Below is an account from the Gallica archives of what happened to Alice Thorn (de Ferussac’s) fortune, which was mismanaged by her lawyer in Brooklyn. It’s a sad story, made all the more poignant by the fact that Alice died in considerable pain from the results of surgery.
From the NEW YORK HERALD of April 12:
A document which is in the nature of a voice from the grave was filed in the Supreme Court yesterday in the proceedings begun last June by Mrs. Alice Mansfield, of London, England, to compel Mr. Walter H. Mead, a lawyer, eighty years old, of 154 Hewes street, Brooklyn, to account for the estate of her mother, Comtesse Alice Thorn de Ferussac, who died in this city in November, 1874.
The document was a statement by Mead in effect that although the estate has been lost by his unfortunate investments, he was blameless of any intentional wrongdoing. Soon after this defence had been prepared Mr. Mead died—on January 4 last.
Mr. Warren Leslie, referee, who was appointed to pass upon the accounts of Mr. Mead, reported that when Air. Mead became trustee of the estate of the countess on February 27, 1884, succeeding the late John B. Stevens, the principal of the estate amounted to $140,815.83. As Mead was unable to give any details with reference to the management of the estate, except that all of the records had been lost in a fire more than fifteen years ago, the referee recommended that judgment for this amount he taken against Miss Ida Mead, administratrix of the estate of her brother.
Mansfield’s counsel, Guggenheimer, Untermyer and Alarshall, of 37 Wall street, contended that if the estate had been properly safeguarded it would now be worth between $400,000 and $500,000. Blamed Advanced Years. In his statement which was prepared for the referee Mr. Mead admitted that as trustee he received $140,815.83 when he took charge of the estate. He was unable to account for the income and the disbursements since 1884.
Continuing, his statement reads : —
“The entire principal of the trust was invested from time to time in stocks and bonds, as authorized by the will of decedent, and without any negligence or fraud on my part. The precise details of these investments, the dates of the losses, as also all receipts from income, I am unable to state. Aly inability to tell these facts, which I realize are of great consequence, is due, I feel and believe, to my advanced years, coupled with my recent physical and mental affliction. I am now approaching my eightieth year of life and have suffered two strokes of paralysis, which have not only incapacitated me, but have seriously and permanently, I fear, impaired my mental faculties. ‘While I am anxious to help the Court in every manner possible, I have no method of ascertaining facts or figures relating to these matters. The gentlemen with whom I have transacted business in relation to this estate in the past seem, as far as I have been able to learn, to be all dead and gone. The records that I kept, I am informed and believe, were inadvertently destroyed by fire several years since without my knowledge. My recollection of the details has been so affected by my illness that I can recall matters only in the vaguest and most indefinite manner. I am confident, however, that in the unfortunate investments which were made by me in good faith and for the purpose of advancing the interests of this fund the principal of this fund was swept away more than fifteen years ago.”
Daughter of Colonel Thorn. Comtesse de Ferussac was a daughter of the late Colonel Thorn, who during the first half of the last century was widely known on two continents as a diplomatist and sportsman. During the 30’s he lived in Paris, France, and took an active part in the social life of that city. His daughters were noted for their beauty. One of them was married to Baron de Pierres and another to Comte de Verennes (Varaigne). Both of these marriages occurred after the marriage of Miss Alice Thorn to Comte de Ferussac. Another of Colonel Thorn’s daughters was one of the ladies of honor to Empress Eugenie. Two of his daughters were married to Americans. Colonel Thorn’s city home was at 8 West Sixteenth street. His country estate was at what is now Pelham Bay Park.
Comtesse de Ferussac distributed her estate among her four children. She died at the home of her brother, Air. Eugene Thorn, at 5 East Thirtieth street.
The Colonel and Mrs Thorn 