New-York tribune., 1873-02-04
THE WILL or Mr.. GREELEY.

Inc Ufecley w Ill NoSe HAS cHttiCu upOh O
way of settlement which reflects severe dis
credit upon every one concerned in it, except
upon the orphan daughters of Mr.. Greeley,
his sole heirs by his last will. These young
ladies, who have been distressed beyond
measure by the malignant and scandalous
wrangling over the grave of their father,
yesterday gave peremptOry instructions TO
their counsel to make full surrender of all
their rights and interests in the matter, and
to allow the executors of a former will full
discretion in the management OF the affair.
The formal decision of the Surrogate will be
given next week, and what remains OF Mr..
Greeley's little property will then be subject
to the disposition of Mr.. StOrrs and Mr.
Manning.
The only excuse for this persstd&t and ap-
parently inexplicable opposition to the final
disposition which Mr. Greeley made of his es-
tate was that he was insane at the time OF writing
the will, and for weeks previously To prove
this, number of easy-talking witnesses have
been placed upon the stand, all holding de-
cided opinions against the perfectly simple
and natural provisions of the will, who
| have consumed several days in what may have
| appeared to them agreeable gossip about the
last days of their old friend, in which every
eccentrcity of phrase, every utterance of mel
anchoIy which fell from his lips, was carefully
remembered or ingeniously distorted, in man
ner which furnished highly interesting matter
for lstless readers, and inflicted the keenest an
guish upon all to whom he was dear We know
not what impression all these trivial remin-
iscences produced upon the mind of the Sur
rogate or OF the public. They have certainly
altered no jot of the convictions entertained
in regard to Mr.. Greeley's fatal illness by his
nearest friends and associates. His death was
the result of life of continual Overwork.
| The prodigiOus mental labor of years pre-
pared that critical state of nervous exhaus-
| ton which rendered him incapable of sup
| porting the blow inflicted by the death of his
| wife. During the last Summer especially the
| strain upon his powers was too great for en-
durance Obeying the summons of his po-
| litical friends, he made those remarkable
tours through New-England and the West,
delivering series of speeches which
| for variety, scope and effectiveness have
no parallel in all our history; and
when wearied and exhausted by these
labors, and depressed by the conscious
ness that the cause he represented was doomed
to defeat he was called to the bedside OF his
| diving wife, He watched for weeks by her
pillow with unselfsh and even imprudent de-
yotion and when the end came, the injury
| done to his high-wrOught and sensitive organ
izatiOn was too great to be repaired Acute
| inflammation Of the membrane of the brain set
| in, which ran its course and ended in death.
But before it was developed, while his reason
| still held its sway, he recognized the
fact that his fortune had been impaired by
various unfortunate investments in Southern
| railroads, and the like, and especially by
! loans to persons who had possessed an undue
| degree of his confidence. Since his latest will
was made, his wife was also gone, and the cir
cumstances being thus sadly and completely
changed, he concluded to cancel all former
wills, made in more prosperous times, and
leave his entire property to his daughters, to
whose proper support-unless more bad debts
could be collected than seemed then (or seems
now possible,-it was barely adequate.
Unfortunately he did not destroy a former
will made in 1871, in which two old friends,
Messrs. StOrrs and Manning, and business
associate, Mr. Sinclair (whO is now a bank
rupt debtor to the estate). were named as ex-
ecutors. For reasons satisfactory to these gen.
tlemen they concluded to contest the will.
Mr. Sinclair subsequently withdrew. We wish
to be understood as making no charges
against the perfect integrity of Messrs.
Storrs and Manning They were doubtless
influenced by no worse feeling than
that of wounded self-esteem, though they
finally persuaded themselves that their con-
sciences required them to stand between Mr..
Greeley's daughters and his property, and their
attitude to the orphans of their friend has
been that Of frank and sincere hostility
They have seemed convinced that the very
fact of Mr. Greeley's making a will in which
their names were not mentioned was prima
facie evidence Of insanity. A neighbor of Mr..
Greeley, at CbaDpaqua, Mr.. Isaiah L. Williams,
who seems from the papers in the
hands Of the temporary Administrator TO
be debtor to the estate. threw himself
with especially energetic malice into the case,
and has been throughout the moving spring
of all the opposition TO the last will. Even
on yesterday. after tho surrender waS COM