The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-02-15

Judge called aJLenUlOfl 10 lIlc ldCJ tiido
the defense would probably rely more
strongly upon what they claimed was
Funk's shOrt-coIning and wrong-doing
in taking the whole Of his sisters es-
tate to the exclusion Of his half-sis-
ters children in Germany. While he
had nothing In excuse To offer for this
act, yet II Jugde Evans had not adj
vised Funk not to employ IA lawyer, II
Is more than probable that no such
condition Of affairs would have arisen,
as a lawyer would have told him that
under the statutes Of the state OF llli-
nois, the children Of the half blood
stood on the same footing with child
rem of full blood. This is not the case
according TO the common law, he said,
and he believed not more than one in
ten lawyers knew that half-slster's
children inherited the same as did
those of full sister, even after hav-
ing read the statute on that subject.
But as to this act Of John Funk's, it
could offer no excuse for Judge Evans
conduct; and Judge Evans, who for
two years had looked with serenity up
on Funk's act and had ordered the
administrator TO turn over the estate
to him within six months, instead OF
waiting, as was usual, two years, only
discovered Funk to be a bad man
when Funk instituted this suit. lie
then, said Judge Gilbert, got the law
firm, of which his son LydOn Evans
was a member, to hunt up these Ger
man heirs, and with them, a contract
was made by which this firm was to
have one-half of what they got from
John Funk, after paying the expenses
of the necessary litigation. Under
this contract, the German heirs would
have gotten about s. 900 as their share
of the estate was worth $4,000. Out
Of this Mayo & Widmer claimed 81, 900,
and Lyndon Evans, who had not done
a thing except write some letters,
claimed $4,000. This left $4,000 to be
divided between Judge Barnum, Lyn-
don Evans law partner, and the Ger
man heirs. This contract coming to
the knowledge of John Funk, he for
stalled it by paying the German heirs
$4,000 in addition to the 81 800 paid
them by Wessling, and besides had
agreed to give them One-half or the
payment recovered from Judge Evans.
| Judge Gilbert concluded by saying
| that, if the defense wanted to go into
this thing, they could probe as deep as
they pleased, but the important ISSUE
was whether a jury of twelve honest
men would approve OF conduct upon
the bench such as Judge Evans had
been and permit him to retain the
800 he had obtained from John
Funk through fraud, false pretenses
and deceit.
| 1t was 10 o'clock when Judge Gilbert
closed his opening address, and Henry
Mayo at once began statement in
behalf of the defendant, speaking I'M
| til the noon hour.
Hebegan by saying that this suit was
founded on the personal anm0Sity OF
Judgs Gilbert toward Judge Evans
He also gave a history of the manner
in which Funk had cheated the
Mohr heirs; his perjury in swearing
he was the only heir to Elizabeth's es-
rate, when he knew these heirs in
Germany existed, and said the man
ner i'm which he made haste to buy
them Off" after he got possession of
the estate was evidence that Funk
knew that he was not the only heir to
that estate. Aside from these issues,
he said it would be shown that Judge
Is b BID ss"aSea .ais 81 laa IL gn9d
of the will contest. Though Mayo 4
Widmer represented her at the trial
of that cause, still they were stran-
gers to her, while Judge Evans was an
old friend of the Reddck family, and
it was natural she should turn to him:
and though neither he nor Mr.. Wild
mer were aware of it at the time, or
at the time of the trial. he had
since ascertained that Judge Evans
had been retained in that trial as her
attorney to look after her interests
through them. That trial had result
ed in disagreement, and 1t was then
that Judge Evans had undertaken to
make a settlement of the case. This
settlement he did actually bring
about, and the fee he got was small
one for that work. His own firm had
received from her estate 81, 800, and he
thought they had earned the money,
though as IA matter OF fact they had
not accomplished a thing, and the
field would have been fought all over
again but for the success of Judge
Evans in bringing about this settle
ment, so satisfactory to the contest
ants. and to the public interested in
the bequest of VIM. Reddick OF "A
library fund. For this work had been
promised S., 900 by Elizabeth Reddick,
but got only paltry $1,000 most
inadequate compensation - from her
estate, and still more paltry sum
from A. j. Reddick for the services
rendered him. Mr.. Mayo's speech was
able, and at times brilliant as he is
known to be on great occasions.
In the afternoon Il. ID. Calm was
called as the first witness for paintltf.
He said Funk was called upon by the
Library Board for contribution to
the fund to pay the expenses OF set
Element, when it was learned Funk
had paid s., 500 to Evans. Evans was
then called to meeting of the board,
and asked for an explanation, as the
board thought that money so paid by
Funk belonged to the Board. Judge
Evans said he had gotten the money;
and that it belonged to him, as he
could not undertake to settle the case
for so paltry sum as he had received
from Jack Reddick $500 or $3.50; and
that the money he had received from
Funk, Judge Evans said, was for at
torney's fees for services in Funk's be-
| half.
| I II Wilson gave the history of the