Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-27
UNCLE TOMS WILL.
Peculiar Circumstances of It's LOSS
 and Recovery.

About twenty years ago there died in Southern Ohio queer old character named Thomas Martin. He was never married, and his cccentricitles made his name a fa- miliar ono in several counties. Ho lived in a little loE house ou farm about four miles from village, and sometimes he was alone for months. and again he would have his house crowded with his relatives. While father and mother were dead, he had three brothers and four sisters living and in tho same county. One day he might meet one of them and hand him a twenty dollar gold piece. Tho very next day he would pass the sarle person by without speaking. As he was worth about s200O00, all made by tho sale of oil wells found on his lands in Pennsylvania, and as his relatives were all poor none of them dared offend him. If 1 he treated them coldly they put up with it; l If he insisted on some family staying with hlrn for week they made every sacrifice ] to please him.
 ! There wa. layer of humor in the old mans composition vithal. think he req ] soned that all his relatives expected sIice 1 of his wealth, and ho intended that each ono l should have it, but he proposed to make 1 them earn it as far as they could. If he l knew that his brother James was planting 2 corn, and in great hurry to get through, I | hunt or fish or go looking over the country l for some plant or root needed for sickness. 1 If his brother Henry was extra busy in his | SaW-mlll, tho old man was sure to send up l [ message to him to come down and take a | witch-hazel rod and go wandering over the | hills to locate metals There was only one l bed in the house, and yet the old man would l insist that family of eight come and visit | hlm and sleep where they could. Twice a | b,.l 1aI a a of ba tj,>1n he lived on pudding cnd milk and vegc- l tables.
 Uncle Tom. as every tsodv called him, was over seventy years of ago when I first knew him, and it must have seemed to his rel atives that he intended to live to be a hum dred. As the years went by he really seemed to improve, and it was q cold day when ho couldn't think of some new trick to play on those who anxiously waited for him to turn up his tees. He had made :, will. as was known i:i a certain law of1ice, dividing up his wealth pro rata, but one day something occurred to dHtcr:ninc him tO revoke it. He had II for his bro: her Henry and family to cone To lI!!l at once. Henry was saving lumber on g contract, oHe oi the children WAS ailinc, and he returned word that he could ;.u1 cone. This W"s the first time he had ever refused snch d de mand and when thc messenger returned the old man bo!io,! over with indiEua; ion. He sent for his lawyer 10 como and mako a new will. and ',.o lawyer, of course, brought the old enc. He saw this laid oH the clock shelf, and 1t was lyIEs there when ho went away. Tic new will was not en- urely completed net day. Martin sad he might want to nlaiE- aoEc other changes, and so he did His sister May, who was an old maid, was with h.n that day, and after tho lawyer had eNrc Martin wanted tC lower her down in the wei! to recover a lost bucket. She was tinid and afraid, and the result was that she was ordered 10 pack uE and leave, and was told plainly that shc need not expect q dollar.
 Nor was this all Having got his hand in
 as it were, the old man went for another brother. and forced 2 rupture. and ther sent for lawyer -nd cUt the three person: off virh a legacy of GIG hundred dollar; each flo signed the new will and placed 1t with the other, saying he would kceI both for few days and sec if any thing
 elso turned up. Then, ln order to show his contempt for his relatives. he sent for {
 woman named Thatcher to keep house fol
 him. This woman was a grass widow
 about forty years old. and was looked upor as half crazy and tho other half foolish
 She WAS employed n tho Vi. age at laundry
 work. Martin bought her clothes aE(
 ievelry, and even gaye ont that he would | marry her, and ho was heard to say more
 than once that net one Of his relative:
 should ever get dvllar of his money.
 One night two months after the Thatche
 woman went to live with him, he got q ba,
 fall while bringing in wood. He hal to b'
 helped to bed, but only & portion of Wha l followed was known for many month aftervard The cid man let that his las n | hour had come, ant he got rid of her for few minutes by ccndiMg her out to tn 9 barn. Which will he meant to burn no on will ever know. but Eo got up and burne 3 | ono of them Both were duly sealed an 0 attested, and both were equally good II 5 law That ho did hurn ono of them "a 2 sure Thirty hours later some one hap
 pened to visit the cabin, and the old ma
 was found dead in his bed, the woman ha
 disappeared and the wills were missing
 With all that money at stako there wa
 great cxcit cmcnt. oi course, and the rela
 tives cavo me the case to work up. No on
 knew. until I overLaulcd the ashes in tn
 fre-piace that any thing had been burnel
 1 found scraps of paper, proving that (
 least one of the wills had been destroyet
 So far as 1 could tell both might hay
 been burned at the same time. One ha
 been, any how, and the question of whic
 it was interested every relative.
 It seemed curious why Mrs. Thatche
 had gone away, and still moro curious thi
 she had escaped observation. As no or m had met her in the village or on the higl
 way, it must be concluded that she ha
 reasons for hiding. If one of the vii
 Maurice F. F.Carmody