The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-16
JEFF, DAVIS LEGACY.

JEFF. DAVIS LEGACY.
The fight over the estate left by the
late Mrs. Dorsey to JEFF. Davis, which
the family of the deceased claim by right
is theirs, is about to open in earnest.
The will was presented for probate in
New Orleans and every effort made to
place Mr. Davis in full possession by his
attorneys, but the heirs propose to con-
test his right to the property with stub
bornness of determination that is likely
to make fat picking for lawyers. The
heirs will be represented by Mr.. w. S.
Mills, the eminent lawyer who fought and
won the great suit for Mrs. Gaines in
her twenty-fve-year contest with the
city of New Orleans for her fathers es-
tate. The claim of the contestants will
first set up that the testatrix was of un-
sound mind and incapable of making a
will, and further that undue influences
were brought to bear upon her to induce
her to make the devise she did; and Sec
ondly, that if she was of sound mind
and no undue influences were used, that
it is contrary to public policy to permit
the bequest to stand. They claim that
as Mrs. Dorsey declared in her will that
MIR. Davis had fought for his country
aud suffered greatly and received no re-
ward, she was paying him for being
guilty Of treason, and that if the courts
permit him to gain possession it will be
putting premium on treason" There
will no doubt be lively fight over
these fat pickings and one that will
command the attention of pretty wide
constituency. Whether Mr.. Davis, as
the Ex-President Of the Southern Con-
federacy, should be for the purposes Of
this fight entitled to any different treat
ment than another litigant is one on
which there must necessarily be differ
ence of opinion; but when we simmer the
thing down to moral question we are
sure that the friends as we'll as the enemies
of Mr. Davis will feel that the heirs of
the deceased lady have the better claim
to the estate of which she died seized.
As rule property ought to go down to
the heirs of persons dying unless there
exist good and sufficient reasons why it
should be otherwise. disposed of. That
this is just is shown by the frequency
with which unnatural and whimsical be-
quests are set aside, and it is the opinion
of some thoughtful persons whether de-
cedents should not be forbidden by
statutory law to ignore the heirs of their
body in the post mortuary di-
visions of their estates. If this were done
it would prevent endless litigation and
induce persons wishing to endow chari-
liable institutions to place their gifts
when they would believe them likely to
do the most good during their own lives,
and when they could see and enjoy
their fruits before giving up the ghost.
Whatever may be the result of this
fight of Mr.. Davis we are sure that even
his warm friends will feel panied to see
him in the attitude he necessarily holds
of clinging to fortune he does not &C.
tually need, and to which his right from
a moral standpoint is more than ques-
tionable, even if the courts give it to him.
Had Not Mr.. Davis occupied the position
of a guest in the house of
the lady for some time prior to the max
ing of her will and the alienation of the
affection natural between her and the
heirs taken place in large part during
and in consequence Of such stay by him
at her home, there might have been a
shade less of indelicacy in his acceptance
of her bequest; but as it is, public senti-
ment at the South and among Mr.. Davis
best friends, so far as we have observed
the Indications points unmistakably to
the propriety of his gracefully yielding
to her natural heirs the fortune that a
foolish and sentimental old lady in her
infrmity and declining years has under
taken to deprive them of for his benefit.