Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-06-10
CURIOUS WILLS.
How the Weaknesses Of Men Crop Out
In Testimentary Requests.

/ How the Weaknesses OF Men Crop Oui
| In Testimentary Requests.
The weaknesses which men have fostered
and cunningly concealed, the idiosyncra-
cies, the passions, revengss and hetero-
doxies Of private life, generally crop out In
some shape in their wills and testamentary
requests, provided they have anything be-
sides q very ordinary name to bequeath to
posterity. Idiotic and eccentric legaciee
are, next to the method Of making will.
curious and interesting studies. 1t has
only been q few years since two dozen
words, written in q grabbed, uncertain
hand on the back Of q yellow envelope, by
soldier, while dying on Southern bat
tlefield, were admitted to probate ~ his
will in the courts of Pittsburg.
One Of the most remarkable wills ever
written was that of Joseph Cappur, man
worth q quarter of million. He was o
wholesale grocer in London and lad
amsssed fortune by specializing in securi.
ties. His essentric habits Of life first call
ed attention to his subsequent career. He
lived at one hotel for over 25 years. and in
that time engaged his board and room only
for one day in advance. He insisted on
sitting in one certain seat ct the table,
drinking ont of the same cup and using
the same knife and fork. He was the pro-
totype Of Jules Verne's Phineas Fogg, in
that he ate, slept and walked by an un-
varying rule. His sole amusement was
that of killing flies in the summer time
He died suddenly at "a years of age. His
will was found at the bottom of box of
clothes, euriously worded and written on
the backs of lot of blank checks. He
had destested his poor relations during his
life, bat by this strange instrument OF his
devising every cent was distributed among
them save eS, 900, which he gave two neph-
ew5.
Among the extraordinary conditions i'm
posed upon descendants, that of the Duke
of Yslmy, Marshal Kellerman and general
of the French Republic stands prominent
ly in history. On the crest of a hill just
outside the vile of st. Menehould in
France stands q monument to mark the
spot where the heart of Kellerman taken
| from his body after. his death, disappeared
in dust in the soil of his beloved France.
1t was his will that his heart might rest
among his soldiers who had been slain in
the battle Of Valmy.
Matthew Robinson, Lord Rokeby, o
pro ninent and peculiar Euglishman of the
last century, nephew of Richard Robinson,
archbishop of Armagh and primste of Ire
land, became famous for his long beard
aud his battered for medical practitioners
In regard to the former, il is said that
upon one occasion, when going to an cleo
ton, he stopped at an inn where the coun-
try people, who had assembled for miles
around, took him for Turk and nearly
worried my lord to death. His dislike for
physicians was carried to such an extent
that he left codicil in his will disinherit-
ing a favorite nephew If, in Lord Roke.
by's last illness, his sympathies should be
so excited that he would call in q doctor to
attend him.
The present Marquis of Queensbury,
whose name as o patron of pugilism and
pugilists is know wbarever the so-called
science of soaring Gods imagine in hui
msnity is practised, comes by his sporting
proclivities honorably. William Douglass,
Dnke of Queensbury, was an old spot OF
the last century, who rode his own race
horses, and performed other acts that set
England by the ears. 1t was he who ori.
ginated matches against time. Before dis
cussing his will, the famous match men,
toned may be described. Queensbury
made wager with Count Tasfe that he
could put upon the road a fonr-wheeled
machine which should travel 10 miles in
one hour. With the aid of Mr.. Wright,
a designer, he had built light carriage, Ia
which, on the day of the race, he harness,
ed blOoded horses, driven by trained
grooms. Vast sums of money changed
hands on the result, the duke winning
handy. Iu his will, thought he was the
king Of the turf for halt century, he
left various large sums to charities. He
psnsioned several opera singers, and gave
S10,O 900 for widows and orphans OF the
British navy. This was 80 wholly unex.
pected in a man of his characteristics that
il occasioned great talk for years after
ward.
Asa means of preserving his memory to
future generations, Lawyer Gilpin, of Kit
tanning, Penn, adopted a novel method
In his will, Mr.. Gilpin, who was one Of
the brightest and wealthiest members o.
the Armstrong county bar-leaving ar
estate of $500, 000-directed that annually,
upon each Christmas day, his executor
should pay to the priest or other prooel
official of Catholic church in Kittanaing
the sum of 800. In consideration of thi:
amount the authorities were to have the
church bell rung upon each anniversary OF
his birth, in November, for an hour oil
more. The church for three years has full
filled its contract, and thus far $500 has
been paid. 1t is stated as the origin fol
for this eccentric bequest that Mr.. Gilpir
had conceived the idea from reading of the
daily feeding of the pigeons in Venice.
"When am dead long years, he said,
in speaking to an intimate friend OF his
before his death, and the church bell ring
and startles the town on my birthday an
niversary, people will ask, What's that
for p and then the oldest inhabitant will
say, why, that's in memory Of fellow
named Gilpip, who died and left money
to have that bell rung every year. -" Mr.
Gilpin was an Episcopalian in religion, but
he left the money to the Catholic church
because, as he said, he believed that wa
constituted to outlast every other church
1t was in this same town of Kitanninl
that Banker Brown, died four or five year'
ago, leaving certain sum in securities, thu
interest of which, amounting to 81 900
was to he distributed every Christmas Il
the widows Of the town.
The death of Baron de Palm, the Theo
sophist and mystic, whose body, by will
was cremsted at the LIZ Moyne crematory
at Washington some years ago, with var
ious secret rites, and whose dust was con
veyed away in o precious urn, recalls an
other celebrated and similar will. Pau
Reidel is muscular, intelligent man, ant
is ut present engaged as teacher to turn
verein. By his will, which has already
been published, he directs that after dealt
his body shall be cremated and the ashe
shipped to New York. Here they will b
entrusted to sons seafsring mana per
sonal friend if convenient-who will CART
them to mid-ocean and there scatter tn
dust broadcast upon the winds which
sweep above the mighty waste of waters
The Frenchman whose remarkable vii
concerning his wife's inheritance creates
considerable newsnaner comment SOM