, 1888-04-12
CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT WILLS.
Delay of Men Of ProPorty-LeGaI Ex'
pressIons-A Simple VIII.

pressions-A Simple Will.
The numerous instances on record of
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 in
teresting volume. The delay, too, Of
men of property in making their wills
till they become mentally incapable, or
death prevents their doing so, as if it
were executing a death warrant. in
stead of settling a simple business trans
action, is to be regretted.
Among numerous celebrated cases may
be mentioned that of the great real prop
erty lawyer, the late Lord st. Leonards,
whose will could not be found, and was
supposed to rave been buried hidden
about his person. Other eminent law
yers have failed to appoint executors,
omitted the date or some important
clause or word which has called for the
Intervention of the court and often re-
suited in depriving persons of what the
testator intended them to have, TO the
enriching of others, thus in some in
stances going to prove that the ''man
who is his own lawyer has n fool for n
client" A man will seldom bestow the
same thought and care on his own affairs
that he will on those of other people.
Fol n long time it was customary to
begin the document. ''In the name of
God, amen, l, A. B., being of sound
mind and body, " and so on, the inten-
ton evidently being to prevent questions
arising as to the state of the %testator's
mind, undue influence. etc, but it is OBJ
vious that this mere statement, unsup-
ported by evidence, could scarcely "hold
law" Then, again, men formerly gave
back their souls to their Maker. l once
came across the probate of a will of n
seafaring man, which ran: First, l
/ rmbly ~bequeath my soul to God, my
Maker, beseeching his gracious acceptance
and forgiveness of all my sins; my body
l give to the earth or sea, as it shall
please him to order. My worldly affairs
l dispose of as follows"
Most lawyers, while properly ~resenting
interference with their province. ''red
tape" by ''amateurs, " often reap a rich
harvest from the usual bungling Of such
meddlers. l remember a case where n
party had his will prepared, and a codi-
Gil afterward Endorsed in proper legal
form. Requiring n second codicil, he
thought it an easy matter to add it him
self and thus save expense. He wrote
~ az AAbAAAH A"ANAAlb wv prov l'hR oAlN " a
guide, and called in two credible" per
sons, who affixed their names as "wit-
nesses' to its due execution" Blu the
t~estator had unfortunately omitted to sign
it. and it doubtless formed n nice point
of law for the court to decide as to
whether, being written by the ~tcstator
himself, combined, of course. with the
witnesses signatures and testimony, it
constituted execution of the codicil.
The term 'HCut off with Il shilling has
become the subject Of a stage play, and
it bears a well known relation to wills.
l question, however, whether there are
many authentic instances of its having
been actually employed in writing, being,
perhaps, more significant Of n fathers
threat to an offending son. / did, how
ever, come across n genuine case in the
improved will of a father, written by
himself in a memorandum book, in
which he said inter ALA: Il give to my
son John ono shilling, sterling, money of
Great Britain
The writer once prepared officially the
will of a tradCsman, of which no one but
he and myself knew the contents. In
agine, therefore, my surprise when he
told me soon after that he had been in
formed that his will had been seen and
that the contents were common talk. |
assured him that it was a mistake, but
he stated that it must be true,
as his informant had told him
come of its provisions. 1t tran
spired subsequently that the ~tcstator
had made a previous will which he had
destroyed, so far as tearing it up was
concerned, but it had been carelessly
thrown in the ash pit and some work,
men had been mean enough to put it to-
gether and had posted it up in a work
shop near by. 1t was ultimately re-
covered.
1 was intimately acquainted with a
lady, of whose father it was said, that
the family solicitor, with the concurrence
of the widow, had procured execution"
after death, and it is said that previous to
the signing" which was don by the
lawyer holding the dead mans hand, a
spider was placed in the deceased's
mouth, which is supposed to have con
stituted life in the bodyr'
Some men in making the most simple
wills giving their all to the wife, wishing
to be sufficiently explicit and compre-
hensive, nave given her Everything l
possess in this world"
1t frequently happens that persons buy
blanks oil wills ana I'LL them up 10 save
legal expense, but it is a very unwise pro-
ceeding, and it is not generally under
stood that wills not submitted for pro-
bate within a reasonable time after the
death of the testator renders the executors
liable to a penalty, which is, however,
seldom enforced.
AS 1 am speaking of documentssI may
mention the case of a lease exemplifying
''biter bit, " where a landlord prepared
for n tenant the lease of farm himself,
and wishing TO retain all rights Of sport
ing omitted all mention of such, the re-
suit being that those rights, not being
properly excepted or reserved, became
un~questionably and exclusively the ten
ant's.-Detroit Free Press.
The Bald Heads of Japan.
The noble army Of bald heads is in
creasing in northern Japan. The women