RICE UNIVERSITY. Rice University, a private, independent,
coeducational university in Houston, opened in 1912 as the
William Marsh Rice Institute. It was chartered in 1891 by former
Houston merchant William Marsh Rice with a $200,000 interest-
bearing note payable to the Rice Institute upon his death.
Subsequently Rice made other gifts to the institute, all payable
after his death. However, when he died in 1900 in New York City,
his probated will directed that his fortune should go to his
lawyer. After an extensive investigation and sensational trial
it was determined that Rice's butler, in league with the lawyer,
had chloroformed Rice to death in order to collect upon a forged
will. When the estate was settled in 1904, approximately $3
million was given to the institute as a separate capital fund
added to the original endowment, which had grown to almost $3.3
million. At the time the university opened in 1912, the
endowment stood at approximately $9 million, a sum that enabled
all students to attend the unive