The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1890-02-19
WILLS OF MILLIoNAIRES.
ONLY A FEW OF THEM HAVE Es
CAPPED BEING CONTESTED.

fed and Try 90 Get Bigger Share Of
the Money of the Dead some Cases
Taken from New York Records.
Within the last dozen years very few
wills made by wealthy people dying in
New York city have been left uncon-
tested. There are, however, two shining
examples where the requests of the dead
millionaires have been carried out. One
was the case of William II. Vanderbilt
and the other that of Miss Catherine L.
Wolfe. Vanderbilt had the experience
which ho had gathered years before in
tho great fight which was madNover his
own fathers will, and which brought the
Vanderbilt family and its early history
so conspicuously into public notice. Miss
Wolfe was happy in the fact that the
wealth already enjoyed by her legal
heirs made the alienation of her millions
a matter of comparatively small mo-
ment. She, however, like Mr.. Wander
biit, spared no pains to make the terms
of her testamentary instrument SO brass
bound and iron clad that contest before
the surrogate would prove unremunera.
tive.
When Surrogate Rollins retired from
office the statement of the business done
during his incumbency showed that
nearly 400 wills had been the subjects Of
contest before him, many of which had
entailed long and expensive litigation,
and had in some instances almost beg
CARED the estate. One of the great and
controlling causes which tend toward
the contesting of wills is the provision
IN the laws of this state which assures
to the lawyers in the case large fees and
allowances and pay them out of the prop
erty whether they win or lose.
SAMUEL j. TlLDEN's GREAT REQUEST.
1t is fact that very few persons of
large wealth succeed in disposing of their
property by will in manner that meets
the requirements of tho laws, or that
will stand the keen scrutiny of the legal
advisers of dissatisfied relatives II Is
true that most of the contests made,
especially by the heirs of wealthy men
and women, are based upon the flimsiest
pretexts, and solely with tho hope that
grabbing for the whole or tho greater
part they may secure for themselves a
few thousands by compromise. That the
causes for contest are usually of char
acter which units them for close judicial
consideration is made evident from the
fact that of the 400 contests begun before
Surrogate Rollins scarcely 30 were sus.
tanned
Enterprising lawyers laugh at men and
women who sit down and, in words de-
void Of legal technicalities, write their
own wills in their own way. Yet the
records show that this sort OF win is the
very hardest TO break. The lawyers
themselves are not infallible in will
making-not even the greatest of them.
In his long and successful career as q
business LAWYER. Samuel ], Tilden drew
the wills Of scores of his clients, and IL Is
not on record chat any Of them ever was
upset, When he WINS TO r,sanswers to u
he called to his assistance o counselor no
less eminent than himself-Mr. James
G. Carter. Together they prepared the
document, which, besides other provi.
sions, was TO provide 100000 abso-
lutely for the endowment Of q great free
library. Well, the case will in all prob
ability furnish the most conspicuous ex.
ample of failure TO carry out ones inteu-
lions.
OTHER FAMOUS RECENT CONTESTS
When James Stokes died few years
ago ho left an estate estimated to be
worth at least S10,000,000 He was
scarcely in his grave when the fight over
the property began, and it went on with
wearisome details for months. By and
by there was an adjournment, and the
matter was substantially settled out Of
court. The lawyers must have had
good million amongst them after the bat
tie was ended.
Jesse Hoyt had gathered n big fortune
before he himself was gathered to his
fathers. He died worth about SIS, 000,-
900, and the monument that was to mark
his resting place was unbuilt for years,
as theheirs were too busy contrasting the |
provisions OF his will, and trying, each
of them, to get bigger share OF the
money than the dead man had decided |
they should have.
Louis Hammersley's 81, 800 900 and the
way in which he left 1t by will was an
other fruitful source for litigation. The
legal twists and tumbles that character
izc the case made it one of the most in
teresting ON record, and the end is not
yet. Every now and then his widow, at
present the Duchess of Marlborough, ap-
plies to the courts for more money out
of the estate, and though she sometimes
receives what she asks. she is occasion.
ally refused.
There was Mrs, Sarah Burr, who,
when she departed from earthly realms,
was Obliged to leave all of her SIS, 900, 900
behind her. She doubtless thought she
had fixed everything in her will SO that !
no contest could arise, yet the grass was
not green on her grave before crowd Of |
her friends and relatives were fighting |
over her property. In this case, as in
nearly all the others, the testimony de- |
veloped stories about tho inner family
life of the dead that tho world would
never have heard and never have laughed
over but for the fight over the millions
New York News.