New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-23
THE COURTS.

FEWER WULS4IKgLY TO BE CONTESTED.
THE ESTATES INVOLVED NOT TO PAY ALI lhE
rEEs-ARGUMENrs IN THE MfRRiLL WILL CASE
The epoch of great will contests which has
RIM over nearly the whole OF Surrogate Cayns term OF
office seems drawing to close. Op'y one remarkaDe
contest begun in the last year. ana the Oo
ore gradually being cleared away The progress OF the
Vanderbilt Will and the wiqe attention attr"ceu
TO IL were doubtless for much OF this knd 81
LITIGATION Much OF the dlminutiOn OF probate business
IN the Surrogates Court must &c attributed 10 tbe e'
forts Of Surrogate Calvin to the passage III laws
which wOuld enable him TO prevent the la"Se'S ro'
using up large portions OF the disputed osales III Dig
fees After September l, 1880 there VIII proDaoy wv
ain more marked decrease N The number OF VIII cou'
tests for on that day goes eject the section OF the
now code OF Ciyil Procedure providing that no ices
shall be paid out OF tie estate Of the d'cedent 10 he
counsel of unsuccessful contestants IL Is i'et tna
few Of the Will that have been tired since 1870
have resulted In oyorturning Of the contested "s
and Surrogate Calvin says he ID confident that
large proportion would never have been BEGUN except
for the that the cOntestng lawyers kne" that ices
awated them out OF the estate whether they succeeded
or not
The contest Of the Will Of Caroline A. Merrill is -
cation that H. OF cOurse, Independent OF such cchsd
eraons and has been running in the Sdrrogates court
for nearly three years II l. the only one OF the re-
markable cases (Which include the Vanderbilt the
Marx the Seminar, the Leyeridge and the HesdrA VIII
conestsl which has not concluded, excepting the
Frank Leslie Will ease that probably Will be con-
clIded in a short time. The summing mp IN tue Merr
will case begun yesterday by John E Parsons Tor
the principal contestant, George Merrill Mr. Parsons
went over the testimony at length and presented the
contestants view Of It. He went back TO the time when
CAPTAIN and Mrs Merrill adopted tDeir nephew George
as their son. aud agreed together as was claimed TO
make mutual wills each to give the most OF ais or her
estate of nearly half million to he survivor ana theh
the survivor TO leave it to George Merrill Untl 1897
Mrs Merrill had always treated George Merrill with
the greatest affection AMI with fond care After Cop
tain Merrils death and with the beginning OF Georges
attentions the young woman who afterWard became
his her manner changed and she began to exhibit
toward them both the strongest aniDathy IDS reel
ing Mr. Parsons continued, changed the wh0lo cufIebt
OF her life and made ler different woman altering the
refined and cultivated lady into the petuiant VndetVe
and violent woman VINO mace mos sedliuhIouS
and untrue charges against George Merrill ma rs we.
It finally reached It's climax IN bef cufsg letter 10
him, in which she "vished that he might bee me as
dear "a his sister; that he ght become so blind that
he could not distinguish day from night tnat ne might
have every every neo Hat eyer s see upon pom
hunc-hung by your lying tongue. L give you
the of her whom TOR twenysey ye rs you nave
called mother give yon the Widows cur-e: A9ain
say take curses thousand times OYerl say IL upon
Mrs Merrill tore out her signature from her viii Civ
ing her property to George Merrill, AMI gave IT, after
changes In the will offered for probate To Carol
during all this time George Merrill had done nothing
his mothers dllmOSlty, excepting 10 ~
Miss Lane; but had exhibited toward her afec-
and sincere regard Mr. Parsons cited toe testimony
late Chief Judge Curtis, IhurOW Weed ana DINER
well-knOwn persons, to the high character OF both
George Merrill and his wife, They had not changed, but
Mrs Merrill had. and the change such as indicated
unsOund mind
claim OF penurOUsuess even 10
the pOIlt OF IvHg 81 % day in Paris, disregard or
the ordinary marks of courtesy, and many others
lie thought there was undue inhueIce eXertcd
on the part of thefreuds Of the Roman Cath
orc Church, particularly DR.. Smith, who used 10
pay her many visits while she was IN
Rome. Agaiu. Mr.. Parsons argued, the VIII did not
carry out the declared purpose OF Mrs. Merrill for SIZE
wanted the money TO the Roman Catho o Church,
and while 10 might be true that Cardinal McC.Oskey
W. uld fee bound devote IL to that use, there was
nothing IN the viii referring TO that purpose Mr. Par
sons claimed therefore, that the VIII pr0pOundd was
not ne will OF Mrs. Merrill acting In her sound mind.
ExJudge John X. Porter and David Mcclure VIII sum
up for the proponents to-day.