The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1891-01-02
ELON'S WILL SUSTAINED.

ELON'S WILL SUSTAINED.
The Elon Booth will case was decided
in favor of sustaining the will. The case
came before the Superior court on an APP
peal from the probate court of Newtown
on these grounds:
REASONS OF APPEAL. ne
That Elon Booth, at the time of making his
last will was not of sound mind and was not
capable of making an intelligent and valid
disposition OF his property by will.
That Charles ii. Peck, named as trustee of
the estate, wrote the will of Elon Booth and
was, at the time of the pretended execution
thereof, the adviser of Elon Booth and that,
by reason of the influence of that relation, he
induced Elon, then in feeble condition of
mind, to sign his last will, contrary to his free
unbiased will.
That Charles II. Peck, who wrote the will
and who wrote his own name therein as trust
ee of the estate of Elon Booth and who is pc
cuniarily most deeply interested in sustaining
the will of Elon Booth and who is the only
person now seeking and desiring to sustain
it, was at and before the time of the pretend
cd making and execution thereof, the init
mate and confidential business adviser OF
Elon Booth and, by reason thereof, had ac
CURED and possessed great and irresistible
influence over Elon Booth, who was then in a
most enfeebled condition of mind and body
and utterly unable to transact business, or to
make an intelligent disposition of his proper
ty and, by reason of the premises, Charles H.
Peck was enabled to and did induce ElOn
Booth to sign the will, at q time when he did
not possess sufficient mental capacity to com
prehend the nature, amount and condition OF
his property, the persons who were the nhtu
raj objects of his bounty, his relations to them
nor the scope and bearing of the provisions
of the instrument he was, by the said Peck,
induced to sign; and so the paper writing was
not and is not the last will and testament of
the said Elon Booth.
THE ARGUMENTS.
Notwithstanding furious snow storm
raging at the time, a goodly number as
sembled at the court house in Bridgeport,
last Friday, December &c, to hear the ar
guments in the Elon Booth will case,
pending in the Superior court for four
weeks. The ground had been thorough
ly gone over, inch by inch, long array
of witnesses put under the most rigid ex-
animation and the best legal talent in the
State employed by both sides. The ar
guments were opened by Judge DeFor-
est for the defense, followed by Judge
Brewster of Danbury and Attorney ID.
f. HOLSTER of Bridgeport, each of whom
spoke an hour, for the prosecution, while
State Attorney Fessenden closed for the
will with an hours argument of great
force and directness. The counsel for
the prosecution quoted freely from legal
authorities to show under what condition
of mind and body person becomes in
competent to make a will, advancing
strong, logical arguments to establish
their claim and also reviewing at some
length the testimony pro and con. 1t
was claimed by Judge Brewster that,
from all the evidence produced, it was
proven that, if the mind of the deceased
was clear upon all other matters, upon
the one idea of money he was a
monomaniac; that he started out in life
to be a rich man and to that one purpose
he devoted all his energies of body and
mind. In his own language, oft repeat
ed, money was his best friend and the
only God he wanted. He denied himself
the comforts and most common necessi-
ties of life frcm early manhood to his
dying hour, for the accomplishment of
the one coveted aim, his only ambition,
''to be a rich man" and the very fact that
on his dying bed, he deliberately express
ed the wish that he could roll all his
wealth in his hand and put it in his mouth
and swallow it, so that his heirs could
not get one cent OF it, together with his
life long practice of never giving one
cent for any charitable, social, Christian
or pnblic benefit, proved that, although
he had showed great shrewdness and sa-
gacity in accommodating his property, he
had shown no traits of character that
would lead one to think he had the faint
est conception of what his duty was to
those who were his nearest of kin and
who should, for that reason, be the first
objects of his bounty. 1t was claimed
that the mere fact that witnesses had
been produced by the score who testified
to his mental soundness and physical
ability, so far as their observation and
intercourse could discover, was not proof
that, upon the one great theme that oc-
cupied his mind and heart (money), he
was in fit condition at the time the will
was made to make an intelligent dispos-
al Of his property. 1t was also claimed
that, If it were true that there was great
danger of the property being squandered
in case some of it went directly to the
nephews of the deceased and thereby
those who are made beneficiaries Of the
will should never reap benefit from it.
the law could and would step in and pre-
vent any such misfortune, by appointing
conservators over those in whose possess
sion the property might be. For the sis
ter, it was claimed that none but mono
maniac would turn off one so near
of kin as she and who, from early child
hood, had proved herself worthy as well
as helpful sister, with the small pittance
Of 5000 year for the term of IA years.
His harsh and cruel treatment of his
brother Russell, as it manifested itself in
the refusal to give up property that he
had long controlled, as well as his cruel
neglect Of him in the last months Of his
life,. were cited as proofs of his incompe-
tency. The fact that, not long previous
to the time when the will was made, Elon
had had correspondence as well as inter-
views with Lawyer Tweedy of Danbury
relative to making will, that had, for
reasons not conclusively shown, never
been brought to successful termination
was thought to show that he could never