Hide Article Text (OCR)
HEIRS FIGHT FOR WEALIH_OF THIEFDeath of Bill the Brute, Clark Parker of Pasadena, StartsContest for $1,000,000.WAHFORon■ New York.—What would the old 'cronies io crime of Clark Parker, once internationally Infamous as Bill the Brute, burglar, diief and receiver^ of stolen goods, say If: they knew lie left an estate - of $1,000,000 for eminently respectable relative^ and heirs ;to. squabble, over? , *What might he the comment of his^ one-time pal, Eddie Querln, had man from the West who achieved no end of notoriety 'as the only man ever to escape from dread Devil’s Island, the French .penul colony where Dreyfus1 and untold otjtier unfortunates languished? What would Eddie think of that cool million, Eddie who robbed ■the silk-lined Bank of Lyons of 200,-000 francs with Bill the Brute, hut who had to he sentenced to a British jail at sixty-one in 3920 for filching pennies from a pedestrian?Died a Recluse.Clark Parker died In .(Pasadena, Cal.,.in January, 1922, a recluse 'millionaire, aged eighty. For many years he was well known to the police of America anti Europe, but suddenly sett Jed down to respectability in Boston.His brother, Benjamin Parker, was n't the tlmg a.resident of Boston and one respected alike In business anti society. He was the Molasses King and lie bequeathed his entire fortune in trust tftJttie reformed Clark. Clark quadrupled it by careful Investments —honest investments—and in 1D10 moved to the Pucific coast, living in seclusion until his wife's death, alone after she was taken from him. , ..Bill the Brute did not win his brother’s fortune without a bitterly fuughl legal contest. Dr. Frederick P. Gay.I now a member of the University of ! California faculty, ids hephew, led a bund of relatives In it joint attack” on the will and its benefactor on. the ground that Benjamin Parker had been •[. unduly, influenced. ‘ fNow Clark Parker is dead and -Ids will divided the greatly enhanced fortune of Benjamin Parker among -the Masons and Elks of Los Angeles and Pasadena and* a long list of one-time friends. A birthday gift” of $1,000 Is all Doctor Gny is supposed to get.Again Doctor Gay leads a light on the Will. He and Jefferson H. Parker of Boston are the nearest blood relations left by old Bill the Brute. And they have fded a contest on the ground ! ^ that the will and Its codicils nro tile- dent*‘ gal, tliat the deceased was unduly in-1 iluenced in drawing up the instrumfent, and .furthermore incompetent.Many interests will he represented in the defense of the will. The Masons and Elks'are. naturally enough, mosl | prominent, for between them they are ■ to receive $375,000 if the will stands | ,t8 j, unbroken * WV - ^ 'Began by Killing.Parker began his criminal career when he was still In his ’tehns, kilting a seaman in a brawl aboard a sailing vessel#'He served a term in a Massachusetts penitentiary for the and.It started him on a series of de^reda-■; tions in America, England, France and i Canada. In each of those countries heserved time, , ’ .AH kinds of burglaries and thefts received his attention and he committed them under all kinds of nnnies-^Clark Park,er, Charles Parker, William Stetson, George Goodman. Bill the Brute was the title bestowed upon him by envious rivals of his nefarious profession when his career was at its height. Later, when he had lost bis nerve and contented himself with act-' ing as a fence for stolen goods, that imposing nickname was changed to plain English Bill.Parker’s biggest coup was the robbery of the.’Brink of Lyons in .1891, planned and cxecuted with the dhrlng “EMie-Guerin, then the boldest and shrewdest criminal in Europe, not to sny tiie most dapper. Eddie hired ft. French etyauteay and lived in it with n dazzling blonde from Chicago \#feiie they planned the robbery;. that’s the kind of a crook ho wus.The robbery was accomplished easily enough and Parker and Guerin went into a cemetery nearby to divide the spoils. A sharp quarrel ensued arid in a moment of excitement and anger Parker shot Guerin, seriously wounding him. No sooner had he fired, however, when he repented and at the iW of•eiipTuf’e assisted Guerin to London. Parker fled to Boston.ing 1 the y/Th In frspealbeauisky,promhe;irs •HeCaisvltlias th • e«=
Newspaper Details
Atlantic News Telegraph
Atlantic, Iowa, US
Tue, Mar 20, 1923
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NA, 12 Nov 2019
Other Publications Near Atlantic, Iowa
Atlantic Cass County Democrat
Atlantic Bruces Optimist
Atlantic Advertiser
Atlantic News Telegraph
Atlas of Cass County Iowa
