Enough Already, Honor in Beirut, & more

Enough Already

Having reached a certain age, The Scrapbook finds itself taking more interest in probate news than we used to. And while we concede that it’s not exactly the stuff of Perry Mason or a juicy episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the little dramas of probate law teach us something about human nature.

When, for example, the reclusive, 104-year-old heiress Huguette Clark died in Manhattan six weeks ago, her lifelong desire for seclusion and anonymity was treated in the media as freakish, clear evidence of some unstated abnormality. The Scrapbook will concede that Mrs. Clark’s story was intriguing in many respects: The surviving daughter of a 19th-century robber baron who left her unimaginably wealthy when he died in 1925, she lived a resolutely private life in what is the largest private apartment in New York City, and later in two private hospitals; she owned estates in California and Connecticut that were scrupulously maintained but seldom occupied. According to the New York Times obituary, her personal austerity seems to have extended to nourishment—a daily lunch of crackers and sardines—and she cherished her collection of French dolls and enjoyed watching The Flintstones on TV.

How much of this is true, of course, is open to conjecture. But it must have been distressing to a 102-year-old recluse when, in 2009, MSNBC.com learned that her Connecticut property was for sale and reporter Bill Dedman embarked on an extensive “investigation” to penetrate her privacy.