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Millionaire Palm Beachers Edward T. Stotesbury, Barclay H. -Warburton, Joseph E. Wldener, never on good terms with Neighbor Beula Croker, protested loudly when she tried to raise money by subdividing her property and selling it in lots. In 1932 she worked hard for Roosevelt's election, for a time was county relief chairman, ran with no success for Congress. But all such activities were strictly extracurricular. For 15 years Mrs. Croker's life was spent almost entirely in court. She sued her agents, her attorneys, her creditors. She was sued by auctioneers for fees, by State governments for taxes, by her single-minded stepchildren for a share in the vanishing estate. Month ago she filed a petition for bankruptcy. Last fortnight 780 ft. of her waterfront property and the Wigwam, once an impressive exhibit crammed with Indian bric-a-brac, now a tumbled ruin, were auctioned off to Crown Corp. for $252,000, none of which will end in the hands of Mrs. Croker. A remaining 9,500 ft. of Palm Beach waterfront will be sold next month. Last week Mrs. Croker wailed to-the press: "I have no place to go. ... I have spent every penny I ever had. ..."
Crown Corp.'s purchase was no bargain.
Along with the property went $800,000 to be paid in back taxes, a vast amount of debts. And Beula Croker's legal affairs are still in such a mess that it may take two or three years of hard litigation to clear the title to all her property.