twenty-eight
grandchildren As to the fourth man.
William Brown, who had been unmar
ried when the agreement was made,
the trustee could learn nothing about
him An advertisement in the Chicago
newspapers failed to bring any re
sponse
Some time before the expiration of
the deed of trust Ellison called a meet
ing of all the descendants of the four
men who bad owned the property he
had been able to reach Twelve per
sons attended and nine responded by
letter Having got all the informa
tion- be could from those who were
present, including their ages, Ellison
dismissed them and wrote to the oth
ers who had written him. asking their
ages Of the twenty-eight grandchil
dren he bad heard of he now bad the
names, addresses and ages of twenty
one Of the others be had no informa
tion whatever.
How<*ver. a week before the fifty
year period expired Ellison had nar
rowed down the probable ownership to
one person. Edith Moore, a girl of
nineteen, the oldest daughter of a son
of one of the four original owners of
the lot The trustee had proof that she
was the rightful owner unless the un
married member, of the auhTtet hud
than Miss Moore.
Edith Moore was nri orphan In very
poor circumstances. She lived ir Chi
cago and was endeavoring to support
herself and her younger brothers and
sisters by her needle Ellison did not
like to inform her that he was proba
bly heir to a fortune until he felt war
ranted in turning It over to her. But
tha matter |.v this time had become
generally known, and she heard of it
through others. This was unfortunate,
for until It was definitely proved that
the fourth man of the quartet had left
no grandchildren the trustee could not
deliver the pro|ert.v.
One day Edith Moore rw-elved • note
from a Mrs. Brown. • lady living ua
one of th dwelling areuues of Chi
cago. stating that she bad been recom
mended for a seamstress and offering
her an engagement that might extend
over some time. Edith bad beard o<
her probable heirship, but since there's
mouy a slip twist the oup tuad Ibe p
she made no change whatever tn fits
style of living. She therefor* called
on Mrs. Brown and was engaged to
come to the bouse every day to sew.
Mrs. Brown was a widow, with one
son. a young man of tweuty-three. the
two having recently come from 00l
ora do Springs, where they bad been
living. They seemed to have the
means to live handsomely, and the eon
had been educated for a physician. He
had located In Chicago to take up the
practice of bia profession. Mrs. Brown
was a motherly j*erma and treuted
Edith as a companion as well as a
hireling. It was not long before Edith
told the lady of the position she occu
pied as a probable heiress and of her
sublease lest another should be found
who was entitled to the property.
Mrs. Brown listened to the story with
evident Interest and said wbat she
could to give the girl hope that she
would receive the Inheritance. Mean
while she often Invited Edith to re
main for dinner ami for the eveulug
In this way David Brown, the son.
came to know Edftb and offered her
the same sympathy as his mother con
cerning the fortune she hoped for. As
time went on the girl became more
and more necessary to Mrs. Brown's
comfort, and by and by Edith noticed
that occasionally when she had been
invited to spend au evening In the
house the hostess, pleading lndlsposi
tion. would leave her sou and the
seamstress together.
David Brown was sufficiently attrae
tlve to wiu most any girt not other
wise Interested, and he had very little
trouble In attracting Edith to himself
The girl was puzzled., for the Browns
seemed to have plenty of money and
would hardly want to get her into the
family for her fortune, even if she pos
sessed it. which ehe did not and quite
possibly would not But matters con
cerning the lot finally came to a crisis
by a note Edith received from Mr
Ellison stating that he had learned
that the unmarried member of the
owners of the lot had married and had
had one or more children. But he did
not know if either of the children was
living.
This was a bitter disappointment
Edith, but she went to her work at
Mrs. Brown’s ns usual, and so great
was her self control that she had been
in the house an hour before Mrs
Brown asked her if anything unfortu
nate had happened to her. Then she
told the lady of the Information she
had received.
Mrs. Brown embraced her. saying at
the same time that she was a wonder
to be able to keep up under such a
setback and that evening kept her for
dinner. David Brown on learning of
the Information she had received was
also sympathetic and when left alone
with her by his mother was more
loverlike than usual This was a great
comfort even to Edith, since It Indicat
ed that she was not courted for her
expectations.
Then came another note from the
trustee informing Edith that he had
received more definite information
that Parkinson bad been married soon
after the trust deed hnd been executed
and had had two children born to him
and that the oldest of these children
was living.
Edith found it impossible to bear
this blow with the same fortitude as
before, and arriving at the house where
she worked, finding the widow and her
sou together, on communicating the
news to them she hurst into tears. The
mother put her arras about her and
soothed her. then left her with David
Taking her hand, he said to her:
“I have a story to tell you. My
mother and ! while living in Colorado
heard of this vacant lot and. having
known of it from my father, concluded
to come east and look into the matter,
I being the grandson of one of the
makers of the trust deed. Besides, I
desired to settle here to practice my
profession My mother, having inves
tigated the matter of the lot and hear
ing that you were expecting to be the
owner of It, in order to learn some
thing of you brought you here to sew
But before doiug so she had proved
my claim to the lot. She did not tell
me who you were till you had been
here some time, having taken a faacy
to you and being desirous to give you
an interest In the property through me
In this she has succeeded by your love
iiuess. My father was Interested, la
Owe Tbest
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mines in Colorado and left us a for
tune. On receiving this lot I shall at
once deed It to you. And if yon will at
the same time deed yourself to me you
will make me a happy man.”
Edith sat looking at the man who
had revealed this little plot to her with
too much astonishment to reply at once
Had he not come to love her possibly
he might have estimated somewhat cor
rectly the emotions under which she
was moved. With lover-like linpu
tience lie expected her to see at once
what he had been planning for months
and Interpreted what be saw in her
expression for an Inability to surrender
her heart with herself.
“I am disappointed.” he said. “My
mother and i. having already nil the in
come we need, simply brought you into
our home to learn if you were worthy,
and If you were we intended to offer
to resigTMhis nddjMonaJ fortune to von
Then T discovered that T wanted you.
I needed you. and 1 was in hopes
that”—
She interrupted him. but not with
words. There were no words to ex
press what stvt felt. He caught her in
his arms.
One Day More.
She—But will you love me in cold
December as you do in balmy June?
lie—More, darling! She— More? He —
Sure! There’s one more day in Decem
ber.— London Tit-Bits.
Those Favors.
Tommy—Top. what is a favor? Tom
my’s Pop—A favor, my son. is a thing
we are supposed to get for nothing
Now ask me what “supposed” means.—
Philadelphia Record.
Advertise in The News.
Good Ri.aris afrid Tax Values.
The Atlanta Constitution well
[says : “Counties neglecting their
ro uls ate n t o ly hampering
th -ir own development and ke<p
ing down taxable values, but
they are also advertising them
selves as laeking in initiative.lt
should he a matter of pride and
self-interest with them to apply
'the* obvious remedy without de
lay.”
Mr. 0. 11. Patrick, of Kingstroe
S ('. is visiting his sister, Mrs.
L. W. Hodges, in this city.