The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-26
Glhel1.jntell1genfer,
THE MAKING OF Wills.
What Constitutes n .ssOund and Dis.
Gil EJt posing Mind" ~ -

such documents, and cuts off his or her
! relatives, and leaves competency for
dogs, cats, or -canaries, there at once
arises u general doubt as to the sanity
of the testator. Nor do wethink that
the general feeling on the part of the
community, that person who leaves
all his property TO strangers and ne
tyIycts his blood relations is not ofsound
mind. and is at all an unwarranted or
upHenerous one. When man in the
full possession of his reason sits down
to make his will, a document which he
knows will not go into effect until his
soul has been summoned into the
presence of its Maker. he will, as rule,
act in accordance with the dictates OF
natural feeling, and leave his posses
sions To those in whose veins his own
blood flows. Such is the natural con-
duct of any one, and when we see "A
gross and glaring deviation from this,
what wehad right to expect, it is not
unreasonable that we should doubt the
sanity OF one who would violate all law
of human sympathy. The most re-
markable case which has lately been
brought before the publicsis that OF u
Mrs, Thwaites, OF London, who died
leaving an immense estate. The Will
of the testatrix left nearly all her prop
erty, amounting TO G400, 900, or 81, 2,OOO,-
GOO, to persons in no way related to her,
and who were connected with her in
very anomalous relations. After leaF-
ing enormous legacies TO her butcher
and grocer, ard all her domestics, vary
ing from E50O0 to 100000, she made
Dr.. Samuel Smith and his brother,
Mr.. Simm Smith, residuary legatees,
thus leaving them about &lS0,OO0 or
$500, 600. Upon the will being brought
forward for admission to probate. the
sister OF Mrs. Thwaites, snd her nleces
4 a., Il glnEaf md
ofincapacity and undue influence. The
trial of the case developed a story of
one OF the strongest cases Of hallucinR-
tion that has fallen under our notice.
1t seems that in 1882 Mrs. Thwaites was
sick for six or eight weeks, and was at
tended by DR.. Smith. Whenshe TecoV-
cred she was possessed of the idea that
she had been born alphabetically
newly made of real flesh and blood.
From that time she held the most as
tonishing opinions, in which she was
encouraged by DR.. Smith. Before her
oddities, all the men who imagined
their legs made of butter or their arms
OF cast iron, sink into insigniticance!
She stated her belief freely, and, as the
evidence shows, said to different wit
nesses "thaL she had communication
with the Creator, that she was the Holy
Ghost, the third person In the Trinity,
and Mr.. Simm Smith was the Father;
tnAI Sle WIS dDONc NOu 6ONEh uC-
grees; that she sent the cholera or
influenza through all creation, and
that 1t had TO 90 through her first; that
If the Almighty lost her, everything
would go to chaos; that she was about
to bring forth tie Savior of the World;
that she held direct communication
with the Father that the Judgment OF
the world was 10 take placein her rdraw-
ing-room in Hyde Park; that DR.. Smith
knew everything she did; that she WAS
the first great cause aud the pivot on
which the whole world hung; that at
one stage of the work the Doctor requir-
ed large sums of money TO carry it on {;
that il seemed foolish for her to make Il
will, as she wasimmortal, but she must
act in nature; that she had head
dress of hair and coronal of diamonds
made expressly for the judgment-day; ;
that Mrs. Curtis was child OF God,
and was Obliged to fall on her knees and
worship her, for she knew she was the
Holy Ghost; that when the work was
finished they would have Buckingham
Palace and Windsor Castle; that she
and the Doctor made the thunder and
the lightning, and were in their glory
in a good thunderstorm; that they
were the supreme beings and commu-
nicated together, though they were alb.
sent from one another, and that the
Judgment was to take place in her
drawing room, and she was 10 take part
in 1t with the Lord Jesus Christ, in con-
nectiou with DIR. Smith"
These views, openly espoussd, must,
we think, indicate that the old lady was
"A little affected in the region of the ce-
rebellum. But having immense wealth,
she laVished IL in furtherance OF her
views. She gave aS much rs .E5OO0 at
one time to DR.. Smith for "the work"
~, and spent fortune in fitting up
her irawing-room for the sound ofthe
last trump. Her London drawing
room was furnished at an expense of
about ELS, 900, for no other occasion
than the day of judgment-never
brought into use on any single occa-
sion, never dismantled, never forgot
ten, always prepared, and for years
persistently spoken of by the testatrix
rs dedicated to- that event. "Mr.
Clarke, who, as foreman to Messrs.
Gillow, had these decorations in hand,
is sent for by the testatriX, and, with
out apparent reason or motive-for he
| needed no charitable help-is told that
he is to receive ESQ year. This annu-
ity he received for many years, during
which he was constantly sent for by
Mrs. Thwaites, for no other purpose
than to listen TO the religious ideas
which she poured forth for his editca-
tion by the hour at a time. 1t Is dit1l-
| cult to forbear the conclusion that this
annuity was, in the mind of Mrs.
Thwaites, the fitting reward for the part
[ he had borne in the sacred work of
| preparing for the great Judgment"
| But we will not follow the old lady
through her. other eccentricities-how
she "turned the screw and the cholera
came, and how the Lord said, Turn 1t
aHain:'A and IL ceased, ~ or any OF the
other peculiarities. Suffice it to say
she made her will, and finally, to her
own amaZement and the joy of her eX-
pectant legatees, was gathered to her
SirJ. p. Wilde, after carefully review
! ing all the evidence, concludes his judg-
ment: O.
"The Court Is not satisfied in this case,
and must pronounce against this will.
1t remains to be pointed out that the
conclusion at which the Court has thus
arrived of Mrs. Thwaites' general inca
paUity throws many considerations into
| The shade which would otherwise have
occupied a prominent place in its de-
| liberauons. II, Mrs. Thwaites had
been esteemed capable OF making q
will at all, n grave question would have
arisen whether that capacity would
have suppOrteda willis SO made and with
such dispositions as the will here in
question. The law has ever been watch
| fnl and Jealous of wills made under re-
Iigfous' influences, and especially SO
when those influences connect them
selves with any individual. who Is the
object of thetestator's bounty. Before
this will, therefore, could have been
established, the relations OF Or. smith
with the testatrix, must have been far-
ther scrutinized and explained, and the
Court satisfied that in making him md
his brother residuary legatees 90 the
amount, as it is computed, of els0,O0O,
the testatrix was acting freely, under
the pressure of no imaginary duty or
paramount obligation, the influences OF
no delusion as 70 Or, Smiths sPiEitqai