San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-29

man.
Mr.. Hammond, who was 65 years of age.
had been twice married, and had twice be-
come a wdower. Twenty years had
elapsed since the death of his second wife,
| and his children were consequently all
| grown up, three of them being by the first
and two by the second wife. He was
man of considerable wealth and of some
what eccentric habits. having lived much
alone of late. His three daughters were
all married. and resided in different parts
of the country; and his only other son,
| Paul. the elder of the children by the sec
| ond wife, was very little at home At the
| present time, however, two of his daugh-
| tiers. as we'll as his son Paul and one of his
sons-in-law, John Laybrook, were all stay
ing with him, for it was feared that the old
gentleman was dying. His sister, too,
Miss Hammond, was also in constant at
| tendance on her sick brother.
AS the invalid laid down his sons letter
| he took up and began to read over will
which he had made only few weeks pre-
viously. In this will his son Richards
name was not once mentioned. He had
left everything to his four remaining chill
dren. Mr.. Hammond was fond of will
making. He had made several at intervals
| luc lttSI bNSlJl years. Anu now he
felt that he would have to make still an
other before he died, for the receipt of
Richards letter had filled him with for
giving thoughts.
| Half an hour elapsed, and when Miss
Hammond, knocking at the bedroom door,
received no answer she walked hurriedly
in and found her brother still where she
had left him in his chair, but strange
| cha had hic
lively she knew what had happened. Her
brother had had stroke. The doctor came
and did what he could. The helpless form
of the paralyzed man was laid upon the
bed; restoratives were administered but
the patient never rallied nor spoke again,
and on that night he died.
| When morning dawned. and the house
| hold of Ormsby Grange were astir, the
servants on entering the lower rooms were
| startled to find that the house had been
entered by burglars during the night and
a quantity of plate and other property
stolen. Among other places secret cup
board in Mr. Hammond's study, used by
| him as a safe, had been broken open and
| rifled. A burglary is never a pleasant cpl
| sode, but for house to be broken into and
robbed while the master of it lay dead in his
| bed presented itself in sufficiently shock.
| ing light to the mourning inmates of the
| Grange. Beside the members of the family
already alluded to and the dOmestics there
were in the house at the time the doctor,
| the housekeeper-who had been in Mr..
| Hammond's service for twenty Five years
and the nephew and niece of the house
keeper, James and Eliza Tierce. who were
| staying with their aunt on visit. Not
one, however, of all the inmates could af-
| ford any clew to the causes or manner of
the burglary, and the servants declared
that all the doors and windows had been
safely secured as usual. An entry, never
theless, had been effected by the burglars
through the study window, and it was evi.
IDENTIFY the secret cupboard in that room on
which they had first laid hands.
| 1t was supposed that considerable
quantity of jewelry, which had belonged
to the second Mrs. Hammond, had been
kept by the deceased in this receptacle.
| There was also reason to believe that Mr..
Hammond's will had been deposited there.
| The family lawyer came over on the second
| day, and he was fully of the opinion that
| the will had been deposited for security in
| the study safe, and had been stolen along
with the jewelry. At all events no will
| was forthcoming The most minute search
of the house failed to bring to light the
missing document. The lawyer stated that
it had been his late clients CUSTOM when
he wanted to make a fresh will, to send to
! his solicitors for the last one. He would
| then make alterations and additions to it
| in his own handwriting and send it back
| to be put into legal form and re-engrOssed.
| The new will would then be returned to
| him with the old one, when he would exc
| cute the former and destroy the latter with
! his own hand. On the last occasion, how.
| ever, Mr. Hammond seemed TO have de-
! parted from his customary practice. He
| had, as usual, sent for his last preceding
| will, and had been seen by the butler max
ing alterations and erasures in the dOCu-
menU and later on he had been seen max
ing fair copy.
On the following day he had requested
his doctor and one of the few neighbors
with whom he was on visiting terms to
witness the execution of a will. They had
duly done so, and had both noticed that
the document which they had attestCd was
written in the testator's handwriting.
This took place about six weeks before
Mr.. Hammond's death. Neither the will
so executed nor the, previous will had
been returned to the solicitors. Two days
before the death the husband of Mr.. liam
mond's second daughter, Mr.. Laybrook,
was intrusted by the sick man with the
keys of the cupboard. in order to fetch a
cash box which was kept there. He no.
ticed at this time, Immediately ut the front !
Of the cupboard, a document, indOrsed in |
the deceased ; handwriting, with his name |
and the words, Last will and testament" |
Early on the morning of the day appoint |