The Arizona sentinel., 1888-05-05
FACTS ABOUT WILLS.

 the trouble and litigation which have arisen from the doubtful expression and intention of testators, omissions. loss of the document, their destruction by vermin and otherwise, would fill an interes sting volume. The delay, too, of men of property in making their wills till they become mentally in- capable. or death prevents their doing so, as if it were executing ''death warrant" instead of settling a simple business transaction, is to be re- gretted.
 Among numerous celebrated cases may be mentioned that of the great real property lawyer, the late Lord St. Leonards. whose will could not be found, and was supposed to have been buried hidden about his pers on. Other eminent lawyers have failed to ap- point executors, omitted the date or some important clause or word which has called for the intervention of the court and often resulted in deprlvlng persons of what the testator intended them 10 have, to the enriching ot others, thus in some instances going 10 prove that the 'man who is his own lawyer has a fool for client
 A man will seldom bestDw the same thought ana care on his own affairs thai he will on those of other people. Through a clerical error l have seen marital contror' written 'martial!" For long time it was customary to begin the documents: 'ln the name of God. amen, L A. B., being of sound mind and body" and so on, the intention evidently being 10 pre- vent questions arising as to tine state of the testator's mind. undue inf1u- ence, etc, but it is obvious that this mere statement. unsupported by evil dence, could scarcely ''hold law. " Then, again, men formerly gave back their souls to their Maker. l once came across the probate of will of sea-faring man, which ran: '.First, humblY bequeath my soul to God, my Maker. beseeching His gracious acceptance and forgiveness of all my sins; my body 1 give to the earth or sea, as it shall please Him to order. My worldly affairs I dispose of as fol- lows:"
 Most lawyers, while properly resent ing interference with their province, 'red tape" by amateurs" often reap rich harvest from the usual bungling of such meddlers. Iremem- Der case where a party had his will prepared, and a codicil afterwards in- dorsed in proper legal form. Requir- ing a second codicil, he thought it an easy matter to add it himself and thus save expense. He wrote it all right. taking the previous one for guide, and called in two credible persons. who affixed their names as witnesses 10 its due "execution." But the tes- tator had unfortunately omitted to sign it, and it doubtless formed a nice point of law for the court to decide as to whether being written by the testa- tor himself. com bined, of course with the witnesses signatures anl tcsti- mony, it constituted execution" oi the codiciL
 The term 'CIt eff with shilling has become the subject of stage play, and it bears a well-knOwn relation tC wills. 1 question, however. whether there are many authentic instances oi its having been actually employed in writing. being perhaps more sig nificant of a fathers threat to an of lending son. I did. however. come across a genuine case in the improved will of farmer, written by himself in memorandum book. in which he said (iater GLia): Il give to my son John one shilling, sterling, money O Great Britain.
 The writer once prepared officially the will of a tradeSman of which nc one but he and myself knew the con tents. Imagine, therefore, my sur prise when he told me soon after that he had been informed that his will hat been seen and that the contents wert common talZ. I assured him that i was a mistake, but he stated that i must be true, as his informant had tolC him some of its provisions. It tran spired subsequently, that the testato had made a previous will. which hC had destroyed so far as tearing it uI was concerned, but it had been care lessly thrown in the ash pit, and som, workmen had been mean enough t. put it together, and had posted it u in a workshop near by. It was ulti mately recovered.
 was intimately acquainted with lady, of whose father it was said tha the family solicitor, with the concul renee of the widow. had procured ''e1 ecution" after death, and it is sai that previous to the signing" whicl was done by the lawyer holding tn dead mans hand. a spider was place in the deceased $ mouth, which is SUI posed to have constituted life in tn bodyr'
 Some men in making the most sin pie wills giving their all to the wife wishing to be sufficiently explicit an comprehensive, nave given her lever thing l possess in this world.'
 It frequently happens that person buy blanks of wills and fill them up save legal expense, but it is yer unwise proceeding, and it is not gel orally understood that wills not sul mitted for probate within a reasons ble time after the death of il testator renders the executors liab