Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-30
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and eyelids with moisture from his
mouth. and not from his eyes. tits inn
to think of everything, and We
probably right in not being too sus-
plcious of trickery in such q curious
case.
The third of my notes of such will
cases has a practical object in my tell
ing it, and may nave good effect with
those who are about to make wills, or a
to those already made. The
will maker in this case had cause to be
very dissatisfied with the conduct of his
three children, who had, at the time of
making his will, by their misbehavior
many ways hopelessly offended him.
He had taken the accustomed form of
.resentingg their conduct by leaving them
nothing. What he had to leave was
left to those whom he considered to be
more deserving. When these spend-
thrift three ne'er-do-wells came down
from the country on the news of their
fathers death, l regretted that I could
not stay their expenditure of ten pounds
apiece in suits of woe-the trappings of
q grief at the loss of their father that it
was certain they would not feel when
the will came to be read. Their grief
would then be expressed most likely by
other means than the wearing of black,
and be uttered only at the loss of the
old mans money.
On reading of the deceased's disposal
OF his property the scene occurred which
l had expected. Two of the disap-
pointed nes were at no trouble to hide |
their anger. The third was, however,
silent, and kept so until the unpleasant
meeting was over-a meeting that l in
no way wished to prolong. The lam
guage of angry men may be allowed to
pass unnoticed, and this waa n cause
only of many that led me to see the
wisdom OF the common custom of bury.
ing the deceased before lthe disposition
of his property is made known. Were
it otherwise the attendance of relatives
at funerals would be in many cases very
much diminished.
The intentions of the silent one of
the three were made known to me the
next day. He brought the surviving
witness of the will with him, and Q
pretty little conspiracy had been con-
cocted between the two OF them, Til.
will had, when prepared, been left with
GlO 0OCCbSCu W Nc CACSuUCo Ill CuC 4C-
quired way by himself in the presence
of two witnesses, who were, as the at
t~estation clause was worded. to sign
their names as witnesses in his presence
and in the presence of each other. This
had been done, and no doubt truth
fully, One of the witnesses had died,
and the other, who was, when signing,
. servant of the deceased, had been
afterward discharged, had since fallen
into a very decayed condition. He was
evidently, like Romeo's apothecary, one
whom poverty, if 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 the will, but had been
called in to sign his name as a witness
only after that had been done. The at
testation clause, in which he had de-
clared to the contrary Of his statement,
had not, he said, been read over to
him.
On the evidence of tbs witness, Sc
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 tothe executor ap-
pointed. This was a serious business.
as if the will was held to be invalid,
and the deceased to have died interstate,
the property would all become divisible
in equal shares TO the three disinherited
sons. A worse aspect was put upon the
matter when the draft of the intended
affidavit of the unexpected witness was
produced to me the next day. He pro-
posed to swear that neither himself nor
his deceased fellow-witness saw the
testator sign; but that both had signed
at the same time, and that was when
they had been called in-too late, as he
said, to 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 so make the execution
of the VIII and the will itself invalid al
together.
There was nothing better now than
for the legatees who took the estate to
come to terms with the three sons. 1t was
done, after much negotiation, by all
agreeing to share and share alike. Means
were taken to carry this arrangement in
to effect, and the accommodating witness
to the will was, I dare say, we'll paid
for his pliancy, not to give it the strong
er name OF perjury. Ever since then l
have taken care that the witnesses to a
will shall both make a statutory delara-
ton before a j. P. that all the due for.
malities that they had certified as being
Observed had been so observed. With
such q declaration annexed to the will
there is no fear of any such another case
happening as the third of my curl
GUS experiences in reading of wills.
As a matter Of experience, let me con
clude with the remark that it would be
we'll if wills were not read, as 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
atives of the deceased and others inter
ested in it, that it lies for their inspec'
ton and reading at his office, between
such and such hours daily. Painful
scenes thatare quite needless might thus
be avoided, each one so calling having
a private perusal of the document, ane
personal explanations from the lawyer
or anythind in it not understandable
toria RecSeW.