The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-11-01
A STRANGE STORY.
The Disputed Estate of Stanfield Hall.
from the Boston Advertiser

he iie'i 'hio III a. hitt ~
half, has just been judicially determined
for the first time ut Norwich, England
The trial traversed n succession OF
strange experiences, including horrible
tragedy which shocked all England
thirty years ago, and strange And mys-
terious incidents enough for first-class
melodrama. If it were played upon a
stage now it would be denounced as i'm
probable fiction.
Stanfeld Hall is the name of an es-
tate which in 1875 became the posses
sion, through marriage, of William
Jenny. In 1851 Mr.. Jenny made will
For some reason he desired that a sis
ter, into whose possession the estate
would regularly fall at his death, should
not obtain it, and he therefore be-
queathed it in succession to Jacob
Preston, son of Isaac Preston, and his
heirs male, and then to Thomas Preston
and his heirs male, and, in default of
issue by either of them, to such male
person of the name of Jenny as should
be the nearest related to the testator in
blood, and to his heirs forever" There
was clause in the will providing that
anyone who took the estate should take
or continue to use the name and arms
of Jenny These Prestons were con-
nected with Jenny through his second
wife-not the one by whom he came
into possession of the property.
William Jenny died in 1852, year
after making his will, and the property
went to the elder of the two Preston
brothers, namely Jacob, who was then a
minor. In this condition of things,
Jacob Preston's father, Isaac Preston,
conceived a project to prevent the re-
version of the estate to the Jermys in
any circumstances. He sought out the
persons of the name of Jenny to whom
or their heirs the estate might revert in
case his sons died without male issue,
and found two, Francis Jenny and John
Jenny. He prevailed on each of these
to sell his interest in the estate for
goo, and in this way he got rid, as he
thought, of all the Jenny claims, and Sc
cured the property to his own family.
Both Jacob and Thomas Preston died
without male issue, and Isaac Preston,
claiming possession by virtue of his
purchase of the interest Of the persons
nearest of blood of the name of Jenny,
left it at his death to another son, who,
dying in 1896 without issue, entailed it
by will upon his brother, the Rev. Geo.
Preston, with remainder to his son,
Isaac Preston, for life, and his son,
Jenny Preston, with remainder to his
heirs male. Mr.. Isaac Preston) Jenny
was Recorder of Norwich, and person
well known throughout the country.
The transaction by which the elder
Isaac Preston purchased the contingent
claims of Francis and John Jenny for
ego each in 1852 did not escape criti-
cism mt the time. There were those
who declared that it was illegal or fraud
ulent 1t was, when it became known
the talk of the county, and in 1853
pamphlets were printed explaining and
attacking it; but, for some reason, the
Jermys made no attempt to recover, and
the affair faded out of mems minds, and
for eighty years afterward the Prestons
enjoyed the fruit of the bargain. In
1888, however, there was sale of the
effects of one of the Prestons who had
occupied the property, and among the
articles were copies of old pamphlets ex-
planning how the family obtained pos
session of the property. Thus the old
story of fraud was revived, and the re-
vival raised up claimants for the estate.
Among them was man named Rush, a
tenant Of the Stanfield Hall farm, who
ten years later had quarrel with his
landlord, and who determined to make
use of the document for his own advan-
tage The quarrel had ended in law
suit, which left Rush financially ruined,
and he was ripe for any desperate I'M
dertaking of revenge. He wrote new
pamphlet, adding personal abuse of the
living Prestons to the narrative of the
circumstances by which they obtained
the property. He at the same time
contrived a series of crimes which, at
their elimination, shocked the nation.
In the first place he forged deed, by
the terms of which Mr.. Isaac (Preston)
Jenny released him from rlinous pecun-
iary obligations on condition of his
giving up the papers relating to the sue
cession. He then made a secret written
agreement with two other claimants,
Larner and Thomas Jenny, that he
should have the lease of the farms at n
low rate if he put them in possession of
the estate.
The time approaching when his own
debt was due, he resorted to terrible
crime to escape payment of it. Putting
on mask and arming himself with PTS
tolls, he went to the hall in the gloom of
November evening. The place itself
and the habits of the inmates were well
known to him. 1t was the custom of
Mr. Jenny to come TO the door after
dinner, and when he appeared that
night, Rush, who was lying in wait, shot
him dead. Then the murderer went
into the house, and, finding Mr.. Jermy's
son, shot him dead also. The sons wife,
on throwing herself on the lifeless body
of her husband, was next fired at, and
her arm shivered. Rush next fired mt a
maid-servant who had come to help her
mistress, and she also was seriously
wounded. In the panic of the house
hold he was able to get away and to
reach his own house This villain had
so carefully formed his plans that he
got Larner and Thomas Jenny to visit
the neighborhood, and he left in the
hall where the murders were committed
scraDs of naner directing sIsDicion upon