Correspondence (incoming): Barr - Bi, 1892-1901

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY

SEND to Mrs Leland Stanford City July ? 1894

Mrs. Moses Hopkins and household in Redwood congratulate you on Judge Ross' decision and hope it is final

James H. Benedict

THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY RECEIVED at Corcoran Bldg, Washington, D.C. Oct 13, 1895 Dated Suisun Calif13

To Mrs Leland Stanford Arlington Hotel Washn DC

Please accept my Congratulations on your Victory

August Berner

GAYLEY, BAUCUS & FLLEMING, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS, 52 WALL STREET, NEW YORK. August 23, 1893

Mrs. Leland Stanford, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, California

My dear Madame:

My excuse for writing you at this time is that I have been retained by Mrs. Christine M. Lathrop, of Saratoga Springs, to investigate her affairs and see what course could be taken to save as much as possible of the legacy left her by her uncle, your late husband. I have gone very carefully into the matter and I find that there are outstanding in Connecticut claims amounting, in all, to about $30,000. I also find that the creditors for the most part are very kindly disposed towards Mrs. Lathrop, and would favorably consider any reasonable compromise which she might be able to make to them and would undoubtedly take 50% and in many cases even less than that in settlement of their claims, provided she could go to them now and pay them in cash.

I have avoided as far as possible stirring up the matter and therefore have not personally seen the creditors, but have obtained my information through reliable parties and am very certain that settlement could be made on as favorable terms as I have stated.

Among the $30,000 of claims are several to which Mrs. Lathrop has, in my judgment, a good defense. You are familiar with the Connecticut affair and know the circumstances under

which these debts were contracted, and that in most instances duress and personal violence were used to extort from Mrs. Lathrop the execution of the notes and checks, and I need not refer to these matters at length. I merely mention them to show the advisability of contesting the claims against her which are for money never used by her and on instruments never voluntarily executed by her. I have stated the entire situation to Mrs. Lawton and to her mother and they have not and will not, in my judgment, advance Mrs. Lathrop a dollar, although Mrs. Lathrop agreed, if they would loan her sufficient to settle these matters she would give her note at six per cent interest, payable as soon as she received her legacy from her uncle, and as security for the payment of that note agreed to assign sufficient of the legacy to pay the same with interest. That is the way matters stand here. Unless some steps are taken by Mrs. Lathrop to settle these claims now they will undoubtedly, and in fact some of them have already started to put their claims into judgment and attach her interest in the legacy, causing her an untold amount of anxiety and worry (She is now bordering on nervous prostration, so her doctor informs me, and may even be driven insane if these matters are raked up afresh at this time.) besides putting the claims in such position that she cannot contest them when she does receive her legacy. As matters stand now the legacy could be put up and sold on six days notice to the highest bidder and she would be

utterly powerless to protect herself and the bounty intended for her by her uncle might be entirely lost to her.

As I said before, many of these claims are utterly unjust and could never be put into judgment if properly contested, but she has no money with which to contest and there is no one who seems to be sifficiently [sic] well disposed toward her to loan it to her een on such security as I have stated. If you could see your way clear to advance to her at this time $15,000 or $20,000 of her legacy you would be doing her a kindness which she would never forget. I have asked her, in view of all the facts, to write you, but when I last saw her she seemed very reluctant and probably has not yet done so. She has met with so many rebuffs from her own immediate family in Saratoga that she hesitated about writing you for fear you might consider her ungrateful for past kindnesses or as trying to take an unfair advantage of the kindly interest she knows you take in her. For that reason I have felt it my duty to my client to write, stating briefly the exact state of affairs, and letting you decide whether or not you think it advisable to advance her a part of the legacy, although she has no legal claim upon it until after the expiration of two years.

If you decide to advance her $15,000 or $20,000 and could arrange through your agent in New York for the payment of the money to me here, upon my presenting proper receipts and vouchers