The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-17

Mrs. Ann Thwaites, who departed this life
in the year 1866, was the widow of q prosper
GUS tea merchant Of London, and the fortu-
nate possessor Of about 100000. She had,
at the time Of her death, sister, Mrs. Tebbitt,
andseveral nephews and nieces. To them, as
well as to almost everybody, It would appear,
with whom she had ever come into contact
she left small legacies. The bulk Of her pro-
perty she bequeathed to Mr.. John Sims
Smith, medical gentleman who had once
brought her through dangerous sickness,
and to his brother, Mr.. Samuel Smith, who
had been for several years the manager OF her
property. The probate Of the will, offered by
these two gentlemen, was resisted by the
heirs at law, on the ground that the instru-
ment had been procured by undue influences,
and that the deceased was not of sound dis
posing mind. At the last reports, the London
Court of Probate had the case still under ad-
visement. o." tt
On the point Of undue influence, no tesh-
mony thus far seems to have been elected
which ought to shake the validity of the
document in dispute; but of the insanity Of the
testatrix there can hardly be any rational
doubt. II is true that great many witnesses
several Of them, to be sure, legatees under
the will--bore testimony to the worthy Widows
shrewdness in money matters, and sharp,
business-lilSe habits. Mr.. Edward Smith, son
Of the medical gentleman aforementioned,
thought he had never known a saner woman;
but then She had given him ten thousand
pounds. A surgeon gave favorable opinion
of her strength of mind and her
eminent ability as a whist-playeI. But
there were some awkward facts to set off
against these opinions. In the first place, Mrs.
Thwaites believed herself to be the Holy Ghost.
Mr.. John Sims Smith, she said, was God the
Father. Her ideas as to the Trinity, however
were rather foggy, for she had faith, also, in an
invisible Creator; and when her husband died
she refused to put on mourning for him be-
cause he was the Devil She was seven de-
grees above God, who could no nothing with
out her; and if she died, chaos would come
again. Fortunately, however, she was i'm
mortal. She furnished apartments in her
house in Hyde Park Garden at an expense
of f25 600, expecting to be delivered there
of the Saviour of the world. In a few
years she was to come into possession of
Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
When she hemmed busters, as she did some
times in state of temporary blindness, God
put the needle in at one side of the cloth and
the Devil drew it out at the other. 81 have
power,'' said she one day, ''over the whole of
creation. 1t was through me the cholera came.
My Father said to me, My dear, turn on the
screw, and the cholera came. After that He
said, Turn it off, and then it disappeared"
Her husband she had drawn through the moon
by his own gross electricity, and through the
dark volcanoes of the earth, and he now
reigned King of the Devil If she was per-
picked how to act she used to speak to God
about the matter, and He would say, "My
dear, do so and so, and Twill see you through"
Taking these astounding Authorizations in
connection with the fact that she cherished
animosity towards most of her relations, we
cannot easily believe that, with all her shrewd-
ness and business habits, and cleverness at
whist, she was a very fit person to dispose of
the large sum of money which she inherited
from her husband, ''the King of the Devil"
The counsel for the proponents seem to have
relied chiefly on the argument that aberra-
| tions upon certain particular points, or as
one of the advocates mildly expressed it,
Certain mystical and peculiar views of re-
| ligion," were in no manner inconsistent
| with general soundness of mind; so that Mrs.
| Thwaites, in spite of her enthusiastic senti-
| ments, was quite as capable OF making will
as John Bunyan, or Swedenborg, or DR.. Cum
ming. We venture little in predicting that
| few persons will agree with this opinion.
| We have no doubt that the popular verdict
has awarded the right to this crazy old lady's
money, not to the two gentlemen to whom she
! willed it. but to her legal representatives. The
! decision of the court, however, in view of a
recent case in Philadelphia, will be awaited with
! some interest, If Mrs. Thwaites, who turned
on the screw to produce cholera, was not sane
enough to make a will, it is not easy to un-
derstand how George w. Winnemore, who
was driven hither and thither by the influence
of an Indian spirit, can be sane enough to be
hanged for murder. The science of medical
! jurisprudence, and, indeed, we may say in
general, the phenomena of mental pathology
! still offer rich fields of investigation. The lax
practices of most modern courts, both
criminal and probate, require thorough and
scientific correction. However the Thwaites
case may turn out, it is well known that the
prevailing tendency of the tribunals is to re-
| Strict testators power of giving away his
own property when there is reasonable
cause for suspecting his mental capacity; while
! the quick verdict in the Winnemore case, and
! in some Others that we could name, looks as if
Judges and juries were getting more and more
inclined towards an opposite construction OF
the principles of responsibility when lives
instead of dollars depend upon their verdict.
1t is a poor rule that will not work both ways.
STEELE E'sCoTTAGE.-John Hollingshead writes
! IN ON Iynglish uaner under date of MAY 81