The Newtown bee., 1891-10-02

of an hour in looking at his watch.
A national convention of the Chris
tian Alliance will begin, October 4, in
Rev A. B. Simpsons tabernacle, corner
Eight avenue and 44th street, New York,
to continue eight or ten days. Several
from Newtown expect to attend.
The Lawyers Arguments in the L. B.
Booth Claim.
Saturday of last week was the closing
day in the hearing of the L. B. Booth
claim before Commissioners Judge
Huntington and r. A. Clark. In the
morning, Lawyer Wheeler, attorney for
L. B. Booth, put him on the stand again
and, in a brief redirect examination,
Mr. Booth fatty denied many of the
statements that had been made by Mrs
Bronson i'll her examination, after which
his counsel opened the arguments by a
brief resume of the case. When the
the crowd had increased so much that it
became necessary to adjourn to the
Town hall. Lawyer Beecher, for the
estate, in IL lengthy argument. showed
the thoroughness with which he had fol-
lowed up the case from start to finish.
lie took the ground at the outset that
there could be no recovery for any SER
vices claimed to have been performed
prior to March %, 1884, six years anter-
ior to the death of Elon Booth, he hav-
claimant had not proved any acllnow-
ledgment or provision in writing signed
by Elon Booth, under Section 1904 of
the General Statutes. 1t was also
claimed that there could be no recovery
for services for making the st. Paul
loans, because l.. B. Booth admitted re-
Giving commissions from Nettlcton for
making those loans or inducing ElOn to
make them or part of them and, pre-
sumably, he got pay for services in all
of them. This is equally true in refer
ence to the Toledo loans, he having re-
ceived commission from George c.
Stahl, who made those loans. This is
under a decision in the fist COnnecti-
cut Report, Page ISL, where the policy
of the law forbids that a person acting
as the friend and confidential adviser
of a purchaser should at the same time
be secretly receiving compensation from
the seller for effecting the sale and
contract for such compensation is void.
Furthermore, there being no relationship
between Elon Booth and l.. B. Booth,
either by affinity or consanguinity, the
legacy to L. B. Booth in the will of Elon
Booth is presumed to have been made
the payment of whatever service he rem
dered him during life and the law is that
if services are paid for by legacy and the
legacy is equivalent to the value of the
services, there can be no recovery. If
the payment by legacy is not equivalent,
then there can be recovery for the differ
ence. In this case, Elon had LIB. in
mind at the time of making the will and,
as he knew best what services had been
performed, it is presumed the payment
by will is equivalent to the value of the
services. the claim for services being an
unliquidated one. The fact that no
charge or claim was ever made is evil
dence that T.. B. Booth expected pay
ment, if at all, by will.
Lawyer Wheeler, for the claimant,
said that, while they might coneede that,
by the statute of limitations, l.. B. Booth
would be debarred from recovering any
thing for services anterior to March %,
1874, yet they had thought best to go
over the ground, dating back to 1874, to
show the nature and value of services
rendered during long term of years,
that the commissioners in their findings
give such weight to the evidence as they
might be justified in doing and allow it
to have some bearing upon the amount
he should receive. He thought that, as
the estate had not shown any niggardly
disposition in the use of money, it could
have Investigated the affairs at the Union
Trust Cos and found out all about the
condition of Elon's accounts there at the
time. Also that George C. Stahl
and Arthur Nettleton, who had invested
so much of Elon's money, might, by dep
osition or personal attendance, have en-
lightened the commission in regard to
their part in the various transactions.
Lawyer Wheeler claimed that they had
proved beyond reasonable doubt that
L. b. Booth had performed these servie-
es for which the claim called for pay
ment and that these services had been
very valuable; that the loans made
through L. B. Booth, or by his advice,
had, for the most part, been good invest
ments, increasing the value of the estate
from $4,000 or Whereabouts in 1874 to
over $4,000 at the time of Elon Booths
death and that the commissioners were
bound by the evidence, in their findings,
to be very generous in the amount allow
ed upon the claim. 1t was past o'clock
when the arguments were concluded.
The case went to the commissioners,
whose findings may not be made known
to the public for some time to come.
They probably will not come until the
hearing on the Gregory & Ballou claim
is finished,