Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-04
CAPTAIN GRAY'S WILL.
An Important Decision Handed Down by
Judge Hawkins Yesterday-Charitable
Institutions Lose Nearly 100000
Through Flaw in the Document

through q Flaw In the document.
Judge Hawkins, of the Orphans Court,
yesterday handed down an important de.
cision on questions involved in the distri-
button of the estate of the late Captain R.
| C. Gray. Captain Gray died May %, 1858,
leaving a will dated February2, 1885, The
document had no subscribing witnesses,
however, and though it was sustained as a
| will, the charitable bequests it contained
| fell because there was no proof that it had
been executed more than 80 days prior to
death.
The instrument first bequeaths legacies to
| relatives and friends, and then to charities
| The residue, it was directed, was to be di-
| vided between William G., David E.,
| Richard G., Margaretta B. and Eleanor G.
Park and the Allegheny General Hospital.
| On the day before his death Captain GRAY
told w. G. and David Park that he had
made will which had not been probated,
and he wished them to see that all its pro-
visions should be carried out. The Parks
now, on the assumption that the charitable
| legacies are void, claim that the whole of
the residuary estate should be given to them
in exclusion of the next of kin of the testa-
tor. The share they were claiming was that
of the Allegheny General Hospital
Judge Hawkins in his opinion reviewed
the case. He said that on the one hand it
was contended that because the beauest to
the Allegheny General Hospital was void
there was no analogy to the case of lapsed
legacies, which go to next of kin, and they
must consequently be read as though the
hospital had not been mentioned, and the
Parks were the sole legatees On the other
hand it was held that the next of kin were
entitled to the residuary share ineffect-
had 10 ha al
referring at length to the.various decisions
in relation to lapsed and void legacies
Judge Hawkins said:
1t was suggested that because the law Dre
sumes Captain Gray knew the necessity Of
attestation, he never contemplated the
hospital should take any part of the residue;
but that the Parks should take the whole
This attributes to Captain Gray vain and
useless act. The will speaks for itself The
more reasonable ,presumptions are that he
intended what he wrote and being un-
learned in the law was ignorant Of the
necessity of attestation. He gave the Parks
not the whole, but pro rata shares of the
residue in common with the hospital, and
the failure of the bequest to the hospital
could not, as already shown, operate to in
crease their share as residuary legatees
ing become Intellectual, it is therefore dis
tributable under the intestate laws to the
next of kin.
Continuing it was directed that those so
benefited should take in the proportion of
the bequests made them by Captain Gray.
Another question decided by Judge
Hawkins was that the legacy of 20 shares
of Black Diamond Steel Works stock to
John Caldwell, Jr, was not cumulative. AS
the stock was worth $500 per share, $4,000
was the equivalent.
The charitable bequests which lapsed be-
cause the will was not attested amounted
in all to 500, 900, exclusive of what the AL
legheny General Hospital would have re.
ceived as its share of the residue The AL
legheny General Hospital lost a bequest of
$40, 900 and the following institutions each
lost $1,000: Allegheny Orphan Asylum,
Homeopathic Hospital, West Penn Hos.
pital, Allegheny Ladies' Relief Society,
Colored Orphans Society, Blind Asylum,
Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Improvement of
the Poor Society, Old Men and Women's
Home, Home for the Incurables, Sheltering
Arms of Allegheny, Board of Home Mis-
sions, Young Mems Christian Association,
Poor of the First Presbyterian Church of
Allegheny and the Old Ladies' Home. The
total amount in the hands of the account
ants for distribution is S793, ,723 81. OF this
the residuary estate, which has included all
the charitable bequests, amounts to $685. |
696 49,