The Evening World

MYSTERY IN GIFT OF $400,000 TO YALE UNIVERSITY

Archibald H. Blount, English man, Who Willed the Money, Not Known at College.

LONDON, Sept. 11. - Archibald Henry Blount, Lord of the Manor of Orleton, Herefordshire, has bequeathed $400,000 to Yale, to be applied as is deemed best for the university.

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 11. - President Hadley, of Yale University, having his attention called to the fact that Archibald Henry Blount, Lord of the Manor of Orleton, Herefordshire, had bequeathed his estate to Yale, said that he had not the least idea who the testator was - had never heard of him, and was curious to know how the university becomes the beneficiary under the will.

Secretary Stokes is unable to throw light upon the bequest, as the university correspondence shows no reference to the testator. No notice has come to the university of the bequest.

Archibald Henry Blount, known as Blount of Orleton, was born in 1840 and succeeded his father in 1885. The family descends from the Barons of Ixworth, in Suffolk, this barony ceasing with Sir William Blount, Baron of Ixworth, who was slain fighting at the battle of Lewes under the banner of Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and who subsequently was attainted by Parliament in the reign of Henry III, who was defeated by the Barons at Lewes, May 14, 1264, and compelled to surrender with his son.

Mr. Blount died in London June 17 last at the age of sixty-seven, leaving an estate of the gross value of $1,675,870. He bequeathed small sums to his executors and relatives and all the family manuscripts and documents to his nearest kinsman. All the other property, including the Manor of Orleton, estate properties in the parishes of Orleton and Yarpie, Herefordshire, subject to the payment of his funeral and testamentary expenses, to Yale University, of New Haven, Connecticut, to be applied as may be deemed best for that university.

The value of the bequest, after the deductions, amounts to $400,000. The will is dated June 4, 1907.