The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-28

ness--a fourr,oi 80 20 :. --iss "miih-
| crs for instance. is not speaking the
trrtb when sine declares that the sigma
trrc Of the testator vas tattoocd upon
her bacl, under his immediate direction. or
that il was tattOoed in the presence OF the
| sv,) sailors. Butt and Jones, whose sigma
| lures were also tattoocd IN the presence
| Of .hc testator and of each other. no will
at all was executed. and tic plaintiff 5
case collapses utterly, since. from the very
nature Of tie facts. evidence IS TO hand
| writing would, Of course, be useless.
Now. approach the decision Of this point
after anxious thought and some Lesita-
ton II is not light thing 70 set aside
| n formally executed document such as the
will of Nov. 10 upon which the defend
ants RELY, and TO entirely alter Tic cevclu-
tiof Of q vast amount Of property upon
tho unsupported testimony Of single
| witness. Ii seems to me. however, that
thee arg two tests which Tie court can
J more or less set up as standards where
with 10 measure the truth Of tic matter
| The first Of these is the accepted proba-
| bility of the action Of an individual under
| any given set of circumstances, as drawn
| from our common knowledge Of human
| nature: and second, the behavior and tone
| of the witness, both in the box and in the
course of circumstances that led 10 her
| appearance there. will take the last Of
| those two first, and | may as well state,
without further dely, that | am convinced
| of the truth Of the story told by Miss
| Smithers. IL would TO my mind be i'm
possible for any man, whose intelligence
| had been trained by years of experience in
| this and other courts, and whose daily
| duty it is 10 discriminate as TO the credi-
| bility Of testimony TO disbelievc the his
| tory so circumstantally detailed in the
box by Miss Smithers." Sensation II
watched her dcmeanor both under ex.
animation and cross examination very
closely indeed, and ! am convinced that
she has been telling the absolute truth so
far as she know it,
and now TO como TO tho second point.
| II has been suggested, as throwing doubt
| upon Miss SmitEers' story that the exist
encc Of an engagement to marry. between
| her and the plaintiff may have prompted
her 10 concoct monstrCus fraud for his
benefit: and this IS suggested. although
at the time Of the execution of the tat
tooing no such engagement did, as mat
ter Of fact, exist or was within mcasur-
able distance Of the parties. 1t did not
exist said the attorney general; but the
disposing mind existed; in other words,
that she was then in lovc-if. notwith-
standing Mr. Attorneys difficulty in de
! fning ii, | may use tho term-with the
| plaintiff. This may or may not have been
| the case There arc some things which
! it il quito beyond the power Of any judge
or Jury 20 decide, and one Of them GER
tainly is. at what exact period of Ler &C
quaintance with n future husband a
Young lady's regard turns into warmer
feeling But supposing that The attorney
! general is right, and that although she az
that moment clearly had DO prospect Of
marrying him, since she had left England
to seek her fortuDcnt the antipodes the
plaintiff was looked upon by this lady
with that kind OF regard which is sup
posed t0precelc the matrimonial contract,
the circumstance in my mind, tells
rather in his favor than against him.
For in passing ! may remark that this
young lady has done n thing which IS,
! in its way. little short Of heroic; the more
So. because il has ludicrous side. She has
submitted toan operation which must not
only have been painful, but which is and
always will be a blot upon her beauty. /
am inclined to agree with the attorney
| general when he says that she did not
make this sacrifice without q motive,
which may have sprung from q keen sense
of Justice and of gratitude 10 the plain
| tiff for his interference on Ter behalf. or
l In i...f.
there 10 nothing discreditable about IT,,
! rather the reverse, in fact and, taken 10y
itself, there is certainly nothing here 70
cause me 10 disbelicve the evidence OF
| Miss Smithefs.
"Onc question only seems 10 me 20 re-
mai Is there ANYTHING 70 show that the
tcstGt0r was not, at the time Of the execu-
ton of the will Of sound and disposing
mindg and is there anything in his con
duet or history to render the hypothesis
! Of his having executed this will SO im-
probable that the court should take the
| improbaLilty into account As 10 the
iiYst point | can find nothing. Miss
Smithcrs expressly swOre that IL was not
the ease. nor was her statement shaken
by very searching cross examination.
.hc admitted. indeed that shortly before
death he wandered in lis mind, and
thought that he was surrounded by the
shades Of authors waiting 80 he rcyenged
upon him But il is 10 uncommon
thing fer tho mind thus to fail ct
the last. and il is not extraordinary that
this dying man should Conjurc lefcrc Lis
brain tho shapes Of those with some Of
whom lac appears To- have dealt harshly
DURING his fife. Nor do / consider it in
any way impossible that when he felt bis
end approaching he should have wished
TO reverse the sentence OF his anger and
restore 10 his nephew, whose only ofiensc
Lad been o somewhat indiscrcet use Of
the language Ct truth, tho inheritance 10
vast wealth Of which he had deprived
him Such course strikes me as being
. most natural and proper ono, and PER-
fcctly in accordance with the first princi-
pes OF human nature, The whole tale is
undoubtedly Of a wild and romantic order
aud once again illustrates the saying that
truth is stranger than fiction But
have no choice but 10 accept the fact that
the deceased did by means Of tattooing
carried ont by his order, legally execute
his true last will in favor OF his next a
kin, Eustacc II. Meeson. upon the shoul
dCrs If Augusta Smithers, on or abOni
the 22l DAY Of December. 1880 TIL:
being so. | pronounce for the will pro