The Opelousas courier., 1886-10-30
WILL LORE.
A CHAPTER OF INTEREST ON
MEMS LAST TESTAMENTS.
Curious and Eccentric Bequests-
Wills of Some Prominent Per-
sOnages-WiIls by Word of
Mouth and in Rhyme.

his properly 10 60 aIteF ne Is tHTouSh
with it, but it seems like a voice from
the dead declaring how it shall go. 1t
is usually written in the most solemn
moment of a mans life. AT that mo-
ment one realizes to the full that he
brought nothing into this world and can
take nothing out, and that, after the
tongue is hushed and the heart stilled,
his commands will be spoken and his dc
sires obeyed. Associated as it is with
such thoughts as these, it is not strange
that we are eager to know how Mr.. Van
derbilt, or Mr.. Astor, or Mr.. Tilden, or
Mr.. Storey disposes of his fortunes. AS
9 matter of fact, being strangers to them,
we do not care whether they endow u
college or a cat, but if their wills happen
to be published in the papers, we read
them first, as the most toothsome items
of news.
There are many very curious and &c
centric wills described in the books, and
some strange phases of human nature are
illustrated in them. Some men, who in
life would not give a cup of water to a
beggar, by their wills leave enormous
sums to charity. Those are the wills
that usually take a course through the
courts, with handsome pickings for the
lawyers on the way. All charitable be-
quests are construed with the utmost
strictucss. About ten years ago FL. Ii.
Taylor, of this city, died, leaving a will
drawn by himself. After providing for
his wife and son, as he thought quite
llberaly he devised the residue OF his
estate, about $500, 900. to seven trustees
to found a charitable institution such as
they should deem best. In case they
elected not to do SO, the trustees were to
turn over the estate to the Home OF the
Friendless. As q matter of course the
will was contested, and, after thorough
legal inquiry, it was found that the char
liable cause would not hold water.
After considerable litigation the case was
compromised, and the Home of the
Friendless got 5000, 600 and the heirs
the remainder.
a man in New Jersey, not long since,
left his estate to pay off the National
debt. The will was contested, of course,
but the courts have recently held it
valid. In the last century Sir Joseph
Jekyll did the same thing in England.
Simple a matter as it really is, lawyers
| have not always been successful in draw
ing their own wills. Lord st. LEONARD,
High Chancellor of England, who, as
| Edward Sugden, was the most eminent
| chancery lawyer in England, and who
| with a number of law books, one partic-
| ularlv with a very elaborate chapter on
| drawing wills, drew his own will, and it
required an expensive lawsuit and the
d cision of a court of chancery to give
it proper effect. The will of Lord West
| bury, another Lord High Chancellor,
drawn by himself, met with the same
fate. / could give you many similar in
stances.
There have been devises to animals or
| for their benefit which have been held
valid to cats, dogs, horses, and even
parrots. Not ~infrequently people have
undertaken to show their spite and
hatred, and sometimes their humor, in
wills.
The will of Lord Pembroke in the
| seventeenth century has several items of
| that kind-for instance: 'Item--I give
nothing to my Lord Sage, and | do make
him this legacy willingly, because | know
| that he will faithfully distribute it unto
the poor. Item give up the ghost.
Lord Bacon had no property to leave,
but he left a regularly executed will, in
which he beaueathed his name and mem
ory to mems charitable speeches, to
foreign nations, and the next ages
| Shakespeare left an elaborate will, which
contains a clause that has puzzled the
Shakespeareans not a little: Il give
unto my wife my second best bed, with
the furniture" Why did he only give
Ann Hathaway his second best, and not
his best bed? Nothing else did she get,
and the would h& sought in vain to know
the reason why.
Napoleon in his will left a handsome
legacy to a wrstch named Chasillon, who
had attempted to assassinate yelling
ton.
The will of Rsbelais has this clause
81 have no available property; ! W {
great deal; the rest / give to the poor.
His last words when dying were: Il g
TO see the great Perhaps A famous
French able had this pithy clau g in hi
will: ssTom my steward / leave nothing,
because he has been in my service fol
eighteen years.
1t is not unusual for a man to leave al
his property to his wife, with the provist
that if she marries again she is to hav'
only what the law allows her. / hav,
drawn a number of such wills. Cover,
nor Morris. the celebrated American
statesman, did not treat his wife go. I'll
had married very late in life Ann Ran
dolph, a cousin of John, o. Roanoke,
woman much younger than himself, ant
with whom he liredvey happily. Ell
bequeathed q very handsome income t,
her. and then provided hat in case sh'
married again the income should b
doubled.
Asollier or asaiIor is allowed to max
q nuncuE alive wilI-that is, q will b
word of mouth, by which personal estat
may be dispoaed of, but you, being q 81
villain, must make yours In writing. /
don't matter much what the writing i
on it may be ON d slate, or q table top
or even d wall, though it is advisable tina
it should be on paper or parchment. Yol
may write it and sign your name in penci
if you like, bnt it is better to do it ]
ink.
You may make your will in Choctaw
if you happen to understand that Ian
guage. or it may, as Hamlet says: Sd
writ in the choicest Italian you ma
write IL III shorthand, o. in authorizations
or in cipher, SO long as you leave the ke
behind you. Courts are not martinets a
to the spelling, and ii your orthograph
Is not perfectly ultra, they viii not min,
IL IL they can make it out. If you wis
to drop into poetry, even that is per
mitted, a. the following > Of q vail