Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-04-05

The COntsated Will Of Joseph l..
Lewis, the HObOkeD Missr-Story
ef rhe Widow nephew Turns Up
10 claim the Estate.
New York Herald, March 9Oth.l
The quiet, miniature city of Ho-
boken is just now highly excited
concerning the elements of story
about to be diyulged before Surro-
gate McCogue. The developments
promise to furnish an insight into
the personal career of Mr.. Joseph
L. Lewis, the miser millionaire,
who died recently bequeathing,
after some small legacies amounting
to $40, 900, his million and more to
the treasury of the United States.
The will has not yet been offered
for probate, nor the issue between
the woman claiming to be his widow
and the executors named in the
will been formally joined, but the
counsel for both parties are collect
ing every scrap of evidence that can
have any possible bearing on the
case. The actual amount left to
the United states is about 81, ,500,-
600. The story told by Mrs. Lewis,
who claims her third Of the estate
under the laws of New Jersey, is
that she was married to Mr. Joseph
L Lewis in 1857, and lived with
him one year as his wife at his resi-
dence in Hudson street, Hoboken.
At the expiration Of about a
year they separated in conse-
quence of incompatibility of
temper. The witnesses who
might possibly testify to this
statement-Mrs. Hanson, who was
housekeeper for years at the Hud-
son street mansion, and Margaret,
the servant-are both dead; but
inquiry among the residents in the
neighborhood fails to bring to light
any recollections that such a person
ever lived at the Hudson street eG-
tablishment as the wife of its pro-
prietor. A marriage certificate is,
however, in the possession Of Mr.,
@. H. Winfield, Of Jersey City,
counsel for Mrs. Lewis, which Ger.
tifes to a ceremony performed by
Ethoridge N. Fish, a Justice of the
peace in West Hoboken, who was
elected in 1854, and died in the
city of Brooklyn in April, 1878.
The signature on this document
has been compared with extant
genuine signatures of the late Jus.
tice Etheridge NJ. Fish and pro.
nounced by experts to be a forgery.
while Mrs. L. NJ. Goddard, q sur.
viving daughter of the justice, will
also give her testimony to its un.
doubted genuineness. This docu.
| ment purports to be witnessed by
George Bowen and George R. Brad
ford, who are missing, and have
been advertised for during the last
week in The personals of the Her
aid by Mr.. Winfield. Diligent in.
quiry by our reporter yesterday, af'
ternoon at West Hoboken failed tC
find any vestiges of the two persons
named in the certificate, or any
traces by which their subsequent
movements can be ascertained. A
report in circulation to the efec
that copy of the document haC
been found on record in the count,
clerks office, was also ascertaineC
to be without foundation. At pres
ent, therefore, the widows claim, i
such she really is, appears to hing
upon the discovery Of one or th
other of these witnesses; but i
ought not to be difficult in playing
for high stakes TO manufacture
George Bowen or George R. Brad
ford to meet the exigenoieS of tn
situation, or to find the real partie
: if they are still living. Such is tn
substance of Mrs. Lewis case, Will
on the other hand, although ther
are parties in Hoboken who whi'
per that they have no doubt tha
. Joseph i. Lewis had wife some
, where, it is positively denied by
gentleman who for years acted a
homme d nffaires that he was eve
married. This gentleman, who ht
. a claim against the estate amoun
inc To about $4,000 was very il