The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 22, 1927, Page 9

The Story of Trinity Corporation (Continued from page 2) almost with one stroke, Wélfert was far from pact fled and cut his daughter off, leaving the strange testament in which his fertune was bequeathed to the seventh generation of Webber. heirs. It seems that he would not believe his willful daughter’s words that the marriage was legal but that she did not live as the wife of her black spouse following the formal ceremony. “Anneke, now locked out of house and home, came to New York, with her grandmother, Anna Cock, There are strong reasong for believing Anna Cock Was none other than Anneke’s mother and that in the domestic upheaval ensuing from the daughter’s marriage, to a husband of her father’s choice, old Wolfert kicked the wife out, too, when she sided with the daughter. I have now in my possession certain facts pointing to verification of this version of the story and I hope to be able to confirm what are now merely well grounded suspicions, “So Anneke came te New York where she posed as an unmarried maid. She made the acquaintance of Roeloff Jans (Jansen), a farmer, whom she mar ried, their union resulting in the rearing of a small family. Jans died and Anneke became the wife of the Rev. Everardus Bogardus of Trinity church. The church was in financial difficulties and Pastor Bo- gardus, who knew of the legacy left by his wife’s father, voyaged to Holland to interest the Dutch government in his case. He succeeded in persuad- ing the government to transfer a part of the trust fund of the Webber legacy to New York. The church trustees were appointed by the government as sub- trustees of this legacy. “Anneke died soon after this and Pastor Bogardus — lost his life on a second voyage to Holland to ob tain additional funds from the Webber estate. In 1709, after Anneke’s death, some of the heirs learn ing that the trust fund had been transferred to New York, raised a loud clamor and were seriously con sidering legal action to restore the money to its proper custodianship. It looked bad for Trinity church and the trustees. The latter, no doubt loaths to part from such a comfortable financial cushion, petitioned Queen Anne for protection. “They received a grant covering the church and graveyard adjoining. I say without the slighest fear of being called to account for my utterances, that Trinity Corporation’s claims have been mere pretense, The grant of Queen Anne was a political makeshift devised as a way out of a difficult situa- - tion by the earlier trustees and gives no legal rights Learn ition te the property which was bought with money left by Webber to his heirs. “On one of my numerous trips of investigation I went to the trouble of having surveyed all of the 19 acres of land covered by the grant and found that the corporation owned 30 acres more than the area ‘specified in the document. How then did the cor- poration acquire the 30 additional acres? % “After I had obtained positive proof of my descent from the house of Webber I made another visit to New York. Without disclosing the source of my in- formation I told the trustees of Trinity church that the Webber heirs owned the estate. They pretended they had not heard of Webber and took it as a new joke in the long list of hoaxes that attended litiga- tion over the vast estate throughout several cen- turies. _ s “But the trustees laughed too soon, for I found out that the Webber name was a powerful talisman if rubbed the right way and it served to open new eorridors where my disclosures found more ready Msteners. The result new is that settlement has been promised in the ‘immediate future.’ “What this may meannoonecantell. Forty-nine acres of skyscrapers in the heart of New York can not be apportioned ampng hundreds of legal claim- ants in a few months. All the buildings are on leased ground and the total value is in excess of six billion dollars. ‘ “There are reasons for believing that as little fuss as possible will be made in closing the acounts with -the heirs. The chief reason is the wide ramifica- tion of the Webber tree in England and Holland where the name Is found heavily sprinkled among the nobility. No less than six Webbers are regis- tered in the Royal Blue Book of England. TI learned this after having been told by English officials they had no information about the Webbers, “This reticence can be explained in one way only _ ‘a marriage to her father’s black servant, Although the much-married lady did not cohabit with her black spouse, having been married in the legal manner for the purpose of effecting a divorce from the husband of her father’s choosing, the fam- fly has never beon quite free from the suspicion that Baturally attaches to such a tradition. ‘{ found the family crest of William Webber, Prince of Orange, in wide use among the Wnglish . . DAA alibi glial an snteniesdepelshbdenipny Pesce i } | } Webbers. This crest is composed of a hawk and wolf’s head balanced with a demidtion and fleur de lis. A ducal coronet with an eagle sutmounts the device, which wag adopted by the Prince of Orange on moving to England. Further justification of secrecy concerning Anneke’s family life is found in the fact that Wilhelmina of Holland is a Webber. And it is significant in discussing the influence wielded by the Webber fortune to reveal that the Vandervilts and the Astors never cut a wide swath until they became members of Trinity Corporation. “I have learned from unquestionable sources that some of our best families have paid sizeable sums. to become members of Trinity Corportation, in the certainty, no doubt, that later they would be hand- somely compensated for such splendid interest in religion.” 3; Easton's investigations were not without risks that frequently involved his life. His quest took him to out of the way corners of the North Ameri- can continent and it was not unusual to find upon visiting his hotel room that someone had preceded him, searching all of his effects with the greatest care. “IT soon learned that I could not exercise too much care in my choice of speaking acquaintances dur- ing my travels,” Easton said. “The more valuable of the documents never left my person during the four yea of steady investigation and it would have been necessary for any one seeking possession of these to take me with them. Very often I would find that my luggage had undergone a thorough searching, even the hotel mattress and pillow not escaping the prying fingers of my unknown Visitors. “In my quest for facts underlying the Trinity Cor- poration mystery I found many recomled deeds of perfidy in which claimants were duped by legal trick- sters, losing their fight before going to court. An outstanding instance was the suit filed in the name of am. association of Jans heirs—Jans was the name of Anfieke’s first husband in America. The action was brought in 1869 through David Groesbeck, an attorney. The court threw out the petition, to the astonishment of the claimants, when the defendants moved that the action was illegal because the rec- tor of Trinity church and not the trustees had been named as legal defendants, “Did Groesbeck, an able lawyer, make a mistake im ouing the rector and not the trustees of the cor- poration? The answer may be found in the fact thet forty-nime acres Of realty im the heat of Man- hattan, even in 1869 was worth an incalculable sum of money. IUSHIITeCG & 18 “In 1860 a man named Dwight °*Mleméort, «of. Poughkeepsie, whose wife was a Webber, engaged a lawyer to make a settlement of the case. The lawyer was about to take ship to Holland when he dropped out of sight. It is possible that he, tov, died of heart failure but the body wag never found and so no inquest was held. “When final settlement is made some thousands of men and women bearinng the name of Edwards will be sadly disappointed. These people base their claims on the fact that one Captain Jonathan Ed- wards, commander of one. of the vessels in the vast fleet owned by Webber, seitled in New York, marrying Elizabeth Brower, descendant of Wyntie Lybrant Brower, a member of the Webber corpora- tion. Merely because of this association of the name Edwards with the Webber interests countless scores of persons bearing the name of Edwards have entered the lists in the hope’ of sharing in the final division of the trust fund, “The search for the truth back of Trinity Corpora- tion has been costly to me. I sold my home to ft nance the investigations. On that fateful morning when my eye caught sight of the news item which launched me on a veritable ocean of human cross currents I owned a business that brought me a com- fortable living. This was swept away very early im ~ my venture, which necessitated frequent calls on per sons in distant part of the United States and Canada, “No account Of my connection with the search for the facts under Trinity Corporation’s apparently calm surface would be complete without an expres- sion of gratitude to certain influential friends whose assistance and advice on more than one occasion served to surmount what would have remained for me impassable barriers. To penetrate the granite exterior of affluent Trinity Corporation required more than a knowledge of facts which the trustees were anxious to hide, This additional strength came from quarters quite unexpected and from persons who I believe had no private interets or ulterior mo tives underlying their proffers of assistance. “It is possible that’ others have come upon the facts as given im the foregoing account, I take no particular credit for my share in bringing the litiga- tion to a close. Indeed, I believe that it was rare good fortune, the kindly glances of a warmly-dis- posed fate that prevented me from growing discour- aged during the four years of steady, searching en- deavor.”