The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-29
About the Alleged Davis Will, as
Pointed Out Yesterday by
Col. lngersoil.
The Great Orator Opens for the
Contestants in a Long
Speech.
j. Il. Eddy, Who IL Accused of Writing
tho VIII, Present In Court
Peculiaritles Noted.

BUTTE, July 28.-[Spccial. ALI this fore
noon and half of this afternoon was occu-
pied by the lawyers in the Davis case spar
ring over which side should have the open
ing and closing, and which side the inter
mediate portion of the trial. After listen
ing to the arguments, the judge confirmed
his decision Of yesterday that the propon-
ents would be the plaintiffs and their evi-
dence would first be received; the contest
ants would follow, and then the proponents
would be allowed to bring evidence in re-
buttal. Congressman Dixon then opened
the case for tho proponents. briefly rehears-
ing the history Of the will and stating what
they were prepared to prove concerning it.
Col. II. G.. Ingersoll then made two
hours speech for the contestants. 'There
are some very peculiar things about
this will" said the colonel in the course of
his remarks. ut struck US as strange that
will leaving everything to John A. Davis
had been in existence twenty-four years
and yet A. j. Davis had never intimated to
John A., although they had been closely
connected during that time, that he had
made will in his favor. The first thing
we did when the will sprung up 80 sud-
denly was to see whether it had any ear
marks of fraud on it. In the first place, it
was made when Andrew j. Davis was not
worth dollar above his debts, and it was
strange that it should be allowed to remain
unchanged after ne became worth
millions. Another surprising thing was
where the will had been kept. Andrew j.
Davis was as methodical as the multiplica-
tion table. Why didn't he keep it with his
other valuable papers? Another curious
thing was that this will is attested by three
witnesses when only two ale necessary in law.
We will show that two of the pretended
witnesses are dead. So think you will
understand why it was necessary to have a
third witness, because it was necessary to
have one live witness, no matter when he
signed it.
Now, the man who wrote the Dayis will
spelled the word give as nobody else on
earth ever spelled it. He spells it 'guive' in
three places. That little word give gives
away the whole case. He spells the word
whether 'wherther'. He spells shall
with one II. Six other words he misspells
uniformly in the will. He has peculiar
ways of writing # and 'g' and b. The
man who wrote this will wrote words end
ing in 'er' without the 'e'. In the latter
part of the will there is another peculiar
thing. He says, In testimony whereof
have, on this blank day of 80 and so. i
have,' etc. That is, he has repeated
the expression I have.' Now,
we thought that perhaps he
had copied this will from a form book
where this expression is repeated by mis-
take and such we find to be the case. We
went down into Iowa, where wills grow, and
we found three wills written by this same
man. in 1882, 1888 and 1889. In these three
wills we find precisely the same peculiari-
ties in writing and spelling. He has that
word 'guive' and all the rest of them. Then
around the signature of A. j. Davis he
made a kind of picket fence to keep the
signature from getting out. He has that
same picket fence around the signatures in
these three other wills. The man who
wrote these three other wills wrote the Da-
Wis will. don't care how many hundred
witnesses they may bring from Iowa who
will say they saw that will in
1866. Those who see these three
Wills and the Davis will must say they were
WIlbteA Wy oAo oaAAo PetcoAs Ao AAaAA WIZ
found this will is the same person who
wrote the other three wills. and his name
is james r. Eddy. am glad that he is
here in this court room. want him. He
was born in 1858. He was eight years old
IN 1866, when that will ia dated, but he
wrote that will in April or May, 1880.
"In writing theDa.i is willEddy only effort
to disguise his writing was that it is finer
and the words are closer together. The
signature of A. j. Davis looks like the
writing of the dead millionaire, but is not
the same. 1t resembles the genuine as a
dead man resembles the living man. It
lacks the peculiar personality seen in the
genuine signature"
Col. Ingeysoll will conclude his opening
statement tomorrow.