Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-09-26
Washington Comfy Court.

h"" ohtiloS on llc uocket, ei8nteen
them are divorce cases, or more than one
fourth. The Rev. Mr.. Dyke would fin
Washington county a good missionary feel
for the anti-divorce society, of which he
the secretary and orator.
The court is now engaged in trying til
first case of disputed lines between land
owners, which has occupied its attention
for nearly ten years, when the noted cas-
of Capt. Christopher c. Putnam Of Mid
dlesex against Charles Lawrence, wa
tried. Such cases used to be very com
mon; but the boundaries between prop
erty have now become we'll settled. TIL,
title OF the present case is j. w. Leonard
of Calais vs.. Achsa Dutton Of the sam,
town. The value of the land in dispute
is small; but the parties grit seems to be
good. The trial was begun on Tuesday
afternoon, and will probably last till Thurs
day night. Captain Harlan w. KEMP
and Mr.. S. G. Shurtleff are counsel for the
plaintiff, and Messrs. J. P. Lamson and
Geo. W. Wing for the defendant.
The Grand Jury have not yet reported
Various rumors of indictments for perjury
in making out tax returns are ahoat; buI
of course nothing reliable can be learned
until the report is made. Marcus ID. Gill
man of Montpelier, is the foreman.
The first case tried was;
William A. Boutelle VS.. Jacob Smith.
Both parties formerly lived in Montpelier
The plaintiff now lives in Chippewa Falls,
Wisconsin, and the defendant lives in Bos-
ton. In 1874 Il humbug called hull-less
oats was being spread over the country
under the auspices of the plaintiff and one
David w. Ramsdell, who had once made
fortune in another humbug called Nor
wav oats, but had not known enough to
keep it. Uncle Jake found out what was
going on, and he had carload of the
oats sent here and proceeded to peddle
them out Mt twenty dollars bushel. This,
of course, had tendency to g break the
corner which Boutele was hoping to
make. He accordingly wanted to buy
Uncle Jake out, and through the interven.
ton of Ramsdel he succeeded in purchas-
ing l76 bushels at IS so bushel. Rams.
dell got $l76 of the money from Smith
for his share of the plumber in negotiating
the purchase. The hullles oats specula-
ton pretty much cleaned Boutello out
financially, and after a disastrous season
in 1874, in 1875 what were left of the oats,
stored in an old blacksmith shop belong
ing to Boutelle, situated opposite his dwell.
ing house on Elm Street. Montpelier, were
burned up one night in April. Boutelle
had nothing left but claims against insur.
ance companies, three of which failed and
the only good one, the Westchester, per.
tinaciously fought. He managed to win
at last few hundred dollars, all of which
was forestalled by attorneys bills and
other claims. At the first trial of the case
against The Westchester, Uncle Jake was
a witness to show the small value of the
hull-less oats. He told the story of his
trade with Boutelle, which was a revela.
ton to everyone, and one of Boutelle's at
torneys thought it was possible to make
out case of swindling against him. So
the present suit was brought, charging
that by false pretenses Uncle Jake had
induced Boutelle to buy the oats, and
thereby swindled him out of thousand
dollars. The jury made up their minds,
after hearing the testimony, that it was
diamond cut diamond" between Boutelle
and Uncle Jacob-if Uncle Jacob had
fooled" him little, he had endeavored
to "fool" the public good deal more,
and needed Uncle Jake's oats with which
to do it. So they returned verdict for
the defendant to recover his costs. Messrs.
j. o. Livingston, S. G. Shurtletf and j. A.
and George W. Wing, for the plaintiff
Messrs. Pitkin & Huse for the defendant.
Aida Woodbury., apt, from the probate
court, VS.. Charles E. Wood ct al, heirs Of
Lydia NJ. Warren, was the second case
tried. Mrs Warren, the widow of Calvin
Warren, who lived on Barre street, in this
village, died on Christmas day, 1881, at
the age of SO. In 1866 she made will in
which she left one fourth of her property
in trust Joel Foster trustee) to her grand
son commonly known rs ED Wood,
three eighths to her only surviving daugh
ter, Aida, wife of Jonathan Woodbury., Of
Berlin, three sixteedth to her grandson,
John w. Alger. of Saratoga and three
sixteenth to his sister, Clarabelle c.
Alger (now Mrs. John c. Harris, OF Sara
toeo.) On the first of January, 1866, her
lIltCu 49, htSl Vi
Jonathan Woodbury., began to live with
her and took care of her till she died. On
the 23d of December, 1881, Mrs. Warren
was struck with congestive chill. She
rallied, however, and gave dinner party
the next day, at which most. if not all. oil
her relatives in this vicinity were present
and Mr.. and Mrs. L. l.. Durant. A few
years after the making of the will John
w. Ager had died. and after dinner on
the oath, Mr.. S. c. Shurtleff was sent for
and he drew codicil which was signeC
by Mrs Warren in the presence of Mr.
Shurtleff P. H. Hinkley and Mr.. Durant
BY it she divided John Alger's share oil
her property between her daughter, Aida
and her grandson, ed" Wood, in trust al
to ED" as before. On that evening she
also decided to Ellen Woodbury. her house
and lot on Barre street. and gave heI
about $4,000 worth of mortgage notes, tc
paw her for her sixteen years OF care ant
labor. Mr.. Warren died the next day. a
noon. Mrs. Harris and ED" Wood con
tested the validity of the codicil upon thu
ground that their grandmother's mine
was enfeebled with disease and old age a
the time she made it, and that she wa
under the improper domination of thu
Jonathan Woodbury. family, headed by E
j. Woodbury.. SD" was beneiiciar!
by the codcil; but still he conte'ted it, AM
it is said that the real objective point wa
the gifts to Ellen, which, Of course woult
be invalid if the codicil was. Mrs. War
rem inherited her property from brothe
named Whipple, who lived in Lansing
burgh. N. Y, and it amounted to abou
S27 900 originally. 1t shrank under he
management, so that. after making tn
gifts to Ellen, it was appraised by tn
probate court at $l5,996,7S. 1t wa
claimed by the contestants that Ellen ha
received large sums from her grandmothe
during her lifetime; but they failed t
make their claim good and Ellen denie
under oath that she had received anythn
more than small presents. She is no,
Mrs. G. A. Gale, of Big Rapids, Michigan
There really was no ground shown 70
breaking the codicil in the present trial
Judge Tilden broke it in the probate court
but it is impossible to gee why. Messrs
Shurtleff, Hinkley and Durant all testife
that she was bright and sensible on til