celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Foundations / A lawyer and a valet killed William Marsh Rice in 1900 to take the fortune he left to found…
Case file s116 · Foundations · 1900
See 1900 on the timelineSee it in 3D
1900
Rice University - William Marsh Rice statue
Rice University - William Marsh Rice statue. Daderot. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
23 September 1900
Place
New York City · United States
Field
merchant, investor · Business and finance on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (New York and Texas probate) · Common law
Historical event
Gilded Age fortunes; founding of the William M. Rice Institute, now Rice University
FoundationsSecret children and false heirsForged and faked willsMurder and sudden deathIndustry and empireNorth AmericaUnited States

A lawyer and a valet killed William Marsh Rice in 1900 to take the fortune he left to found Rice Institute

Rice made his money in Texas land, cotton, lumber and railroads. The 1860 census valued his property at $750,000 and ranked him the richest man in Houston. From 1882 his wills directed most of his estate to an institute in Houston. His 1896 will gave $80,000 to his brother and $100,000 to each of two sisters. His wife Elizabeth had secretly signed a will claiming half the couple's estate, and her will was in litigation for four years. Albert T. Patrick, a New York lawyer working against Rice in that case, met him under a false identity. Patrick then forged a new will that named himself residuary legatee. On 23 September 1900 Rice, 84, was found dead by his valet, Charles F. Jones. A bank teller questioned a large check to Patrick because the payee's name was misspelled "Abert". The New York district attorney charged both men. Jones testified that Patrick persuaded him to give Rice chloroform while he slept. The court found the will a forgery. Patrick was sentenced to death and spent four years on death row at Sing Sing before Governor Frank Higgins commuted the sentence in 1906; he was later pardoned†. The genuine will stood. Rice Institute opened in 1912†. Executor James A. Baker was the grandfather of Secretary of State James A. Baker III†.

What the law took from it

A rich widower whose heir is an institution has no family checking his papers, so forged wills and checks are the main risk and bank staff were the first line of defense.

Sources
  1. chroniclingamerica.loc.govGovernment record
  2. The New York TimesPress
  3. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “A lawyer and a valet killed William Marsh Rice in 1900 to take the fortune he left to found Rice Institute,” story s116, https://www.celebrity.estate/a-lawyer-and-a-valet-killed-1900, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

The Shooting of Judge Terry - National Police Gazette 1889-08-31: The Shooting of Judge Terry. Scenes in and about the Lathrop, Cal., depot where Marshal Nagle killed the famous hu1885 · San Francisco, California, USASarah Althea Hill produced a marriage contract and a will from San Francisco's richest man, federal judges ruled them forged, and her husband was shot dead attacking a Supreme Court justiceShared: secret children and false heirs; forged and faked wills; 15 years apart; also North AmericaWilliam Sharon was a US senator and the richest man in San Francisco. He owned the Palace Hotel and the Grand Hotel. In 1880 he began an affair with Sarah Althea Hill, paid her $500 a month and gave her a room at the Grand.Cornell Law School, LII and 2 moreAndrew Carnegie: Andrew Carnegie, by Theodore Marceau (cropped) (2)1907 · Ohio State Penitentiary, ColumbusCassie Chadwick said she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter, borrowed against forged Carnegie notes, and broke an Ohio bankShared: secret children and false heirs; forged and faked wills; 7 years apart; also North AmericaElizabeth Bigley was born in Ontario in 1857. In 1889 she was convicted of forgery in Toledo and sentenced to nine and a half years. She was paroled in 1893.case.edu and 3 moreHarry Houdini: Harry Houdini1926 · Detroit, MichiganHoudini's great-nephew and two authors announced a 2007 plan to exhume his body to test for poisonShared: secret children and false heirs; murder and sudden death; 26 years apart; also North AmericaHarry Houdini died at 52 on 31 October 1926. The accepted account is that a punch to the stomach in Montreal on 22 October ruptured his appendix, causing peritonitis. No autopsy was performed.wildabouthoudini.com and 2 moreXXXTentacion: Xxxtentacion (cropped)2018 · Deerfield Beach, FloridaXXXTentacion was shot dead at 20, and his son was born seven months later outside his willShared: secret children and false heirs; murder and sudden death; also North AmericaJahseh Onfroy, the rapper XXXTentacion, was shot dead outside a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, aged 20. The killers took $50,000 from him.nbcmiami.com and 2 moreJerzy Kosiński: Jerzy Kosiński (by Eric Koch, 1969)1991 · New York CityJerzy Kosiński was accused of plagiarism and ghostwriting in 1982 and killed himself in 1991 with a plastic bag over his headShared: secret children and false heirs; murder and sudden death; also North AmericaKosiński's The Painted Bird (1965) was banned in Poland until 1989.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 moreZhang Xueliang: Chang Shueliang2001 · HonoluluZhang Xueliang inherited his murdered father's Manchurian army in 1928 and spent more than 50 years in detentionShared: secret children and false heirs; murder and sudden death; also North AmericaOn 4 June 1928 a bomb planted by Col. Komoto Daisaku of Japan's Kwantung Army hit warlord Zhang Zuolin's train at Huanggutun near Shenyang. Zhang died a few hours later, and his death was kept secret for more than two weeks.library.columbia.edu and 4 more

Where this case sits

FoundationsSecret children and false heirsForged and faked willsMurder and sudden deathIndustry and empireNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States