The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-10-09
LOUISIANA ST. JOHNS WILL.
Remembering Her Poor Tenants and Her
Nurse-PrOvisiOns for Her Burial.
Prom the New York SIM.

MNa
From the New York Sun-l
The last testament of Miss Louisiana St.
John, the eccentric millionaire, who oc-
cupied very humble quarters in Eliza
beth Street at the time of her death in
this city in July last, is to be admitted
to probate on the 9TH of October next
The property to be divided is enormous,
and is mainly in real estate in New York
City and Yonkers, and large tract OF
land in East St. Louis, all estimated to
be worth several millions. The bulk OF
/ the property is to be divided among six
nieces and one nephew, who live in Ca
najoharie, and a nephew who lives in
! Michigan. First the teStatrix gives 81, ,000
| each to such of her executors as qualify.
| These are Thomas j. Mckee of 33S
Broome Street, the lawyer who drew
her will, Jos. L. Schofield, II. A Sack
EFT, one of her cousins, and Stephen
| Cutter, President of the Prison Associa-
ton. To her housekeeper, Mrs. Sophia
| Clarke of Elizabeth Street, she leaves
her furniture, trunks, jewelry, and about
/ all her personal property, except her
| gold watch and spectacles, which she
! leaves to her niece Sarah. The execu-
tors are directed to buy a house for
| $4,000, which Mrs Clarke may use as
long as she lives, the house to 90 to her
niece, Olive, at Mrs. Clarke's death.
To Harriet L. Calkins, daughter of
her cousin, the testatriX leaves 81 900;
to Edwin Angel, an uncle, $500; to the
Ames Cemetery, in Montgomery COun-
ty, where she is buried, she leaves $10,-
600, which the trustees are directed to
invest, the income to be spent in i'm
proving and beautifying the cemetery
and in looking after her plot and keep
ing it in proper repair. She gives eX-
plicit instructions about her funeral and
the preparation of her grave. Her eX-
ecutors are directed to have her body
inclosed in a hard wood coffin, and
then deposited in the grave she had pre-
pared with cemented foundations in her
lifetime. Her father, mother, and IN
Gle are buried there, and she directs her
executors to put around the burial plot
a coping stone from eight to ten inches,
surmounting a stone wall to enclose the
plot. A new marble monument, seven
feet square, and eight or ten feet high,
must be erected in the center of the
plot. On the face of the monument
next the road must be the name, " st.
JOhn," and on the other side the names
of her relatives. A drain is to be made
about two feet beneath the surface,
from the southwest corner of the lot to
the road, and the entrance gate is to be
at the northwest corner.
To her cousin, Isaac G. Sackett, the
testatrix leaves 81, 900. To Mrs. Drake,
a former tenant, 5000. To Mrs. Nc
Carthy, a former tenant, 5000. These
last two sums she directs to be paid to
Mrs. Clarke, evidently with the view of
having care taken that the money should
be judiciously expended by Mrs. Clarke
for the benefit of her poor tenants. To
Maria d. Osborn, wife of a poor tenant
in East st. Louis, she leaves $500. To
Thomas Miller of East St. Louis, an
other tenant, $500. To Joseph Purdell,
a tenant, $500. To nurse, A. G. Col
ton, who attended her, 800. To Han
nah st. John Cannon, 800. To her
granddaughter, T. E. Walrath, $500,
and an interest in lease of part of her
East St. Louis property; and to his
brother Charles a similar sum. To p.
S. Cone, her agent at East st. Louis,
1000
To the Methodist Episcopal Church in
Railroad Avenue, East st. Louis, the
| testatriX leaves a strip of ground adjOin-
ing the church, on condition that they
get out of debt within five years.
The executors are directed to turn all
the real estate into money, and divide it
among the heirs within five years.
just previous to her death Miss st.
John was somewhat tickle in her no.
tions of disposing of her property. At
one time she contemplated establishing
a number of free lodging houses and
hospitals in this city. At another she
was on the verge of giving $4,000 for
the publication of the writings of a re-
former whose notions pleased her tenn
! L. ,F
$4,000 to one man whose full name she
did not know. Her predominant wish
was to have no fuss or contest over her
property, and it was with that view that
she finally consented to give the bulk of
it to her heirs-at-law.
Although living in very humble quar-
ters in Elizabeth Street, Miss st. John
had sometimes as much as $4,000 on
deposit in the Chemical Bank, and
sometimes as much as $4,000 in her
pockets. Yet she was so shabbily dressed
that at one time she was denied a
lease by an agent OF CoUdert Brothers,
because it was feared that she could not
pay the rent. She soon settled their
doubts by asking:
How much will you take off if pay a
years rent in advance?'
The agent reduced his price several
hundred dollars, ana she drew the money
from her pocket. When the agent pre-
sented her with the lease to sign, she
said she had one that she had prepared
herself. The Coudert Brothers were so
taken with the business-like document
that it was suggested that she should be
employed to draw leases for the firm.
She liked business and litigation. In
deed that was her chief diversion. She
bought disputed titles of property and
fought them out. She attended person
ally to the searching of deeds and pay
ment of taxes and was well known in all
the public offices. She paid much per-
sonal attention to her property in East
St. Louis, and was at the time of her
death in hot litigation with a railroad
company that she was trying to eject
from some of her lands. She was 50
habitually penmiOus that she gave strict
orders that no more than twenty cents
should be paid for a watermelon that
she wanted. She weighed about 800
pounds.
Hunting a Famous Bear.