Douglas Daily Dispatch

Court Reserves Decision In Cockburn Claim to Big Estate of Lotta Crabtree

BOSTON, Dec. 23 (AP).—Hearings on the claim of Mrs. Carlotta Cockburn, of San Gabriel, Calif., to relationship with Lotta Crabtree and her right to share the late actress's $4,000,000 estate were concluded today before Judge William M. Prest, of the Suffolk probate court, who withheld his decision.

For 14 days Mrs. Cockburn, through depositions and testimony of 40 witnesses, has sought to show that she is the daughter of John Ashworth Crabtree, brother of Lotta and was born in Tombstone, Ariz., when that town was a roaring mining camp in the early eighties.

Through the written and spoken words of ex-sheriffs, gamblers, miners, saloon keepers and prospectors as well as some of the few women who lived in Tombstone during its wide open days, counsel for Mrs. Cockburn told the court of Jack Crabtree, his relation to Lotta, his marriage and the birth of a daughter, Carlotta.

Administrators of the estate, contending that Mrs. Cockburn is no relation to the late actress and has no right as an heir-at-law, were contented with a handful of witnesses, most of whom told stories of Arizona frontier days, dealing with the loose moral codes of the time and tending to cast doubt on the legality of Crabtree's marriage.

Attorney James M. Hoy, counsel for Mrs. Cockburn, in his closing argument, told the court that "we have proved our case 1,000 per cent by 40 witnesses." "We ask your honor," he said, "to find that Carlotta Crabtree Cockburn is the last of the Crabtrees, last of the flesh and blood of Lotta Crabtree, and we confidently expect that you will say she is the legitimate daughter of John Ashworth Crabtree."