Wichita eagle., 1889-02-01
HOW TO MAKE A WILL
An Old Lawyers Opinion on Last
Wills and Testaments.
Documents That Can't Be Broken After
Death-Tilden's VIII One Which Mo-
body Will Undertake to Fool With
-Shakespeare's Bequest.
[Chicago Herald.1

not only curious to know how man wishes
his property to go after he is through with
! it, but it seems like voice from the dead
declaring how it shall so. 1t is usually
written in the most solemn moment of q
mans life. At that moment one realizes
| to the full that he brought nothing into
| this world and can take nothing out. and
that after the tongue is hushed and the
heart stilied, his commands viii be spoken
| and his desires obeyed
| The clause in Mr.. Tilden's will providing
| that if any one of the devisees contest it he
| shall forfeit his share is valid one, and
may be often found in the wills of astuts
persons, like the departed statesman Il
has tendency to induce caution on the
part OF heirs If one can lose nothing by
! contest and may gain something, he may
rush into court as q sort of speculation and
in that way much of the estate be lost
Mr. Tilden knew enough about law and
lawyers to wish to keep his estate free
from their care. AS nobody ever drove
coach and four through any document or
statute ne wrote, 50 you may be sure his
will, drawn by his own hand, is equally
ironclad.
There are many very curious and &C.
centric wills described in the books, and
some strange phases of human nature are
illustrated in them. Some men who in life
would not have given q cup of water to q
beggar, by their wills Leave enormous
sums to charity.
A man in New Jersey, not long since,
left his estate to pay off the National debt
The will was contested, of course, but tho
courts have recently held it valid. In the
last century Sir Joseph Jekyll did the
same thing in England. When Lord Mans
field heard of it he said: Sir Joseph was
very good man and a good lawyer, but
his bequest was a very foolish one; he
might as well have attempted to stop the
middle arch of Blackfriars bridge with his
full-bottomed wig"
Simple matter as it really is, lawyers
have not always boon successful in draw
ing their own wills Lord St Leonard,
high Chancellor of England, who, as Ed
ward Sugden, was the most eminent chan
Gerry lawyer in England, and who with
number OF law books one particularly
with very elaborate chapter on drawing
wills, drew his own will, and it required an
expensive lawsuit and the decision of
court of chancery to give it proper effect.
The will of Lord Westbury, another Lord
High Chancellor drawn by himself, met
with the same fate.
Lord Bacon had no property to leave,
but he left a regularly executed will, in
which he bequeathed his name and mem
DRY ito mems charitable speeches, to for
eign nations, and the next ages" Shakes
peare left an elaborate will, which con-
tains clause that has puzzled the Shakes
peareans not little. Il give unto my
wife my second best bed, with the furni-
ture." Why did he only give Ann hatha
way hiss second best, and not his best bed
Nothing else did she get and the will has
sought in vain to know tho reason why.
1t is not unusual for man to leave all
his property to his wife, with the proviso
that if she marries again she IS to have
only what the law allows her. | have
drawn O number of such wills. Governor
Morris, the celebrated American states
man, did not treat his wife so. he had
married very late in life Ann Randolph, a
cousin of John, of Roanoke, a woman
much younger than himself, and with
whom he lived very happily. He be-
queathed very handsome income to her,
again the income should be doubled
A soldier, or a sailor is allowed to make a
nuncupative will-that is, will by word
of mouth, by which personal estate may be
disposed Of but you, being civilian, must
make yours in writing. 1t don't matter
much what the writing is ONT may be on
a slate, OF table top, or even a wall,
though it is advisable that it should be on
paper or parchment You may write it
and sign your name in pencil if you like,
but it is better to do it in ink.
You may make your will in Choctaw, if
you happen to understand that language,
or it may, as Hamlet says, 'be writ in the
choicest Italian" you may write it in
shorthand, or in Authorizations, or in
cipher, so long syou leave the key behind
you. Courts are not martinets as to the
spelling, and if your photography is not
perfectly ultra, they will not mind It, il
they can make it out If you wish to drop
into poetry, even that is permitted, as the
following case of valid will shows:
give and beQueath.
When I'm aid underneath,
To my two loving sisters most dear.
The whole of my store,
we're IL Twice as mucn more,
Which Gods goodness has granted to NE.
And thai none may prevent
This my will and intent.
Or occasion the least Of law racket
With solemn appeal,
| confirm, sign and seal.
This, the true act and deed of Will jacket.
You may sign your will by your initials,
and If your hand is unsteady you may get
least two witnesses, and though you may
not actually see the witnesses sign their
names, you must be in such position that
you could do SO if you felt SO disposed"
ss Mrs Camp might remark That was
Judge Rogers ruling in the Storey viii
case, and il is good law.
If you are going 20 leave any thing TO me
don't ask me to be witness, for, although
/ could be good witness, my legacy
would be void. John Bouvier was an en-
iDent lawyer in Philadelphia some years
ago, and the author OF several standard
law books A lady left him very hand
some bequest in q will which he himself
drew aud witnessed There was no doubt
about the intention of the lady, but bou-
vier failed TO get his legacy.
Having signed and sealed your viii, you
can revoke il by destroying il, but not by
simply ruaning the pen Through your
name or through the lines, but you can re-
yoke il by a subseqnens will properly ex-
scuted Marriage also rsvokes a will
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Senator Doiph, of Oregon. Likely To Rep
resent the Pacific slope in HArrison's