Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-28
IMPORTANT LAWSUIT.
Large Amount of Property Involved.
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Large Amount of Property Involved.
From the Columbia Herald, July 3.
A suit was instituted in the Chancery
Court at this place, a few weeks since,
which, as regards the amount Of property
involved, and the legal questions presented,
Is the most important and Interesting ever
brought before the courts in Maury county.
The matter referred to, is the bill filed
by Lemuel and Willis Il. Long, against the
administrator and heirs of their grand
mother, Mrs Sabra T, Lawrence, deceased.
The amount involved ia the litigation is
nearly three hundred thousand dollars in
value; and the facts in the dispute, as
shown by the papers in the case, are sub
stantially as follows; Willis Boddie,
bachelor, and the brother Of Mrs. Lawrence,
residing near Mi. Pleasant, died in 1871,
possessed of large estate, consisting of
land, slaves, notes, money and other
property. 1t was supposed at the time
that he died intestate; at least no will
was discovered then, or has been produced
at any time since, to this day. Mrs. Law
renee, his sister, administered upon his
estate, and took possession Of all the prop
erty as his only heir at law and next
Of kin, and continued TO use, occupy
and control it as her own, until the
period of her death, which occurred
in August, 1867, at very advanced age
and having, in the meantime, disposed of
large portion Of the property-perhaps
over one hundred thousand dollars in value
in gifts 20 her children and grand
children, including her grandsons Lemuel
and Willis b. Long. The bill of the
Longs, filed after lapse of twenty-seven
years. alleges that Willis Boddie did not
| die intestate, as supposed that he made a
will by which he devised all Of his pro-
perry, except two or three small legacies,
to them; that he had this will by him
| during his last sickness and that on his
| death-bed, and Just before he died,
he handed it to his body servant, a
| negro named Washington, in whom he r,s
| posed great trust and confidence, with in
structions TO carry it TO a neighbor and
friend for safe-keeping. That on his way
to the neighbor's house, Washington was
intercepted by Mrs. Lawrence, who took
the will from him and destroyed ii; and
| that Immediately after Bodies death, she
had Washington arrested, placed in irons,
and sent South and sold, to prevent him
| from divulging what he knew about the
destruction OF the Will; and they state
that these facts have only recently
come 10 their knowledge They ask
that the contents OF the VIII may nov
be established by proof. and that 1t be
SET up by the court as the will Of Will;
Boddie, claiming all the land that he owned
at his death, and decree against Mrs
Lawrence's estate for the other property
and that the other parties who have re
ceived gifts from her be compelled to &C
count for such property and money as they
may have received.
These charges in the bill are utterly de
MED by the defendants Mrs. Lawrence il
her lifetime was regarded as a worthy an,
highly respectable old lady, and much es
tesmed by all her neighbors and acquaint
ances. 1t is impossibly now to prediC