Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1885 — MYRA CLARK GAINES. [ARTICLE]

MYRA CLARK GAINES.

The Famous Litigant Has Gone to a Higher Court. A recent dispatch from New Orleans announced the (Heath, at her residence in that city, of Mrs. Myra Clark Goings, at the ripe age of 80 years. Mrs. Gaines was th* daughter of Daniel Clark, the first Representative in Congress of Louisiana, and the richest man in the State at the time of his death. Mrs. Gaines was not informed of her parentage until she was a grown worn - an. As soon as she knew this, she began her case for the recovery of her father’s property. This case is probably the most extended and complicated litigation on record. It was commenced fully half a century ago, and has been begun anew seven times, argued before the Supreme Court of the State four times, before the Supreme Court of the United States twice, and is before that body to-day. Almost every prominent lawyer from Daniel Webster and Charles O’Conor down have been employed in it, and fortunes have been expended in carrying it on. IDs. Gaines married Gen. Edmunds Pendleton Gaines, who gained such a reputation during the war of 1812, and his great fortune of $251),000 was expended in court charges and lawyers’ fees. Mrs. Gaines obtained innumerable judgments, but every cent of money she got went to the lawyerA As for the defendants in the case, all wene utterly ruined by the most protracted litigation ever known, except the city of New Orleans. Two years a<?o Mrs. Cfaines obtained judgment in the United States Court against the city for a sum exceeding $2,000,000. This case is now on appeal to the United States Supreme Court The entire litigation has cost not less than $2,500,000 in court charges and other legal expenses. Mrs. Gaines always managed her own case with great pluck and wisdom, and won her points by her extraordinary pertinacity. She often appeared before the bar herself and pleaded her cause. It is generally believed that with her death the case will fall through and some compromise be accepted by her heirs. Mrs. Gaines was a woman of high qualities, of strong intellect, and great generosity. She was an enthusiast about her case, and counted on accomplishing some great feat with the money she would get from it. We are indebted to the Chicago Times for the following interesting life sketch of this remarkable woman;

Myra Clark Gaines won a world-vide notoriety by the fight she conducted for tne past sixty years with the city of New Orleans for the title to property within that city valued at several millions of dollars. It is now eighty-four years since Daniel Clark, a handsome polished young man who lmd been for some years leading the life of an Indian trader in Mississippi, went to Philadelphia to spend ihe winter. Clark was a gay fellow, and he took in all the pleasures of the then metropolis of America. In his rounds he met a French beauty, and fell in love with her. This woman’s name was Znlime Carrier, who, at the time Clark met her was living with a Frenchman named La Grange. Whether she was married to La Grange or not was one of the Soints in question in the litigation for the ew Orleans properly. The defendants claimed she was his legal wife. At any rate, when Clark met her in 1805 she left In Grange and went to live with Clark. The Supreme Court of the United States has declared that she was privately married fk> Clark, and that she was merely La Grange’s mistress. In 1806 Myra Clark was born. She was the only child Znlime Carrier had by Daniel Clark. At this time Clark seat Znlime to New Orleans and acted as a bachelor. He engaged himself in marriage and formed other connections, producing ether offspring. He denied the fact that he had married Znlime, and when she came back and pushed the cose in the Philadelphia courts she was unable to succeed. She finally took up with a Dr. Gardette an,d lived with him until he died. But while Clark would have nothing to do with the mother, he took good care of the child. Myra Clark was well educated by him, and was treated by him as a daughter. He went again into Indian trading at New Orleans, and amassed an immense fortune. In 1813 he died, and a will was produced showing that all of his property was left to his mother and the city of New Orleans. Myra Clark, then only 7 years old, was apparently penniless, and the executors took charge of the estate. When Myra grew to the age of 20 she married a Mr. Whitney, and then she began to contest the will. She claimed she was the only legi imate daughter of Daniel Clark, and that his properly wa» hers. Tho claim was at once hotly contested, and Mr. Whitney died before to was tried. The widow continued to prosecute the suit Shortly afterward she married Gen, Gaines, and he entered into the case as warmly as herself. The case was tried at New Orleans. It was lost. It was carried to the Court at Washington. It was again lost. In 1852 it seemed a hopeless fight, and at thjs time Gen. Caines died. But Myra Clark Gaines was not discouraged, and shortly after this time she discovered a will executed by her father certifying that Myra was bis only child, and creating her his sole heir. Upon this will she again went befora the courts in New Orleans. She again lost’ She again appealed to the Supreme Court at Washington, and here, in 1861, she obtained a judgment confirming this will and giving her the whole property left her by her father and the rents thereof for the past thirty years. Then the war broke out, and justice was again delayed. In 1883 the Uniteij States Supreme Court again affirmed her right to the property claimed by her, and ordered the city of New Orleans to levy a tax of $2,000,000 to satisfy the judgment in her favor; but the City Council by one means and another evaded the order, dud Mrs. Gaines never came into possession of her property.