desperation, tried to bribe him to cancel the will. On all accounts, she lost. Like the great Leviathan, the will would not be harpooned.
Wherever she went, ladies whispered, children pointed, men stared. She was the rich heiress trying to steal New Bedford’s newfound wealth. Gossips snickered and the town’s skunks sprayed her path with ugly rumors. Shopkeepers charged her more, or so it seemed; lawyers’ fees kept mounting; newspapers shouted her name in large print. Shaken by the deaths and the turn of events, and recalling her father’s warning, she worried that someone would try to kill her.
Edward was back in New York andshe was afraid to be alone in the house. She offered a floor to a friend and his wife, who accepted and stayed there. Others came to visit, but at night she climbed the stairs to the fourth-floor attic and, like a frightened animal searchingfor safety, she crawled under a bed. “For days I did not leave my room and lived on crackers and raw eggs,” she said. “All the time those schemers were trying to get my money.”
In November, after a trial that made headlines from Boston to Chicago, the will was approved in probate court in New Bedford. One of her father’s sayings rang in her ears: “The poor can’t sue, and if the rich won’t, who is to bring rogues to justice?” One month later, in December 1865, with William Crapo as her leading lawyer and Edward Green at her side, Hetty brought her case against the executors and trustees to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.
“Strange how these millionaire families quarrel among themselves about money,” wrote George Templeton Strong. “Brother alienated from brother, sisters at daggers down with sisters—and all about property, of which everyone of them has more than enough.” He was referring to his clients, the Astors, whose family feuds still continue today. But they were not the first family to find themselves in court, nor would they would be the last. From the continuing saga of the Astor heirs to Henry Ford, who sued his family over his trust fund, to four generations of Pritzkers skirmishing over the family estate, to Curtis Nelson combating his mother and Sumner Redstone’s daughter suing her father, relatives have fought bitter public battles for control of their family fortunes.
Unlike most of the others, Hetty’s turned intoa landmark case. Her suit against the trustees claimed that she was the lawful heir and that her aunt had always wanted her to inherit the money. In fact, Hetty learned, Sylvia had even told her own lawyer that she did not want to write a new will without notifying her niece. It was the deceitful Dr. Gordon, Hetty believed, who had dulled her aunt’s mind and persuaded her to draw up a will against her own wishes. The proof was in the letter, clearly dictated by Hetty, that she had kept attached to Sylvia’s will:
Be it remembered that I, Sylvia Ann Howland, of New Bedford in County of Bedford, do hereby make, publish and declare this the second page of this will and testament made on the eleventh of January in manner following, to wit: Hereby revoking all wills made before or after this one—I give this will to my nieceto shew if there appears a will made without notifying her, and without returning her will to her through Thomas Mandell as I have promised to do. I implore the judge to decide in favor of this will, as nothing would induce me to make a will unfavorable to my niece, but being ill and afraid if any of my care-takers insisted on my making a will to refuse, as they might leave or be angry, and knowing my niece had this will to shew—my niece fearing also after she went away—I hearing but one side, might feel hurt at what they might say of her, as they tried to make trouble by not telling the truth to me, when she was here even herself. I give this will to my niece to shew if absolutely necessary, to have it, to appear against another will found after my death. I wish her to shew
Wherever she went, ladies whispered, children pointed, men stared. She was the rich heiress trying to steal New Bedford’s newfound wealth. Gossips snickered and the town’s skunks sprayed her path with ugly rumors. Shopkeepers charged her more, or so it seemed; lawyers’ fees kept mounting; newspapers shouted her name in large print. Shaken by the deaths and the turn of events, and recalling her father’s warning, she worried that someone would try to kill her.
Edward was back in New York andshe was afraid to be alone in the house. She offered a floor to a friend and his wife, who accepted and stayed there. Others came to visit, but at night she climbed the stairs to the fourth-floor attic and, like a frightened animal searchingfor safety, she crawled under a bed. “For days I did not leave my room and lived on crackers and raw eggs,” she said. “All the time those schemers were trying to get my money.”
In November, after a trial that made headlines from Boston to Chicago, the will was approved in probate court in New Bedford. One of her father’s sayings rang in her ears: “The poor can’t sue, and if the rich won’t, who is to bring rogues to justice?” One month later, in December 1865, with William Crapo as her leading lawyer and Edward Green at her side, Hetty brought her case against the executors and trustees to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.
“Strange how these millionaire families quarrel among themselves about money,” wrote George Templeton Strong. “Brother alienated from brother, sisters at daggers down with sisters—and all about property, of which everyone of them has more than enough.” He was referring to his clients, the Astors, whose family feuds still continue today. But they were not the first family to find themselves in court, nor would they would be the last. From the continuing saga of the Astor heirs to Henry Ford, who sued his family over his trust fund, to four generations of Pritzkers skirmishing over the family estate, to Curtis Nelson combating his mother and Sumner Redstone’s daughter suing her father, relatives have fought bitter public battles for control of their family fortunes.
Unlike most of the others, Hetty’s turned intoa landmark case. Her suit against the trustees claimed that she was the lawful heir and that her aunt had always wanted her to inherit the money. In fact, Hetty learned, Sylvia had even told her own lawyer that she did not want to write a new will without notifying her niece. It was the deceitful Dr. Gordon, Hetty believed, who had dulled her aunt’s mind and persuaded her to draw up a will against her own wishes. The proof was in the letter, clearly dictated by Hetty, that she had kept attached to Sylvia’s will:
Be it remembered that I, Sylvia Ann Howland, of New Bedford in County of Bedford, do hereby make, publish and declare this the second page of this will and testament made on the eleventh of January in manner following, to wit: Hereby revoking all wills made before or after this one—I give this will to my nieceto shew if there appears a will made without notifying her, and without returning her will to her through Thomas Mandell as I have promised to do. I implore the judge to decide in favor of this will, as nothing would induce me to make a will unfavorable to my niece, but being ill and afraid if any of my care-takers insisted on my making a will to refuse, as they might leave or be angry, and knowing my niece had this will to shew—my niece fearing also after she went away—I hearing but one side, might feel hurt at what they might say of her, as they tried to make trouble by not telling the truth to me, when she was here even herself. I give this will to my niece to shew if absolutely necessary, to have it, to appear against another will found after my death. I wish her to shew
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