The Portland daily press., 1890-02-12
ALL DISSATISFIED.
Heirs OF III IIlonaIres always Ask for
More.
New York News.

New York News.l
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 he had gathered years before in
the great fight which was made over 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
bilt, 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 ]. TILDEN's GREAT REQUEST,
1t is fact that very few persons of
large wealth succeed in disposing of their
property by will in a manner that meets
the requirements of the laws, or that
will stand the keen scrutiny of the legal
advisers Of dissatisfied relatives. It is
true that most of the contests made,
especially by the heirs of wealthy men
and women, are based upon the Aimsiest
pretexts, and solely with the hope that
grabbing for the whole or the greater
part they may secure for themselves a
few thousands by compromise. That the
causes for contest are usually of a 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 so 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 will 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
business lawyer, Samuel J. Tilden drew
the wills of scores Of his clients, and it is
not on record that any of them ever was
upset. When he was to make his own
he called to his assistance 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 a great free
library. Well, the case will in all prob
ability furnish the most conspicuous ex-
ample of failure to carry out ones inten
tions.
OTHER FAMOUS RECENT CONTESTS.
When James Stokes died few years
ago he left an estate estimated to be
worth at least 100000 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 big fortune
before he himself was gathered to his
fathers. He died worth about S12, 000,-
600, and the monument that was to mark
his resting place was unbuilt for years,
as the heirs were too busy contesting 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 $4,000, 900 and the
way in which he left it by will was an.
other fruitful source for litigation. The
legal twists and tumbles that character
ize 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, APP
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 So, 600, 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 the inner family
life of the dead that the world would
never have heard and never have laughed
over but for the fight over the millions.