Star.
London, England, 1811-08-01 00:00:00

Earn Coles to be their broker, released the two bro.
thers, George and Charles Coles from all esponsibi-
lity in these transactions ; and, therefore, as they
could not sue them themselves, neither could the
plaintiffs rear up a debt against them as having been
due upon a former responsibility, from which the
Commissioners had chosen to release them. Under
these circumstances, his Lurdship directed the Jury to
return a verdict for the defendants, which they did
accordingly.

PREROGATIVE COURT, DOCTORS' COMMONS.
Newet. AND OTHERS V. WEFK S.
This was a question as to the validity of the will of
a Mrs. Martha Trotman, of Chaiford, in Gloucester-
shire, which was set up on the part of the Executor
Mr. 'rhos. Weeks, of Cranham, who married the de-
ceased's sister, by the half-blood, and was opposed at
very considerable expence by a Mr. Newell, and two
persons of the name of Wyeth, residing near Basing-
stoke, in Hampshire, who claimed the property as the
nearest relatives of the deceased, though no proof of
that circumstance appeared in evidence.
The case had excited a considerable degree of in-
terest in Gloucester, upwards of 70 witnesses having
been examined in that neighbourhood. It appeased
that the deceased was an old woman of a very singular
disposition, possessed of a considerable property, that
she lived retired from an .apprehension of her bus-
band's relations, for who's she entertained a great
-dislike, was very parsimonious, and so suspicious, as
to entrust no one scarcely with the knowledge or ma-
nagement of her affairs. The evidence on the part
of Mr. Weeks stated fully that the will had been 're-
gularly executed ; that the deceased entertained a
great regard for the sister Mrs. Weeks, who died a
short time before her ; and also for Mr. Weeks, and
gave them considerable sums of money at different
times, and that she frequently expressed her intentions
of benefiting them, by will, at her death.
In opposition to this, the character of the person
who made the will, and was also a witness to it, was
stated to be such as to render his evidence unworthy
of belief ; various declarations of another witness, as
to his never having signed the will, were adduced, and
an alibi set up as to the third. The hand-writing to
the will was also stated not to be the deceased's, and
a variety of other circumstances of suspicion brought
forward as inferences against the probability of the
will being genuine. The Counsel for Mr. Weeks con-
tended, that if the question could be decided upon pro.
babilities, there was a sufficiency to justify the Court
in pronouncing for the will in the present case ; but
the question was As to a matter of fact. Facts then
were given, that must afford the Court the strongest
conclusion of the execution of the will by the deceased
having actually taken place; and the character of the
person who prepared it, though aff:ctecl to a certain
extent, was not sufficient, though accompanied by
other circumstances of suspicion, to invalidate an act
supported by such positive testimony as the present
was, and confirmed by such corroborative probabilities.
The Counsel on the other side contended, that the
character of the principal witness being 'destroyed,
there was not sufficient evidence witlymt him in sup-
port of the will, to justify the Court in thinking it a
genuine transaction; that the suspicious circumstances
of the case rendered the evidence of hand-writing im-
portant; and as that evidence clearly shewed the sig.
nature to the will not to be the deceased's, the will
could be considered in no other light than as a for-
gery, committed subseqUent to the deceased's death,
to defraud her relatives.
Sir Jaws Nionota. at considerable length comment;
cd upon the evidence, and observed that the witnesses
against the character of the prepare' of the will seem-
ed to rest their opinions upon his b:ing an informer,
and therefore would not believe him, tho' various other
persons say they would ; the weight of testimony was
therefore rather in his favour, and he was even corro-
borated by two attornies employed by the lisserted
relations, who obtained a conversation with him under
assumed names, and then brought forward the parti-
culars of the discourse. The Coart would not say
how far such evidence 'nigh: be collect, but it never
could lend its sanction to such a mode of obtaining it.
The probability of the story must, however, be scru- •
tinized, and according to that criterion the transaction
seemed fair ; the will was conformable to the deceas-
ed's declared intentions to the persons applied to to
make it, and very likely to be so from his acquaintance
with Mrs. Weeks, in whose favour it was made,and who
delivered it to him at her death ; another subscribing
witness corroborated his evidence, and was proved to
bear a good character, and the other died before the
deceased.
If his hand.writing, then, could be proved to the will,
the case of its opposers was cut up by the roots ; and
this he was of opinion was fully done : evidence, as to
general hand-writing by comparison, was of so falls.
cious a nature, as only to have weight when the ques-
tion was nicely balanced by other circumstances ; it
was what the Court always received with caution, and
could not weigh against positive facts ; and even if it
could, the Court, in its own judgment, was inclined
to think it had failed in the present case. Upon the
whole of the circumstances, therefore, the Learned
Judge was of opinion, that the will was sufficiently
proved to be an act of the deceased's, and that the
difficulties and suspicions attending it had been satis-
factorily accounted for in evidence ; for to suppose it
a forgery, and supported by such a a mass of consis-
tent perjury as this evidence must then be, presented
a difficulty in no way to be rationally entertained or
surmounted ; the Court pronounced, therefore, for
the validity of the will.

SINGULAR DHCOVERY. •••• About two years ago,
the wife of a flour and corn-dealer in the neigh.
bourhood of Kingston, was lost from her home, and
was supposed to have been drowned, return'ng front
Hampton Court, her bonnet having been found in the
river. Her husband and relatives mourned her loss
in the usual manlier. On going through Mailing,
in Kent, last week, to his great surprize, his sup-
,' posed lifeless rib presented herself, mounted on the top
of a baggage waggon, with a chopping boy at the
breast, in the character of the wife of a corporal, with
whom she had eloped from Kingston, and to whose
she was afterwards betrothed. The first husband had
in
Theemwealains toimf eHlnamanpiteodn-aroutrbter Palace,uife. being in a
decayed state, have lately been inspected, and ordered
to be pointed. The expellee is calculated at sesooo.
The workmen were'
last, but they have '

•

FIN

etohavecommenced on Thunday
been countermanded,.