The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-05-16

ut funerals would tin many cases vse1
much diminished.s 81
The intentions q the silent one oi
the three were pede. Known to me the
next day. Hestrought. the survivine
witness Of tbtSvill with HIN, and 5
pretty little conspiracy hSd Deen con-
cocted between the two OF them The
will had, when prepared. been left with
the deceased 10 be executed in the re-
CURED ,wsyshy himself in the presence
Of two Witnesses. who were. as the ct
-testatiQp clause WAS worded. to sign
the r names aswitnesses in his presence
and in the presence of each other. This
had Ieeh done, and M do,bt truth,
fully. One of the witnesses had died,
and the other, who was, when signing,
a servant Of the deceased, had been
afterward dis charged, had since fallen
into very decayed condition. He was
evidently like Romeo's apothecary, one
whom poverty, il not his will, would
compel to do dirty things tor sufficient
pay. That which. he proposed to do
now was to swear that he had not seen
the testator sign e will, but had been
called in to sgn his name as witness
only a ter that had been DONE The at
,testat.on clause, in which ,he had de-
clared to the contrary Of his statement,
had not, he said, been read over to
him. s-,..,, .-.. go u. sr-.
On the evidences of this witness, 90
proposed to be given. this dissatisfied
son intended to dispute the validity of
the will when application should be
made to the court the following week
to grant probate OF it to the executor APP
pointed. This was a serious business.
Is if the will was held to be Invalid,
and the deceased to have died int tate,
the property would all be ONE divisible
in equal shares TO the three disinher.ted
sons. A worse aspect was put upc n the
matter when the draft of tho intended
affidavit of the unexpected witness was
produced to. me the next day. He pro-.
posed to swear that neither himself no.
his deceased fellow-witness saw the
testator sign: but that both had gned
at the same time, and that was when
they had been Gale in-tOO late, as he
said, 10 see the testator write his name.
As the other witness was dead, this
one held the power to do as he pro-
posed doing and 50 make the execution
of the " II and thewill itself invalid al
together.
There was nothing better now than
for the legatees who took the estate to
come to terms withthe three sons Ii was
done, after much negot alton, by all
to share and share alike. Means
were taken to carry this arrangement in
to cffe It, ami the accommodating witness
to the will was, l dare say, well paid
for his pliancy. not to give it the strong
CIR name OF perjury. Ever since then |
have taken care that the witnesses to a
W III shall both make statutory delara-
ton before a ). p. that oil the due for
malities that they had certified rs being
observed had been SO observed. With
such declaration annexed to the will
there is no fear of any such another case
as the third one of my curl
Gus. experiences in reading of wills.
, A matter OF experience, let me con-
clude with the remark that it would be
well if wills were not read, 40 at pres
ent, in a conclave of relatives assembled
to hear their reading. A copy of the
will, or the will itself. might be instead
left in the hands of the testator's law
yer, and notes be sent by him to the rel
ativts of the deceased and others inter
,sted in it, that it lies for their inspec-
ion and reading at his office, between
,uch and ssuch hours daily. Painful
scenes that are quite needless might thus
be avoided, each one SO calling having |
! private perusal of the document, and
personal explanations from the lawyer |
Or anytLiad in it not understood &c
,Orid Req no.