District of Columbia's Appeal

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Parker,

Helen Marie Fink, of Washington, D. C., on April 10, 1929, delivered certain securities to the Girard Trust Company under a deed of trust in which she provided for the payment of the net income of the trust to herself for life and of the corpus after her death in accordance with her will or, in case of intestacy, “to be paid over and distributed in accordance with the Intestate Laws of the District of Columbia.”

While at sea on a voyage from New York to California, Miss Fink disappeared, having been last seen alive on April 2,1930. The following day her cabin door…