The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-10-24
THOMAS MARTINS WILL,

nI ~ q hotN "a
Abo.,t twenty years ago there died in
southern Ohio N queer old character
named Thomas Martin. He was never
married, and his ccccntricities made his
name a familiar one i'm several counties.
He lived in n little log house. ON IA farm
about four miles from ~ village, and some
times he was alone for months, and again
he would have his house rowde with his
relatives. While father and mother were
dead, he had three brothers and four Sis
ters living. and i'm the same county. One
day he might meet one of them and hand
him n SD gold piece. The very next day
he would pass the same person by without
speaking. A. he was worth about S3Ou,-
QUO, all made by the sale of oil wells found
on his lands i'm Pennsylvania, and AS his
relatives were all poor, none Of them
dared offend him. II he treated them
coldly they put up with il; il he insisted
on some family staying with him for u
week they made every sacrifice to please
him.
There WAS N layer of humor i'm the old
mans composition withal. l think he
reasoned that all his relatives expected "a
slice of his wealth, and he intended that
each one should have il, hut he proposed
IN make them earn II as far as they could.
II he knew that his brother James WAS
planting corn, and i'm N great hurry tn get
through. he would send for him and insist
that he hunt ar fish ar go looking over the
country for some plant Or root needed
for sickness. II his brother Henry was
extra busy i'm his saw-mill, the old man
was SURF to send up n message To him IN
come down and take u witch hazel rod
and go wandering over tine hills To locate
metals. There WINS only one bed i'm tho
house, and yet the old man would insist
that u family Of eight come and visit him
and sleep where they could. Twice a year
tie killed N lamb. The rest of the time
ne lived om pudding and milk and vcgs-
tables.
V-uslc Tom A - eycryhuly called him.
was over AZ years of age when l first knew
him. and il must have seemed To his rcla-
tives that he intended tai live tn bc u hum
slrsd. As the years went 10y lac really
seemed tai improve, and il was IA cold day
when he couldn't think of some new trick
TO play on those who auxioisly waited for
him tn turn up his toes. He had made "a
will. az was known i'm IL certain law office,
dividing up his wealth pro rata. but one
day something occurred tai determine him
n y" and family nil " to come ss"s !" HIM at %r "nee.
Henry was saving lumber ON "a con-
tract, one of the children was aiIing. and
some. This WAS III. frs, tim. he
had ever refused such IA demand. and
when the nls.ssengcr returned the old man
boiled over with indignation. He sent for
his lawyer tai come and make ~ new will.
and the lawyer, of course, brought the old
ONE. He saw this laid on the clock shelf, |
and il was lying there when he went
away. The new will was not entirrly
completed hat day. Martin said he
UNCUT wslIlt tD al ott1 tllt ishttRtr |
and so he did. His sister May. who was
an old maid, was with him that day, and
after tire lawyer had gone Martin wanted
TO lower her down i'm the well To recover q
lost bucket She was timid and afraid
and the result was that she was ordered to
pack up a nd leave, anu was told plainly
Nor WAS this all. Having got his hand
in as il werc, the old man went for an
then sent for a lawyer and cut the three
persons OFT with u legacy Of 500 each. He
signed the new will and placed il with the
few days and see IL anyteinx else would
turn up. Then. i'm order To show his con-
sempt for his relatives he sent fora woman
named Thatcher "a keep house for him
This woman WAS IA grass widow about 40
years old and WAS looked upon AS half
employed in the village at laundry work.
Martin bought her clothes and jewclry,
and even gave out that he would marry
her. and he was heard to say more than
thai not one of his relatives should
ever get IA dollar of his money.
woman went To live with him. he got "a
bad fall while bringing i'm wood. He had
To be helped To bed, but only "a portion of
months afterwarl. The old man felt that
his last hour had come, and he got rid of
To ssf sh ief sa a rev Mni@S wiz IL he ss %saS, n I. burnt Sn,
burned one of them. Both were duly
one of them was sure. Thirty hours
later some one happened to visit
the cabin, and the old man was
found dead in his bed, the woman had dis
appeared. and the willis were missing.
With all that money at stake there was
great excitement, of course, and the rela-
tives gave me the case 10 work M. No
one knew. until I overhauled ashes in the
fireplace, that anything had been burned.
found scraps OF paper, proving that a.
So far ~ I could tell, both might have
been burned at the same time. One had
been, anyhow and the question OF which
10 was interested every relative.
II seemed curious why Mrs. Thatcher
bad zone away. and still more curious
that abe had escaped observation. As no
one had met her ia the village or on the
highway. IL must he concluded that she
had rx.asosas for hiding. II one of the
Wills had been preserved, she probably
knew Of it's whereabouts, as the whole
cabin had been hunted over and over
again without bringing il to light. My
first step, therefore, was to discover her;
but when fairly sharp man pits himself
against q half idiot he may be beaten. l
made a circuit for thirty miles around on
horseback, and, while I met u thousand
people who knew the woman by sight,, /
could get no late trace of her. A robber
could not have hidden his trail more sue
cessfully. When 1 found that the hunt
was TO be extended, 1 notified every sher-
in in that mart of the state. i got out cir