A LOST REIR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2578, 5 February 1910, Page 5

A LOST REIR.

EXTR AORDINARY IMPERSONATION. (Per Press Association.'! WELLINGTON, Feb. 4. An extraordinary case of a lost heir and impersonation came befor e the Supreme! Court in banco to-day, on the petition of the Public Trustee for directions as to the disposal of £9OO held by him on behalf of George Tuckwell, due under the will of Richard Tuckwell, who died in ISB2. George, the eldest son, had gone to Australia two years before, and has not been heard of since ISB3. In 1893 a letter, purporting to be from him, reached a Wellington solicitor, who accordingly executed a deed of conveyance, and paid over a sum of money due to Geo. Tuckwell. It is now quite clear that Tuckwell was impersonated, and th 0 money obtained by fraud. Tuckwell’s relatives in New Zealand and Australia had long concluded that was- dead, but inquiries were being continually made about his share in the estate by one. Robert Gillespie, who claimed to know him iu Oobar, and who said lie had a power of attorney from him to collect the legacy. Then in 1901 a letter signed Geo. * Tuckwell, hut which Gillespie afterwards admitted to have written at Tuckwell’s dictation, claimed the legacy. The relatives by this time were'thoroughly suspicious, and police and other inquiries wcr 0 made, utterly failing to reveal the whereabouts of Tuckwell, who seems to have died and been buried under an assumed name, as no record of registration of death can be found. The petition has been before the Court for five years. Today Mr. Justice Cooper allowed the Public Trustee to presume that Tuckwell died intestate without issue, anti order.ed him to pay to the next of kin. should there be no claim on behalf of George Tuckwell during the next- six months.