, 1890-06-12

'biit roitiV HNopic ihtu Hh't Nv gym
cusc In 1882, that this same Grover
Cleveland, Of Buffalo, had actually
received the nomination which the
people ratified. 1t Is quite possible
that MIR. Cleveland didn't know the
facts In this matter. He had, in
deed, packed his 'grip" and gone
home TO Buffalo before he was nom
mated for the highest Office In his
state That did not look as If Mr..
Cleveland expected victory to crown
the efforts of those who had been
trying to get the laurel wreath for
his massive brow. IL Is quite cor-
tain that he hadn't known orcount-
ed on Bacon among those friends.
For Bacon had gone up rs the
friend Of David Il. Hill. Hill was
his candidate, his only candidate,
and not for gubernatorial hOnors at
that. The lieutenant governorship
was as high us Bacon aimed for his
man, and lie found he had even for
that brisk fight on his hands
against General Slocum's friends,
the admirers Of the gallant democrat
who Is now vice president of the
once famous brooklyn club.
To bo chosen for lieutenant gov
ernor II was necessary for MIR. Hills
friends to yoke him with an accept
able man for governor. Hill could
have been nominated for the first
pluce on the ticket himself, the gos-
sips say, just as easy IA not, II
Bacon and his frionds had only
known. But they cast about In
vain for a suitable ticket companion
for their man. All the combinations
they had relied on went to pieces.
In the meantime Mr.. Cleveland
had gone back to Buffalo. His COM
binations, too, had failed to come
out.
At last II dawned on Bacon and
the Hill men generally that the
combination Of Cleveland and Hill
would excite few cncmies and make
many friends. So that became the
ticket. And when Cleveland re-
fused Bacon the little Office he
wanted 1t wis natural for Bacon to
chew the oud of history u while as
he walked down the steps from the
capitol. But ho went home to FL
mira and buckled down to law more
vigorously than ever.
In the meantime a wonderful case
had been shaped out of figures and
wills, and millions by fate, and, un-
discovered by anyone else Ia the bar
of Elmira or of the great state of
New York, lay ready for young
Bacon's head and hand and heart TO
gmpple with. John McGraw, of
ithaca, died May 4, 1877. His only
AaIexhfat a h..ts IAf MI 4 t..,
came an immensely rich younglady.
She married Bacon's friend, Pro-
fessor Willard Fiske, on July II,
1850, and on September 80, ISL, she
died childless.
Had Bacon's friend, Fislle, become
a millionaire In this way? BY no
means. Mrs. Fiske left him several
hundred thousand dollars outright,
and made n number OF other he
quests, but to Cornell university,
which her father had also endowed
handsomely, she left 81 = i5i, $685.
out of n total estate of S2,275, ,033. 40.
The executor Of Mrs. ~ ke's will
was Douglass Boardman, who was
surviving executor of the will Of her
father. Now Cornell university
was already wealthy Institution
and the pride Of the community In
which the McCiraws had lived and
died.
Back in Magma Charta extorted
from King John by the barons Mt
Ruunymede, thought Bacon in his
oilice one night
AS he pondorcd weak and weary
Over many a quaint and Gu rious
Volume OF forgotten lore
back in Magma Charta there Is a
statute Of mortmain. The "cold
dead hand" OF the church Is no
longer reaching out after the fiefs Of
feudgl lords, but there is policy of
mortmain In the state of New York,
even though there be no statute on
the books against IL. "rhe cold
dead hand" of the church was never
greedier or more capacious than the
iron clutch of the corporations of all
kinds, now nearly thousand years
since Runnymede. Cornell uni
versity Is corporation, mott greedy
one necessarily, but still corpora
ton, and who pues TO IL goes To
"mortmain." Is there no law which
forbids Cornell from profiting by the
posthumous generosity of Jennie
MoGraw Fiske?
such were young Bacon's mid
night thoughts. Nobody else had
ever advanced such AN idea. The
lead WAS virgin one. He passed II
sleepless night searching the
statutes
When he revealed TO Professor
Fiske what the result of his re-
searches was, that gentleman en-
ployed Mr.. Bacon to investigate the
case regularly and to take such steps
In his behalf as the laws of the state
of New York demanded.
This secmebto young Bacon what
the law showed: !. That the statute
Il. II. s., p. $50, sec. 36) which limits
the amount of property an incorpbr-
ated college may take and hold by
gift, grant or devise applies to Cor
nell college. .. That Cornel's char
ter authorized II to own not more
than 8,DO,OO0 worth of property.
3. That that limit having been al
ready renched, Mrs. Jennie McGraw
Fiske's bcquest to the college was
null and void. and the 81, ,50O,O 900 be-
longed to his friend Professor flske
and the collateral kin. SO he thought
then, and 80 the court of appeals OF
New York and the supreme court
of the United States have sitice de-
cided. The decision of the latter
tribunal was handed down last Mon
day.
THE FIGHT BEGINS.
But how was This young lawyer
to prove this against 80 powerful u
corporation? 10 begin with Ice had
to 20 into the surrogate's court,
Now the surrogate was a friend OF
tho university. according TO the
surrogate the unIversity then owned