[PW] FW: Grace Singer

[Sue Kamm]

I don't have the URL, but when I was browsing Snopes on the reference desk
the other day, they debunk the Wurm story.

Your friendly neighborhood CyberGoddess and ALA Councilor at Large, 
Sue Kamm
Email: suekamm[at]mindspring.com
Inglewood/Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Dodgers Truest of the Blue, 2000
Visit my blog:  http://suekamm.blogspot.com
Baseball Is Life...the rest is details.


> [Original Message]
> From: Hatch, Patricia <patricia_hatch at harvard.edu>
> To: <list at project-wombat.org>
> Date: 7/18/2007 7:40:03 AM
> Subject: [PW] FW:  Grace Singer
>
> Re-reading my own message, I cannot assert that my number 1 below,
> "there was a message in a bottle" is true.  A gentleman named Jack Wurm
> contacted the lawyers claiming he had found the message, but provided a
> hand-written copy only, and the lawyers were seeking a photocopy of the
> original.  So, using Brian's points below, this story may in fact be all
> three things (urban legend, practical joke, scam)
>
> Sorry to clutter up the list,
>
> Patty Hatch
> Harvard University-CWD/FSS
> Cambridge, MA 02138
> Phone: (617) 496-3242
> Email: patricia_hatch at harvard.edu
>  
>  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
> Hatch, Patricia
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 10:15 AM
> To: list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Grace Singer
>
> Well, there are some truths to the story:
>
> 1. There was a message in a bottle
> 2. There was a gentleman named Jack Wurm that found the message in the
> bottle, and the message did read that whomever found the bottle would
> inherit half of her fortune, and the other half went to her attorney
>
> Someone earlier cited the New York Times article written in 1955 about
> this.
>
> In an article from the Los Angeles Times dated July 26, 1949, the story
> goes like this:
>
> --Lawyers Ronald and Barry Cohen were looking for Mrs. Alexander's will.
> Barry Cohen is the attorney mentioned by name in the message in the
> bottle.  The attorneys were based in London.
> --The article indicates that Ronald Cohen told a reporter that Jack J.
> Wurm of Palo Alto, CA, had written the firm about the message he found
> in the bottle, on a San Francisco beach. Wurm sent the firm a
> hand-written copy.  The date on the hand-written copy sent to the Cohen
> firm was January 20, 1937.  Mrs. Alexander died on Sept. 19, 1939.
> --The message did not indicate where it was written and the signature
> was not witnessed.  Cohen was seeking a photocopy of the "alleged will."
> --The article also says "He (Cohen) said two friends of Mrs. Alexander
> and her butler had told him she had talked of throwing bottled notes
> into the ocean to see where they would turn up."
> --Ronald Cohen claimed he had drawn up several wills and codicils for
> Mrs. Alexander, but after her passing, none could be found except one
> that was dated in 1909.  This will had a page torn out of it.  A nephew
> and niece of Mrs. Alexander was drawing income from that will.
>
> A later LA times article, dated April 7, 1957, reiterates the finding of
> the message by Wurm, but does not mention the lawyers, and claims that
> the case was still "in litigation."
>
> So it would be interesting to know if in fact a case was ever brought
> about this, and if the case was brought by Wurm, the Cohens, or both, or
> if the fact that there was a will executed in 1909 was the final say on
> this.  Since the Cohens were London lawyers, I'm wondering if the case
> (if any) was being litigated in England.
>
>
>
> Patty Hatch
> Harvard University-CWD/FSS
> Cambridge, MA 02138
> Phone: (617) 496-3242
> Email: patricia_hatch at harvard.edu
>  
>  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
> [mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
> Brian Whatcott
> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 9:01 PM
> To: list at project-wombat.org; list at project-wombat.org
> Subject: Re: [PW] Grace Singer
>
>
> Ah: I see there is a difficulty in allocating this story to an
> appropriate category:
> 1) Urban legend
> 2) Practical joke
> 3) Scam
>
> I am pretty sure that there was no big payout from the Singer estate,
> all the same!  :-)
>
> Brian Whatcott
>
> At 03:12 PM 7/17/2007, Doty, Fadia wrote:
> >This article is found in
> >http://www...............
> >"Columnist L. M. Boyd recently described the amazing good fortune of a 
> >man named Jack Wurm.
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: burchell at telusplanet.net [mailto:burchell at telusplanet.net]
> >Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 10:55 AM
> >To: list at project-wombat.org
> >Subject: [PW] Grace Singer
> >
> >
> >Hi!
> >Several years ago while on a long drive, I heard a story on the car 
> >radio, purporting to be true, concerning Grace Singer, the heiress to 
> >the Singer Sewing Machine Company fortune.
>
>
> Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka! 
>
>
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