The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
October 26, 1907
page 1
Two Supposed Friends Will Fight For Appointment As Administration
One Application Filed in Probate Court
With two applications within 24 hours after his death by former friends,
represented by lawyers, for letters of administration upon his effect, valued
at about $7000, and with a legal battle for the appointment expected, the body
of Cotta Posche (sic), alias Peter Thompson, a hermit, lies dead
in the private morgue of Reed and Mueller undertaking establishment on North
Broadway, awaiting burial...
Peter Thompson, alias Cotta Poshche, was 53 years old. He was born in
Bergen, Norway, but 25 years ago, he came to America...
The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
October 29, 1907
page 8
Still Scrapping To Handle Coin
Legal Battle For Right To Handle Hermit's Estate Is Imminent.
Who will administer upon the estate of Cotta Poshche, alias Peter
Thompson, the aged Norwegian mister-hermit, who died at Bethany hospital
Thursday, where he had been removed from a squalid, uncarpeted, scantily
furnished one-room shed-like house, which he called home, located on the banks
of the Canadian river one-half miles west of the city?
"There will be no trouble about Mathews being appointed. He is the
only available man. He has taken care of Peter Thompson through other
sicknesses' and this fellow Woodward is merely attempting to get in on a
paying position," said Attorney O. B. Crane.
"Matthews did not even know Thompson was dead eighteen hours
afterwards. Woodward and I passed him in front of the court house and he
inquired about the condition of Thompson. Why, he did not even know his proper
name, while Woodward worked for the dead man on a farm in New York years
ago," says Attorney W. L. McCann.
...personal effects, according to Attorney Crane, are being managed by his
client. The personal effects consist of $200 in the Western National bank, a
horse and a few household articles. It is thought that Thompson or Poshche,
also had a bank account in Buffalo, N. Y. as it is known that he owns 20 acres
of land at Derby, a small town near Buffalo...
Why Cotta Pashche (sic) left an affluent home in Bergen, Norway, where he
was born March 8, 1856, and sought surcease of sorrow in the brokerage
business in Buffalo, N.Y., or amid the frozen Alaskan snows, or wandering
hither and thither among the torrid fevers of Panama, finally ending a varied
yet a financially successful career in a hovel, surrounded in appearance by poverty,
may never be known.
Dates on his passports show that he left Bergen, April 10, 1880. It is
known that prior to that time he owned a line of steamships on the Baltic sea.
He landed in New York with probably $1,200 and that he always added, kept
adding, little by little...
Of his life in Buffalo a special dispatch to the Oklahoman says:
"Peter Thompson, reported dead in Oklahoma City, was a familiar figure in
Buffalo broker's offices some years ago. He was about 45 years old and came to
Buffalo from Norway some 20 years ago. He got a job with Tucker Bros. &
Co., brokers, at $1 a day and managed to save and speculate so successfully,
that he amassed a fair fortune, and bought a farm near here. When the Klondike
fever struck the country he went to Alaska and was away two years. He came
back with some gold nuggets, but it was understood that his claim fizzled out
and that he was a loser. He made more money in land speculations and left
Buffalo for Oklahoma City about six months ago. He is not known to have any
relatives in this country, Police Chief Regan had asked the Oklahoma City
Police for the man's Norway address as it is believed that he must have left
considerable property."
H. C. Tucker, 117 Franklin street, Buffalo, has telegraphed that the body
be sent to that city. W. H. Reed of the firm of Reed and Mueller, has not
decided to make the shipment until there is further and more definite
information given the firm.
The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
November 7, 1907
page 5
Fight Ends; He Will Be Buried
Charles L. Woodward, 1004 West Grand avenue, will administer upon the
effects of the supposedly wealthy miser hermit, Cotta Poshche, alias Peter
Thompson, who died October 24, and who had lived in a decayed, shed-like shack
on the banks of the Canadian river, a half-mile west of the city, and whose
body now lies in the private morgue of Reed & Mueller, undertakers, North
Broadway.
Because he produced several written request of creditors of the dead
Norwegian, among whom were doctors who attended him during his last illness,
and proved that he had been an adviser and confidant of the hermit-miser for
years, as against the testimony of E. S. Matthews, also an aspirant for the
position of administrator of the effects, Judge William P. Harper, of the
probate court, yesterday afternoon appointed Woodward.
The hearing of testimony was enlivened on occasion by pithy references to
Woodward and his attorney, W. L. McCann, who were declared to have used undue
vigilance in securing the coveted place.
Woodward states that he will be able to make bond in the sum of $5000 this
morning, and will immediately arrange for the funeral of his dead friend, and
take charge of the estate.
Among the personal property included in the state are certificates of
purchase of 30,000 shares in the Le Compte Coupler company, a patent right,
which has been on exhibition in Oklahoma City for several months. The stock is
valued at 20 cents a share, but is not thought to be of that value.
The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
November 9, 1907
page 5
Body Sent To Buffalo.
The body of Cotta Poshche, alias Peter Thompson, who died in Bethany
hospital, October 24; was sent to Buffalo, N.Y. last night. Reed and Meuller,
undertakers, 307 North Broadway, forwarded the body at the instance of Charles
L. Woodward, the administrator of the Poshche estate.