Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-10
,eritance through a quarrel about my

self"
"Ahi now we are coming to it. Then
you were tattooed out of regard for the
plaintiff, and not purely in the interests of
| justice?"
Eyes; 1 suppose So"
well, Mr.. Attorney" interposed the
Judge, land what if she was?"
MY object, my Lord, was TO show that
| this young lady was not the purely i'm
passive medium in this matter that my
| learned friend. Mr.. Short, would lead the
Court to believe. She was acting from
motive"
Most people d." said the Judge, dryly.
But it does not follow that the motive
was an improper one"
Then the learned gentleman continued
his cross-examination, directing all the
! ingenuity of his practiced mind to trying
to prove by Augustus admissions, first,
| that the testator was acting under the I'M
due influence of herself; and, secondly,
that when the viii was executed he was
non c0mpOs nlentiS To this end he dwelt
at great length on every detail of the
! events between the tattooing of the will
and the death of the testator on the fol-
! lowing day, making as much as was pos
| sible out OF the fact that he died in fit of
mania. But, do what he would, he could
not shake her evidence upon any material
point. and when, at last, he sat down,
James Short ieit shat his ease nau not re.
ceived any serious blow.
| Then. few more questions having been
asked in cross-eXaminatiOn by various 9th
| er counsel, James rose to re-eXamine, and,
with the object of rebutting the presump-
| ton Of the teStator's mental unSoundneSS,
made Augusta repeat all the details of the
confession that the late publisher had
made to her as regards his methods of
| trading. It was beautiful to see the fury
and horror portrayed upon the counter
ances of the choleric Mr. Addison and the
cadaverous Mr.. Roscoe when they saw the
most cherished secrets of the customs of
the trade, as practiced at Nelson's, thus
paraded in the open light Of day, while
dozen swift-penciled reporters took every
detail down.
Then, at last, Augusta was told to stand
down, which shesdid thankfully enough,
and Mrs. Thomas, the wife of Captain
Thomas, was called. She proved the find
| ing of Augusta on the island, and that she
| had seen the hat of one of the sailors, and
! produced the shell out of which the men
had drunk the rum (Which shell the Judge
recalled Augusta to Identify. What was
most important, however, was that she
| gave the most distinct evidence that she
had herself seen the late Mr.. Meeson in
tered, and identified the body as that OF
the late publisher by picking out his pho
| tograph from among bundle of dozen
that were handed to her. Also she swore
that when Augusta came aboard the
| whaler the tattoo marks on her back were
! not healed.
No croSs-eXamination of the witness
worth the name having been attempted,
/ James called a clerk from the office of the
late owners of the r. NJ. S. Kangaroo, who
produced the roll of the ship, on which the
names of the two sailors, Johnnie Butt
| and Bill Jones, duly appeared.
This closed the plaintiffs case, and the
Attorney-Generala at once proceeded to call
| his witnesses, reserving his remarks till
the conclusion Of the evidence. He had
only two witnesses, Mr.. Todd, the lawyer
who drew and attested the will of Nov. TO-
and his clerk, who also attested it, and
their examination did not take long. In
cross-examination, however, both these
witnesses admitted that the testator was
in great state of passion when he exc.
cuted the will, and gave details of the live
lv scene that then occurred.
Then the AttOrney-General rose to adj
dress the Court for the defendants. He
said there were two questions before the
Court, reserving, for the present, the ques-
ton as to the admissibility Of the evidence
of Augusta Smithers; and those were
first, did the tattoo marks upon the lady's
| INT Of oil. and IL
ly, supposing that they did, was it proved
to the satisfaction of the Court that these
undated marks were duly executed by a
sane and uninfuenced man, in the pres
ence of the witnesses, as required by the
statute. He maintained, in the first place,
! that these marks were no will within the
meaning of the statute; but, feeling that
i he was not on verv sound ground Oh this
point, quickly passed on to the other as
| poets of the case. With much force and
ability he Gwelt upon the stranGenesS of
the whole story, and how it rested solely
upon the evidence of one witness, Angus
ia Smithers. 1t was only if the Court &C
| copied her evidence as it stood that it
could come to the conclusion that the will
was executed at all, or, indeed that the
| two atteSting witnesses were on the island
| at all. Considering the relations which
existed between this witness and the plain
tiff, was the Court prepared to accept her
evidence in this unTeserved ways Was it
prepared to decide that this will, in favor
OF man with whom the testator had vio-
Iently quarreled, and had disinherited in
consequence of that quarrel, was not, if
indeed it was executed at all, extorted by
this lady from a weak and dying, and
possibly deranged, man? And with this
question the learned gentleman sat down.
lie was followed briefly by the Solicitor
General and Mr.. Fiddlestick; but though
they talked fuently enough, addressing
! themselves to various minor points, they
had nothing fresh of interest to adduce,
and, finishing at half-past three, James
rose to reply on the whole case on behalf
of the plaintiff.
There was q moments pause while he
was arranging his notes, and then, just
as ne was about to begin, the Judge said,
quietly, THANK you, Mr.. Short, L do not
think that l need trouble YOU" and James
sat down with a gasp, for he knew that
the cause was won
Then his Lordship began, and, after
giving mastery summary of the whole
case, concluded as follows: 'Such are the