Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-11-15
A LAWYERS STORY.

About twenty years ago there died in
southern Ohio a queer ola character named
4 Thomas Martin. lie was never married,
ANA his crceutricitics made his name ft-
miliar one in several counties. lie lived
/ in a little log house on farm about four
miles from a village. and sometimes he
was alone for months and again he would
/ have his house crowded with relatives.
] While father and mother were dead he
/ had three brothers and four sisters living
/ aud in the same county. One day he
might meet one Of them and hand him
$40 gold piece The very next day he
would pass the same person by without
speaking. As he was worth about 500,
600 all made by the sale of oil wells found
on his lands in Pennsylvania, and as his
relatives were all poor, none of them dared
! offend him II he treated them coldly
| they put up with it; ii he insisted on some
| family staying with him for a week they
made every sacrifice to please him.
There was layer of humor in ne old
mans composition withal | think he
reasoned that all his relatives expected
slice of his wealth and he intended each
! one should hal il, but he proposed to make
them earn it as far as they could. If he
/ knew that his brother James was planting
corn and in a great hurry to get through, he
would send for him and insist that he hunt
! or fish or 20 looking over the country
for some plant or root needed for sickness
4 III his brother Henry was extra busy in
his saw mill the old man was
sure to send mp a message to him to come
! down and take a witchhazel rod and 60
wandering over the hills to locate metals
There was only one bed in the house, and
yet the old man would insist that family
of eight come and visit him and sleep
where they could Twice gear he killed
n lamb. The rest of the year he lived on
pudding and milk and vegetables.
Uncle Tom, as everybody called him.
was over seventy years of age when first
knew him, and it must have seemed to
his relatives that he intended to live to be
hundred As the years went by he really
seemed TO improve, and it was Il cold day
/ when he couldn't think oi some new trick
| toplay on those who anxiously waited for
| him to turn mp his toes. He had made
| will as was known in a certain law office,
| dividing up his wealth pro rata, but one
| day something occurred To determine him
| to revoke it. He had sent for his brother
| Henry and family TO come to him at once.
| Henry was saving lumber on contract,
one of the children was ailing and he re-
| turned word that he couldn't come. This
was the first time he had ever refused such
demand. and when the messenger return
ed the old man boiled over with Indignation.
He sent for his lawyer to come and make
q new will, and the lawyer of course
| brought the old one. He saw this laid on
| the clock shelf, and it was lying there
when he went away. The new will was
not entirely completed that day Martin
| said he might want to make some other
| changes, and so he did. His sister May,
who was an old maid, was with him that
| day, and after the lawyer had gone Martin
wanted to lower her down in the well to
recover n lost bucket. She was timd and
afraid, and the result was that she was or
dered to pack up and was told plainly
| that she need not expect a dollar
Nor was this all. Having got his hand
in, as it were, the old man went for anoth-
or brother and forced a rupture, and then
| sent for a lawyer and cut the three per
sons Off with legacy of 800 each He
! signed the new will and placed it with the
other, saying he would keep both for few
days and see il anything else turned up.
| Then in order to show his contempt for
| his relatives, he sent for woman named
| Thatcher to keep house for him. This
woman was n grass widow, about forty
years old, and was looked upon as half
crazy and the othor half foolish. She was
| employed in the village Mt laundry work.
Martin bought her clothes and jewelry and
even gave out that he would marry her,
and he was heard to say more than once
that not one of his relatives should ever
get dollar of his money.
One night, two months after the Thatch
er woman went to live with him, he got a
bad fall while bringing in wood. lie had
to be helped to bed, but only portion of
what followed was known for many months
afterward The old man felt that his last
hour had come, and he got rid Of the wild
ow for few minutes by sending her out to
the barn. Which will he meant to burn
no one will ever know, but he got up and
burned one of them. Both were duly seal
ed aud attestcd, and both were equally
good in law That he did burn 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
wGm4n had disappeared and the wills were
missing. With all that money at stake
there was great excitement, of course, and
the relatives gave me the case to work up.
No one knew, until | ovcrhauled the ashes
in the fireplace that anything had been
burned found scraps of paper, proving
that at least one of the wills had been de
stroyed. So far as | could tell both might
have been burned at the same time. One
had been, anyhow, and the question of
which it was interested every relative.
1t seemed curious why Mrs. Thatcher
had gone away, and still more curious that
she had escaped observation. As no one
| had met her in the village or on the high
way, it must be concluded that she had
reasons for hiding. If one of the wills had
been preserved, she probably knew of its
whereabouts, as the whQlC cabin had been
hunted over and over again without bring
ing it to light My first step therefore,
was to discover her; but when n fairly sharp
man pits himself against half idiot he
may be beaten | made n circuit for thirty
miles around on horseback and, while |
met hundred people who knew the
woman by sight, ! could get no late trace
Of her robbcr could not have hidden
| his trail more successfully. When ] found
that the hunt was to be extended notified
| every Sheriff in that part Of tho State. /
| got out circulars and sent them to Town
Marshas, Constables, Postmasters and
! farmers, but no good resulted.
Then, ono day, | sat down TO put myself
in her place For all ] knew then she was
with the old man when be died, and it
might have been her hand which held one of
| Z bn mill. Ia tI,n 0oY1o Inst vhv uhn should