Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1888-05-12
ODD FACTS ABOUT WILLS.
ECCENTRICITY IN BEoUFATHING
WORLDLY ESTATrS.

WORLDLY ESTATAS.
A Sailor Gives His Soul to God, HI
Body to the Fishes, His Wealth Il
Relations
The numerous instances on record o.
the trouble and litigation which hav,
arisen from the doubtful expression ano
intention Of testatOrs. omissions, loss o
the document, their destruction by yer
min and otEerw Sc, would fill an inter
esting volume. The delay, too, of mcr
OF property in making their wills til
they become mentally incapable or dcatl
prevents their doing SO, as ii it were exc
cutting "a death warrant" instead o.
settling simple business Transaction, is
to be regretted.
Among numerous celebrated cases may
he mentioned that of the great rca
property lawyer, the late Lord ST
LeOnards, whose will could not be found
and was supposed to have been buried
hidden about his person. Other en- ncnt
lawyers 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
tcstator intended them TO have, to tho
enriching of Others, thus in some in
stances going to prove that the ''man
who is his own lawyer has fool for a
client"
A man will seldom bestow the same
! thought and care on his own affairs that
he will on those of other people.
Through clerical error | have seen
''marital control written martial"
For a long time it was customary to
begin the document, 'In the name of
God, amen, |. b., being of sound mind
and body" and SO on, the intention evil
IDENTIFY being to prevent questions arising
as to the testator's mind, undue influence
etc, but it is obvious that this mere
statement, unsupported by evidence
could scarcely ''hOld law" Then, again,
men formerly gave back ther souls to
their Maker. | once came across the
probate of Will Of a sea-faring man,
which ran: First, humbly bcqueath
my soul to God, my Maker, beseechlng
His gracious acceptance and forgiveness
Of all my sins; my body | 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. | remember case where a
parry had his will prepared, and a codi-
Gil afterwards indorsed in proper legal
form ha
thought 1t an easy matter to add it him.
self and thus save expense lie wrote it
all tight, taking the previous one for II
guide, and called in two credible" per
sons, who affixed their names as "wit-
nesses" 20 its due execution" But the
testator had unfortunately omitted to
sign it, and it doubtless formed 4 nice
point CT law for the court to decide as
to whether being written by the testator
himself, combined, Of course, with the
witnesses signatures and testimony, it
constituted execution" of the codicil.
The term "Cut oil with shilling has
become the sub ,ect of stage play, and
it bears we'll 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 fathers
threat to an offending son. did, how
ever. come across a genuine case in the
improved will of farmer, written by
himself in a memorandum book, in which
he said (inter alia): al give to my son
John one shilling, sterling, mouey of
Great Britain"
The writer once prepared officially the
will of tradesman 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 in
fOrmant had told him some of its pro-
visions. 1t transpireI subsequently that
the testator had made a previous will
which he had destroyed, so far as tear
ing it up was concerned, but it had been
carelessly thrown In the ash pit and some
wOrkmen had been mean enough to put
it together and had posted it up in
WORKSHOP near by. 1t was ultimately
recovered.
was intimately acquainted with
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 done by tie
lawyer holding the dead mans hand,
spider was placed In the deccaseds
mouth, which is supposed to have con-
stituted ''lifc in the body"
Some men in making the most simple
wills giving their all to the wife, wishing
to be sufficiently explicit and comprc-
hensive, have given her Everything
possess in this world"
1t frequently happens that persons buy
blanks of wills and fill them up to save
legal expense, but it is very unwise
roceeding, and it is not generally under.
stood that wills not submitted for pro-
bate within reasonable tire after the
death OF the testator renders the exccu-
tors liable to penalty which is, how
ever, seldom enforced.
As | am speaking of documents NAV
mention the case of lease exemplifvinc
"biter Bit" where a landlord provided
for tenant the lease of farm himself.
and wishing 10 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
unquestionably and exclusively the ten
ants.-Detrot Free Presz.