Poor little rich girl . Lonely with ?1000 a month to spend . Although she has nearly a thousand pounds everymonth to spend , seven year old Lucy Cotton Thomas of New York is a lonely little girl and would change places with any of the poorer children who envy her . Lucy , who has a mink hat and coat , governesses and tutors , is heiress to a trust fund of three thousand dollars a month from a three million dollar fund established by her father , Edward Russell Thomas , a publisher and sportsman . Mrs Lucy Cotton Thomas , the child ' s mother argued in court that her daughter should receive a further eight hundred dollars monthly , but the judge decided that the original three thousand would support any little girl for a month . Lucy Cotton Thomas studying in her New York home . 25 February 1933