Hugh Campbell took statue of cupid on trips. 5 January 1934. Page 96-97

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Document ID 9912202
Date 05-01-1934
Document Type Newspapers (Extracts)
Archive Campbell
Citation Hugh Campbell took statue of cupid on trips. 5 January 1934. Page 96-97;OMAFP.2011.99; CMSIED 9912202
53692
Page 96
	
Jan, 5, 1934

HUGH CAMPBELL
TOOK STATUE OF
CUPID ON TRIPS

Anton Schuler, Guardian of 
Hazlett Campbell, Gives Dep-
osition in His Suit to Break
Will of Brother.
           ---------------------
MARBLE IMAGE WENT TO
EUROPE SEVERAL TIMES
         ------------------------
Testimony Offered as Proof
Rich Bachelor was Incom-
petent When He Drew Docu-
ment Leaving Estate to Yale.

          -----------------------
Testimony that the late Hugh
Campbell, millionaire bachelor, took
a 4-foot marble statue of Cupid with
him on several trips to Europe was
given yesterday at a deposition hear-
ing.
The hearing was held before Spe-
cial Commissioner  William Killoren
in a suit filed by Anton Schuler,
guardian of Campbell’s invalid
brother, Hazlett Kyle Campbell, to
break Hugh Campbell’s will.

Hugh Campbell died in 1931, leav-
Ing the bulk of his $1,215,000 estate
in trust for his brother, with the
provision that the principal go to
Yale  University for erection of a 
memorial on the brother’s death.

Schuler contends that the mil-
lionaire bachelor’s mentality had
been impaired by ill health when
the will was made and that because
one of his deceased brothers had at-
tended Yale , he was under the illu-
sion that he had to leave his estate
to the school.

The testimony concerning the
habits of  the Campbell household
was given by Schuler. The statue
of Cupid was one of the many pieces of
statuary that filled the great Camp-
bell mansion at 1508 Locust street, 
erected by Col. Robert Campbell, 
father of Hugh and Hazlett, and 
fur-trading rival of the Astors, be-
fore his death in 1879.

Page 97

House Regarded With Awe.
As far back as thirty-five years,
Schuler testified residents of the
neighbourhood regarded the three-
story house, with its latticed balcony
and stained-glass windows, with awe.
Hazlett Campbell still resides in the 
House
Schuler testified that as a boy
he himself played in the neighbour
hood and like other children
regarded the house with its drawn
curtains and fenced yard, as a 
“Haunted House”

“We never saw anyone moving
About the house” Schuler said, “and
We never saw anyone go in or out.
We were sure there were ghosts
there , and we were afraid to play
near the house after dark “

In later years he said, he heard
persons in the neighbourhood say the
occupants of the house were eccen-
tric.

This boyhood recollection was 
brought to his mind, he asserted,
when he was appointed Campbell’s
guardian by probate Judge Holt-
camp on September 14 , 1931. The
appointment was on petition of OTE 
McClellan of New York, A distant 
relative of Campbell.

Schuler said that Mc Clellan and 
Charles H. Clarke of Cochranton.
PA:, another distant relative, insisted
that he file suit to set aside 
Hugh Campbell’s will, but Schuler
denied  the action was filed solely 
a result of their insistence.

Yale University in an answer to 
the will contest had charged Schu-
ler brought the suit not in the in-
terest of Hazlett Campbell, but at
the behest of collateral heirs, to
whom the estate would go on Haz-
letts death if the suit is
successful. 
Estate to Heirs if Will is Void.
If the will is set aside, the estate
will go outright to Hazlett Camp-
bell. However, he can make no pro-
vision for its disposition after his
death, as he has been adjudged
mentally incompetent. In that
case, it would go to his collateral
heirs.
To protect the interest of his
ward, Schuler asserted, he instituted
an investigation, which, he said,
produced enough evidence to justify
the filing of the suit.
Schuler related several confer-
ences he had with McClellan and
other collateral heirs in regard to
the estate. At one of these con-
ferences, he said, McClellan sug-
gested that Yale University had suf-
ficient buildings and was interested
primarily in funds for the main-
tenance of its present structures.
McClellan, according to Schuler’s
testimony, suggested an effort be
made to effect a ash settlement
with the university, by Schuler as-
serted he refused to agree to such
a plan. 
Yale University was represented
at the hearing by Jacob M. Lashly.
Schuler was represented by W.W.
Henderson, and the St. Louis Union
Trust Co. and Allen C. Orrick, ex-
ecutors of the estate, by Harry
Kroeger. 
      

Transcribed by Brian McCrory