Investigator Makes Living Locating Unsuspecting Heirs to Lost Estates
T7nllt,inn,l (linn if ... .... .
i'AGES 1 to 12
Hollywood -OJPD- If a man
named Herb Saxton comes
walking up to your house,
don't slam the door in his
face, He may simply want to
give you $50,000.
, That's the way Saxton
mattes his living, and a good
living it is-just telling unsus
pecting persons they have had
a large piece of. money
dropped into their laps and
all they have to do is reach
down and pick it up.
Saxton, who has spent 40
years In the investigation bus
iness, began his full-time ca
reer of searching out persons
who were heirs to unclaimed
estates in 1938.
' . "I do a lot of traveling,"
said Saxton. "At every place
I stop I go to the court house
and check on unclaimed es
tates. There are always many,
but I never touch one less
than $10,000."
He said that in many cases
where a person dies without a
will and his estate is handled
by the public administrator,
this administrator Hops nnt
have the funds available or Is
too overworked to run an ex
tensive search for heirs. Once
he has closed the case and it
has been approved by the
court, Saxton can step in.
"There always is a time ele
ment to find heirs to an es
tate," he said. "This varies in
different states. For example
in California it is five years,
in New York seven, and in
Washington State 15. Then the
estate goes to the state."
Saxton said he always
works alone.
"Once in awhile I hire an
investigator to check out some
point in a case," he said, "but
I make sure he does not know
too much about what the
case is."
Saxton, although he lives in
an apartment overlooking the
center of Hollywood, main
tains an office in Chicago.
"All my mail regarding es
tates comes and goes through
Chicago," he said. "No matter
where I am all my telephone
calls are routed through that
office so no one knows where
I am talking from. That way
no one can cut in on an estate
after I've spent months or
years working on it."
Saxton said he tries to keep
about 500 cases working at all
times. Of these he solves an
average of 10 a year.
The veteran investigator,
who served in naval intelli
gence during World War I
and as a lieutenant colonel in
the Army Air Corps during
World War II, said he always
has a case almost completed
before he contacts the heir.
"Then I explain what my
business is and ask a few sim
ple questions. If these answers
match what I already know,
lve found my heir."
How does Saxton make his
money?
"Once I've established an
heir," he said, "I tell him how
much the estate is worth.
Then I ask him to sign an
agreement giving me his pow
er of attorney in the case and
between a third and 50 per
cent as my fee.
Some Balk
"Once in awhile they balk
at first and demand to know
why 1 should be cut in. Usu
ally after 1 explain the work
and expense I've put in, they
see it my way. If not, I walk
away. 1 know they could
never find the estate. They
generally call me."
Saxton said one of the most
interesting estate cases he has
solved was that of a man who
shipped out of Los Angeles
Sept. 11, 1941, with a cou
struction crew bound for
Wake Island. His work appli
cation showed only that he
was married. When Wake fell
to the Japanese he was taken
prisoner.
After he spent 44 months in
a prison camp U.S. troops lib
erated the camp. All of the
prisoners rushed for trucks
loaded with food as they en
tered the camp and a case of
canned peas fell on the luck
less man's head, killing him.
A'
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"Many branches of the gov
eminent, including the FBI,
searched for his heirs," Sax
ton said. "They were not suc
cessful. I was asked to step
into the case by a survivors'
organization in Boise, Idaho.
Divorced Wife
"I was able to find that his
wife had divorced him in De
troit. This led me to the di
vorced wife in Kentucky. She
in turn, knew the names and
"dresses of some of his fam-
liy.
On Nov. 10, mtifl. I tele
graphed that 1 had located a
sister in Mexico City, who
spoke no English, and two
sisters in Jacksonville, Fla.'
Saxton says there are some
persons who use possible heirs
as a racket,. He said these are
the persons who contact men
and women and tell them it is
believed they are heirs to a
vast estate. Then they want a
fee to help them prove it,
"1 never take a fee in ad
vance and only collect mine at
the same time the heir gets
his."
General's Papers
Now on Microfilm
Boston -il'Pli- A microfilm
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Henry Knox, one of George
Washington's generals, h a s
been announced by the Mas
sachusetts Historical Society.
The earliest entry Is dated
1791 and the latest 18:5.
MEDF0RD
tribune
MEDKORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1961
East German Reds Using Doufae Talk
there have grown different
meanings, while the official
double-talk of East German
Frankfurt, Germany - ll'PD -East
German Communists are
gradually demolishing the last
bulwark that unites the split
halves of Germany-the Ger
man language.
German words here and
Communist Parly officials has
turned the language into what
East Germans sarcastically '
call "parly Chinese."
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