The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1870-07-21


will gave to his granddaughter SYLVIA ANN,
and the other half to her sister ABBY and
her husband, EDWARD MORT ROBINSON, the
latter being a New Bedford merchant, well
known in his lifetime for his wealth, his
r,ercantile skill, and his righteousness IN
1s47 GIDEON Rowland, the SOM law and
partner of ISAAC, and the father Of SYLVIA
ANN Rowland and ABBY ROBINSON, died,
leaving another and larger fortune Of $780,
600. TO lie equally divided between SYLVIA
ANN and her brother in-law Mr.. ROBINSON.
Miss HowLAND's share in both these fortunes
was allowed 10 remain invested in the bust
ness the old firm, as was that Of Mr.. and
Mrs. ROBINSON. The firm continued to
LAMBS fortune had in 1865, swelled to over
Sa,o00,0O0.
EDWARD MorT ROBINSON died in June,
1865, leaving n property Of nearly six mil
lions of dollars and an only daughter, Miss
HErrY Rowland RoBissoN. BY his will
he gave 10 this daughter about ono million
of dollars absolutely, and the income of the
remaining FIVE millions for life, the principal
being given TO her issue, OF, If she died
without ssuc, TO such persons as she might
appoint by will. She had besides some
$4,000, inherited from her mother and re-
ccived by gift from her aunt At this time
the aunt, SYLVIA ANN Rowland, had
SO, O000 600 in her own right and the niece.
HETrY ITowLASD ROBINSON $1,000000 in
her own right the income of Sj,000,000 for
life, and the ccrainty that the las; $j,0O0,0OO
would TO ether to her children or to such
persons Us she might select
When SYLVIA Ann HowLAND died, as we
said, in July, 1865. or one month after Mr..
in September, 1863, with n codicil added in
November, 1904, both together giving TO her
niece, Miss ROBINSON, the income of one
million of dollars for life, with remainder to
members of the Rowland family, and dis.
tributing the other million in lcgacies and
charities. Dissatisfied with this meagrc ad.
dition TO her resources Miss ROBINSON con-
tested the will on the ground Of mental and
bodily infrrnity in her aunt, and undue in
auence. This contest, however, she shortly
amer abandoned, and in December, 1865, com.
menced in the United States Circuit Court
the extraordinary suit which has lately ter
minated in failure on her part, and not with
out giving rise to the gravcst suspicious that
she hes been guilty of crime in her effort to
grasp the whole, instead OF the income Of one
half of her aunt's fortune.
In beginning her suit, Mss ROBINSON
alleged that her aunt aud herself, being
very much displ,ascd with the way in which
her mothers share of the money which
came from Isaac HowLASD had been taken
possession OF by her father, had entered into
a mutual agreement in 1850, each to make a
will in the others favor, to prevent Mr.. RoB-
ISsoN's getting any more of the HOwLASD
property. In proof of this compact she ex.
hibitel document, consisting Of two sheets
of papcr-thc one a will made by Miss
ROWLAND. giving her whole fortune to her
niece, and the other declaration of the rea-
sons for making it, corresponding with Miss
noBiSeoSs statement. There was also a al
plicate of this latter paper. Her bill of COM
plant set forth that Miss HowLASD's will of
1868 and the codicil to 1t were in violation
Of this compact, and should therefore be de-
elared void.
Miss HowLASp's executors under the later
will defended the suit, not alone on legal
grounds which were finally adjudged TO be
sufficient, but on the more serious assertion
that the signatures purporting to be the sig.
natures of SYLpA ANN Rowland TO the
declaration Of mutual agreement and its du-
llicate, produced by her niece, were, in plain
English, forgerics and that the niece HETTY
HowLAND ROBINSON, owner Of a million Of
dollars in her own right, and entitled TO the
income for life OF six millions more, was the
forger
The trial of the cause was, as may be sup.
posed from the amount OF money and the
scandal involved, long and stoutly contested.
Miss ROBINSON, who in the mean time had
been married to Mr. EDWARD II. GREEN, was
the principal witness in her own behalf. Her
story, as she tells it, reads not unlike chap
ter from one of Miss BRADpoS's novels. She
describes visit to her aunt in 1860, pictur-
ing her as an invalid and a helpless old
woman, surrounded by nurses looking con-
stantly for her death and their own expected
| lcgacies She tells of her aunt's indignation
at the way in which her father had taken her
mothers money, and how, in consequence,
the alleged agreement was determined on.
| The two women then and there sat down, and,
with the help of a slate and an old form Of
will drawn by lawyer, concocted after
several days labor q will giving Miss ROB
INsoN tho whole of Miss HowLAND's prop
eity. This will, however, was not then exc
| cuted
In January, 1862, Mrs. GREEN goes on tc
say, the matter again came up tile slate wal
again called into requisitiou, and the declara
ton Of reasons made out In duplicate. The
will drafted in 1860 was then executed, with
a change of date to 1862, and the two dupli
cate declarations signed, one of them at
| toc1,a1 10 tl,a will and tho nt1,ar ain al