Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-12-20

A decidedly curious will was admitted to pro-
Court @ .' WiIitam F. Green. a merchant-tailor
WHO had accumulated property to the value OF
al cut sec, COO, was thrown from his carriage and
Died OF lock jaw, writing just before his death In
pencil on the fiy-eaf OF a family Bible this tes
tSnent:
this Evening II chal dai. 1 will Ily all my
Property to my wife so long cha livS no lOnner.
Che can sell ii or Borrow money any necessary.
Etter her livs it belongs 10 my ehrs. Chi most
look QUIT by her LIyithanne so long as my
gid tehev. Eruksen Fisher l will Side House
Repican IS this Evening Wednesday Septem
1873. VIM. F. Green.
Ibis W III was construed officially as meaning
that the property was left to the wife for life,
With right TO sell or incumber it. Sic being re-
CURED TO take charge of the testatOrs mother,
aId beGuest OF $500 being made to George
Atkinson and OF house to Ericsson Fischer. In
an English win probated last spring there was
a legacy of ..GfO TO the undertaken that buries
my wife" Mr.. Theodore Marsh OF PaSsaic, n.
j., in his viii, which was proved last March,
GdrectGd his executors to invest funds, the pro-
Ceeds of which were to go to the support Of his
Iavorite horses for the term OF their lives. To a
white horse. TO long-tailed black, to chest
nut mare, Dora" and to black horse, Mink"
lie gave $500 year each, payable monthly, and
his fam was to be used by them for feeding and
recreation. Re also gave g, 500 for the erection
Oh a stable for their use. Mrs. Robert o. Willis,
OF Cumberland county. KY, left in March last
$l,otG to her home par er, the Glasgow Tmes,
(which was source Of great comfort to her in
her sorrow, bringing her weekly news from her
Old home" The prop. rty OF which she disposed
Ead be en- buried since the early years of the war
in q cave on her farm. Her husband, after bury
ing ii. disappeared and was believed to have
bee n murder ed, and its hiding-plaCe was only
revealed 10 the surprised neighbors by the viii.
That very phenomenal convict, Charles
Peace. puzzled the English authorities by max
ing a VIII when he was lying under sentence OF
death, Gisposing to his family and friends OF the
during long and active career of burglary.
The question arose-waS the will valid? The
old law confiscated for the benefit Of the Crown
all goods Of felOn, and insured that the GRIM
inals family should not profit by his villainy,
and thus removed a principal incentive to
crime. The act of 1870, which abolished forfeit
the case of will made by convict under SEN
teECe OF death. 1t provides (Section S) that
every convict (Which expression, by section 6,
includes any person against whom judgment OF
death shall have been pronounced). during the
time while he snail be subject to the operation
OF the act. shall be incapable of alien
ating orcharging any property" But by sec
ton I, when any convict shall die he shall
thencefOrth, so far as relates to the provisions
hereinafter contained, cease to be subject to the
operation OF this act;' and section Is provides
that the possession, administration and man
agement OF the conyictS property ''Shau reveSt
in and be restored to such convict upon his ceas-
ing to be subject to the operation OF this act or
in and to his heirs or legal personal representa-
t1ves. or such other persons as may be lawfully
entitled thereto" The question here arose
whether the will was an alienation of property
that the alienation there referred to was pres
emf alienation, not an alienation to take effect
only after an event upon which, by sections
and Is, the convicts property ceases to be sub
Ject to the operation of the act. The Solicitors
JoulnGl believed that Peace was incapacitated
from dispoSiIg OF his propelty-or rather of the
property OF ether people which he had felOn-
iOusiy acquil ed-but as nothing to the contrary
was publisht d at time when his exploits and
himself were the themes Of innumerable news
paper articles, it is reasonable to conclude that
the "eStaten went to his family.
The Importance OF carrying out S,u' le champ
ones intentions in the matter of a bequest, lest
an accident should intervene to prevent them
from ever being carried out, was Strikingly il
Illustrated in the case OF the late Sir George
Buckley-MattheW well known in this country.
who only just missed inheriting the valuable es-
tates of ThCmastown in Ireland from distant
relative. the last Earl Of LANDAU. The Earl,
who had taken great fancy to the young Cor
net. made will deyfsing these estates to him,
to the prejudice OF his immediate heir, the vi
comte de Jarnac, whom he disliked. The will
was prepared for signature late in one evening,
but the lawyer who drew it up asked permission
to take it home with him and look it over prom
Using to bring 1t back in the morning. When he
returned with it the next day Lord LANDAU was
dead! He was q bachelor, and as he sat at
breakfast a tiSh-bOne stuck in his throat. His
frightened servant ran out for a surgeon, in
stead OF humping him violently on the back
and before he could lind one and bring him to
the Earls house the Earl was no more.-N T.
World.