Dummar seeks testimony on Hughes' will

A Utah man suing for a piece of billionaire Howard Hughes' estate will ask a federal judge today to let him take depositions of a colorful cast of characters.

Melvin Dummar's attorneys say time is of the essence, because all of them are aging — and some are close to death.

A hearing is scheduled in federal court here in Salt Lake City today over Dummar's request to take testimony from some of Hughes' former employees, as well as those at the infamous Cottontail Ranch brothel in Nevada.

Dummar claims he has a 1/16th share of Hughes' billions. In 1967, Dummar claims he was in rural Nevada when he came across a man lying in the road near the brothel. The man insisted he be taken to the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

Dummar said the man identified himself as Howard Hughes, the industrialist.

Dummar's good deed was rewarded in 1976, when the Brigham City man claims a stranger appeared at a gas station in Willard and handed him an envelope. Inside was the so-called "Mormon will," leaving 1/16th of Hughes' billions to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and another share to Dummar.

In a probate court fight in 1976, Dummar claims that two men who did inherit Hughes' estate — William Frank Lummis and Frank William Gay — conspired to have witnesses discredit him by saying that Hughes never left his penthouse suite at the Desert Inn hotel.

Four decades later, Dummar is still fighting for a piece of the will. He has filed lawsuits in Utah and Nevada. Most recently, a federal judge in Utah rejected Dummar's bid for a new trial.

Dummar appealed and now is asking for the judge's permission to take depositions while the appeal is pending. A number of witnesses in the case are already dead.

"They can't be confronted with the irrefutable facts now uncovered to recant their testimony and attempt to right this terrible wrong," Dummar lawyer Stuart Stein wrote in court papers.

Among those he wants to talk to:

• Karen Anderson, the manager of the Cottontail brothel who knew "Sonny," the prostitute that Hughes visited with on more than one occasion. Anderson is now more than 90 years old and near death, attorneys said.

• Jim Cain, who also worked at the brothel and knew "Sonny." Her whereabouts are unknown, but lawyers said he is more than 80 years old.