The New York Times/1925/12/14/Drop $1,000,000 Suit Against Louis W. Hill
Seven 'Allied Heirs' of James J. Hill Give Up Long Fight Here for Farm and Bonds.
ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec 13 (AP).—A suit for $1,000,000 which has been pending in New York courts for four years against Louis W. Hill, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Great Northern Railway, filed by the "allied heirs" of James J. Hill and Mrs. Hill, was dropped last week.
This was learned here today when word was received that former Governor Nathan L. Miller of New York, counsel for the heirs, had requested dismissal of the suit. The request was granted. The matter had been scheduled to come up in court again at the January term.
The controversy was over the custody of the famous Hill farm, North Oaks, located near St. Paul, and the ownership of $750,000 in bonds. The farm and bonds were deeded to Louis W. Hill by his mother, Mrs. James J. Hill, widow of the "empire builder," shortly before she died.
After Mrs. Hill's death seven of the Hill children banded together as the "allied heirs" and sued Louis W. Hill in New York to gain a division of this property.
Recent depositions by intimates of the widow attesting to her despise that the farm and bonds to the property of Louis W. Hill are said to have led to the abandonment of the litigation.
Former Governor Nathan L. Miller refused last night to discuss the reason why he, as counsel for the "allied heirs" of James J. Hill, had caused the dismissal in Federal court of their $1,000,000 suit against their brother, Louis W. Hill, over property left him by his mother, The Associated Press announced.
"It was a voluntary discontinuance of the case," he said. "That was all there was to it."