Phelps Made Guardian of Caroline Hawes, and the Partition of the Remnant of the Estate Petitioned For. The end of one of the most interesting series of legal battles which has ever resulted from will contest in this State is promised by proceedings which have just been commended in the Superior Court of San Mateo County before Judge George H. Buck. The history of the famous Horace Hawes estate and all of the varied litigation through which it has been is revived, and the romance that has been furnished by the wealth the famous barrister accumulated is now about to end with the division of what is left of the son's estate. In the Superior Court of Redwood City last week a petition was filed, the title of which is Eugenie H. Schroeder vs. Eugenie H. Hawes.
It was an application by Mrs. Schroeder to have Timothy Guy Phelps appointed the guardian of her child. All of those who are parties in the matter are prominent In San Francisco society, which lends an additional interest to the case. Everyone who has lived in this city or State a great number of years remembers the name of Horace Hawes, lawyer, statesman and author of the Consolidation Act.
He has been dead many, many years, but he left that behind him which will enroll his name in history.
SECURING A FORTUNE
Hawes was a frugal, hard-working, brainy man, and in a very early day he secured a large tract of valuable land just on the borders of Redwood City, in San Mateo County. Upon this spot he erected an elegant mansion, and in this quiet suburban retreat he proposed to rear his young family and pass the evening of his life in peace and comfort. He died prematurely, leaving a widow and two young children, Horace and Caroline.
His estate was valued at over $1,000,000, and in his will, he gave his wife the homestead and $250 a month for maintenance, and the balance to be divided equally between Horace and Caroline when they became of age. The Widow Hawes was not satisfied with the provisions of the will, and thereupon one of the greatest will contests ever known in this city took place. Mrs. Hawes broke the document on account of certain technicalities involved in provisions he made for the establishment of a college. It is said that the attorneys who handled the case for her received something like $100,000 as a fee.
At any rate, the widow got bold of the property which bad been held in trust for her, and in a few years, it was all gone. Sometime before her husband died the house he had built was destroyed by fire. After his death she erected a palatial mansion, but even this gassed out of her possession and into the hands of Moses Hopkins. She was compelled to pass the dosing days of her life with her daughter Caroline. Caroline grew to be a beautiful young lady, intellectual and witty and a real adornment to the highest society in this city.
She finally married James Robinson, a bright young man who is now a member of the firm of Macondray & Co. of this city. They have a beautiful country home at Redwood. Young Horace Hawes inherited much of bis father's ability and shrewdness, and had he lived would doubtless have been a man of mark. When but seventeen years of age he fell in love with Miss Eugenie McLean, a sister-in-law of Timothy Guy Phelps, now Collector of the Port.
Eugenie was several years his senior. They were married, and two children were born to them, Horace built a beautiful country residence on his land near Redwood City, where they resided during the summer months. In the campaign of 1884 Horace received the nomination for the Assembly of San Mateo County, but was defeated by W. T. Wallace, the present Superior Court Judge.
This defeat was a death blow for him. He immediately took to his bed in a fever from which he never recovered. He left a very handsome widow, two children, and $180,000.
By his will the widow had one-third and the children a-third each. The will was filed for probate in the court of San Mateo County.
A HANDSOME CLERGYMAN ARRIVES
Meanwhile there had come to Redwood a very handsome Episcopal clergyman, named E. S. Fackenthal.
He took charge of the parish and while at work in the spiritual vineyard he became acquainted with the charming widow Eugenie. She had wealth and he had beauty. Fackenthal at once recalled a handsome friend he had left at Fort Benton, Montana, by name of J.B. Schroeder. He sent for him, and Schroeder came.
The friend was certainly a splendid specimen of physical manhood, and it was not many days after that reverend doctor had introduced the couple before they were engaged to be married. At that time Eugenie was receiving $500 a month from her late husband's estate during its pendency in the Superior Court and were she to marry before it had been finally settled this allowance would stop. But Eugenie would not delay, and of course Schroeder was willing, and as it is well known that love is ingenious, they soon hit upon the scheme or chartering a tug and going out to sea, where the hated telltale license would not be essential.
Fackenthal accompanied the couple on board the tug Edith and the bridal party steamed gayly outside the Heads, where the ceremony was performed. The marriage was discovered, however, and there was a big sensation over it, and then the litigation was commenced which has just been revived in Redwood City. The widow of Horace Hawes Sr. had been appointed executrix of her son's estate, and when the marriage was proclaimed, the elder Mrs. Hawes desired that Alexander Gordon of Redwood should become the guardian of her son's children, and here a bitter legal strife was fought, which terminated in a victory for Gordon.
Schroeder, however, became the administrator of his wife's estate. About a year and a half ago Mrs. Schroeder was appointed the guardian of Caroline in the place of Gordon. This occurred a few months after the death of the son. Now it is proposed to partition the estate between the two, and for the purpose of doing this without involving any legal technicalities the guardianship of Eugenie has been transferred to Timothy Guy Phelps, who is the girl's godfather.
G. W. Frink, H. W. Walker and John Murray have been appointed Commissioners in the partition suit.
To many these proceedings have been thought to indicate the commencement of another bitter legal fight from which sensational developments were likely to come. Mr. Phelps when seen yesterday on the subject, however, declared that everything was working in perfect harmony and that his appointment had merely been made for the reasons given above. "I have heard of nothing of a sensational character that is likely to result from the petition," he said, "and if there was trouble brewing, I would certainly know of it."