The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-09-11


lied their curiosity In subsequent CONVEX
sa,jor awakened their cupidIty. and they,
being both 10 straltened circumstance.
gave The subject more serious consideration.
and subjected the circumstances TO care'u'
scrutiny 10 see whether they could cnange
the will without throwing themselves liao'e
IA moro than mere suspicion. The argu-
ments advanced 10 favor OF trying 10 90 so
were the
BLINDNESS OF THE CLIENT;
the Ignorance that his family had OF the
world: the sympathy which he had OK.
messed for Young lawyers afiording mo-
tive. and the favorable opportunity they
would have for the accomplishment OF their
purpese when the agreement would be ex.
ecuted. The probability that the Will wouId
never be examined until after the death oil
the old man, coupled with the fact that the
client was very old and feeble, persuaded
them The chances OF detection, did they
prosecute their plans carefully, were com.
paratiyely few. The greatest diincuity
| that appeared to them 10 stand IN the
way was that IL would be their duly
| 10 report what had been done du'
ring the attorneys absence. They sat-
| is6ed their doubts, however, by con-
yincjng themselves that little ingenious
hard swearing would overcome TINS; tbat
when the will was probated, II the attorney
became suspicious on account OF no report
having been made 10 him, the student
would state that the client insisted upon the
codcI being drawn, and that he (tbe stu
dentl feared that il report Of Ii was made
the attorney might subject him TO suspicion.
After concluding to prosecute this scheme
they arranged il that the bequest should be
made 10 the statement. as there might APP
pear to be an absence Of a probable motive
! for doing SO il the bequest was made to The
other. The student knew the combination
OF the safe, got the will, and added 10
il the codicil bequeathing to him Tue
$500 instead Of TO the church, They tben
copied the agreement upon the same kind OF
paper. As the student was devisce under
the will he was disqualified from being a
witness to its execution, ana The next OBJ
| ject 10 be accomplished was the securing OF
another person as witness. This difll-
Guilty, IL seems, disconnected them, but this
necessity did not Iecur to them until after
| they had mutilated the original will. Ruin
| stared them in the face whether they went
on or stopped. They would like to
have given the scheme up at this
stage, but they concluded to 90 on. IL
1
dcnce another young man. They start
| ed for the clients house, and a short dis
| lance from the house the two principals in
structed the one who was TO act as a wit
ness TO come TO The house about half an
hour after they entered and inquire for
them, and thew would delay the execution
of the agreement until after he had come.
In order to perfect their scheme they bad
not delivered the agreement according to
their promise, so that the other party to
the agreement, who lived some distance
from the house, was not present. They
conyeised with the old gentleman for some
time, and told him that they
HAD DRAWN TWO AGREEMENTS,
so that they would have one to show the
attorney when he came back, and it would
answer for his copy. Just then the other
young fellow called for them, and they de-
sired him to wait until they executed an
agreement for the old gentleman. OF course
he was willing to wait. They assisted the
old man to sign the agreement after reading
Il over 10 bin in the presence Of his daugb-
tiers. The other. they said, was copy, and
after signing it one OF the papers-the
will-was witnessed by two OF them, and
the agreement by the student and his
friend. On their return the will was placed
in another envelope, and restored TO its for
mer position in the safe. The only reason
be could give for attempting a scheme
which was open to so many objections, con-
sidering il merely as a scheme, that having
mutated the original will be got irighten-
ed, and felt that he could not add to the
danger of bis position by going 90.
1t was certainly fortunate for all parties
concerned that the scheme was discovered
before the death OF the old gentleman,
though it was possible bard swearing might
have carried the schemers through. II is
another instance Of the danger Of trifling
with sin, for had all the different steps ne
cessary 10 The accomplishment OF their de-
sign been carefully considered the mutila-
ton OF the will would have been the last
thing done. But that being the first thing
done, exposure followed if he stopped, and
by going on there was just possibility the
scheme would have succeeded, although he
would have doubtless been compelled to
peTjute himself.
The young mans penitence appeared to
be real, and being assured, from all the cir
cumstances, that the friend OF the student
was really the 4" man at the Wheel" the at
torney concluded to let the matter rest, as
no one had been injured except those con-
ccrned in the Scheme. Whether the stu
dent will continue studying law or not has
not been decided.