Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-30
NE READING OF THE WILL.

NE READING OF THE WILL.
There is nothing in a lifetime that
more arouses attention and excites ex-
pcctations than the reading of the dis
position that the dead have chosen to
make of what they leave. Aside from
the individual interest that those assem-
bled may have in the matter, there is in
the dramatic nature of its effects upon
them more to observe than in any other
of the situations that III sicial life af-
fords. In three cases that haze come
under my notice the dramatic nature of
the whole affair forcibly impressed me,
and, leaving out dates and substituting
other names than the real ones, the lit
lie narratives that | can give of these
scenes may prove OF interest-and OF
something more-to many readers.
The first case I have to relate is that
Of q wealthy bachelor, who, dying when
o. middle age only, had left behind him
$50, 600. His relatives consisted of two
married sisters and their children, .
bachelor brother oldest of all the sur
%yivors) and the three children of de-
ceased brother. Ali of the latter we're
adults, the eldest being a nephew of
twenty-five or Whereabouts and a law
student. The room was pretty we'll
filled with the dozen or so of relatives
thus assembled. They were none of
them at all so blessed in the way of
wealth as their deceased relative; and,
indeed, 1 may say they were most of
them, in that matter, muchthe other way.
1t fell to my share in the scene to speak
as to the villa document that had in
this case been torn up by deceased on
The day preceding his death. 1t had
been prepared by me the year before,
and destroyed, as it was the intention
of the deceased to make another, the
Instructions for which had then been
given to me. When I waited upon him
next morning with the document, Death
had been there be ore mo. and the hand
was cold that should have signed what
l so hurricdly had to prepare. I had
asked his signature the day before to
the notes l had then made of his in
structions, but this he had. declined to
give, as the probability of death COM
ing so quickly upon him was rejected
as impulsive. He had, indeed, expec-
tations of pulling through altogether,
alllu VI UUStJ LID A1CO1Cdl dGLCuudAl AdO
given him strong hopes.
What remained in my hands were the
fragments of the destroyed will and the
newly made and uneNecuted one-both
now equally waste paper. The de-
ceased had, in fact, died intestate. The
torn-up will had been by me patched
and pasted together, that its contents
might be known, if desired, by the ex-
pectant relatives. They were expectant
indeed, the deceased representing the
rich. bachelor uncle"-an enviable
character, we'll known to the world at
large, and to novelists especially. The
nephews and nieces were now, except
as to the three children of the deceased
brother, out of the question as legatees,
as the property would be devisable, as
an intestate estate, between the two
surviving sisters, the elder brother, and
the three children of the deceased
brother-whe would take their late
mothers share equally among them in
her right.
1t was matter of great interest to me
TO notice the effect of reading the two
proposed dispositions of his property
which the deceased had made, neither
OF which could now take effect. 1t was
voted by those present that these should
both be read, though 1 had endeavored
to avoid this by proposing to treat them
as the utilities that they really were.
Curiosity, excusable enough, was, how.
ever paramount, and the assembled re.
latives heard thus what were the de-
'ceased's intentions towards them at two
different periods of his life. The net
result was a general satisfaction appar.
entity with all, and a special one with
some of them that none of these inten.
tons of the deceased would now avail
anything. Death and the law OF thu
land had in their idea made the hes
disposition Of the property. Now, how
had expected, and which only a drama
fist could properly depict as I saw it
You are agreed, them" said the eide
brother, ''that the deceased left no will
behind him?"
The reply was unanimous that the,
all We're SO, and that the two propose'
dispositions of the property that ha'
been left were now valueless. There
upon up rose the late speaker, and
drawing a paper from the breast poke
OF his coat, predaced it with these intro
uuctory remarks: II a now shoy
you that my late brother has left a will
he made the one I now hold in m
Aand twenty years ago, and gave it t
ME ON his then leaving here for a Sc
voyage. AS he never married, and b
so doing revoked it in law, the will
sa4 a good one, and by it, as you wi
v-