The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1891-01-02


accomplished during the hour was that
it was his will that monument Of Yves.
terly granite, not to exceed in value
$4,000, should be erected in the cemetery
and 500 should be given in trust to the
Newtown cemetery association, the in
terest to be used to keep in order his owr
plot, his brotner's and that of his mother
Then, when the next interview tool
place, according to the testimony of the
witness, he was ready to recite, as {
school boy did his lesson, all the detail:
connected with SO large an estate with
out any hesitation or apparent lack O.
understanding and, at the same time, nei
ther himself nor he who was drafting the
will had any idea of or made any effor
to ascertain the probable amount of the
estate thus so rapidly being bequeathed
From this seeming undue haste, it was
argued that, as the testator was never
known during a long life to give one pen
ny to any benevolent or charitable object
or even relative and as he had on pre-
vious occasions tried to make will and
could never decide what to do with ''the
rest and residue" it was unreasonable te
suppose that, with no undue influence ex-
erted, he could have been ready at the
time mentioned to have made an intelli-
gent disposal of his property in the hasty
way in which it would seem he did. In
this connection, ATTORNEY Hollisier told
story that caused ripple of merriment
to run through the audience, sufficiently
strong to lead the sheriff to bring down
his gavel upon the desk, call for order
"a dying father called his son to his bed
side and said, John, have been making
my will you have, hey?' yes and
have given my property all to you and
have appointed John Jacobs your trus
tee well, now, father, that's very
we'll; but l should like it better, if you
had given your property to John Jacobs
and appointed me the trustee So
think" continued Mr. Hollister, "tha1
this sister and these nephews and nieces
of Elon would have liked it better if Flor
had given all his property to Peck anc
appointed them trustees" 1t was also
argued that, from the parsimonious hab
its of the deceased, he would not, had hi
had any idea that the expense of a trus
tee would have exceeded $40 year, have
left it in trust for any one to reap pc
cuniary benefit from the property in sucl
a way. In conclusion, an appeal wa'
made to the jury that they should weigh
the case carefully in the light of the evi
dence given and, in this Christmas sea
son, when the human heart breathes ou
"Peace on earth, good will to men," they
should gladden. the hearts of those near
est Of kin to Elon by rendering verdict
that should place the property where il
ought by right to go; in so doing, confer
a blessing upon them and, at the same
time, answer the demands of justice.
On the part of the defense, large
number of authorities were quoted tt
show what under the statutes was tesla
mentary capacity and that neither physi
cal disability, miserly habits, censorious
disposition, irreligious characters spend
thrift's shiftlessness nor any kind of &c
centricity could debar man from the
right, the most sacred of all rights, to
dispose of his hard earned savings in
whatever way was best in accord with
the wishes of sound and intelligent
mind. The mere fact that the testatol
had, during long life of industry, by
his sagacity, prudence, forethought and
business capacity proved himself capa-
BILE to amass a large fortune was suffic-
lent evidence that, at the last, possessed
Of clear brain, he should be able to
make an intelligent disposal of his prop
erty and decide Tor himself whom he
would make the objects of his bounty
1t was claimed that the manner in which
he disposed of his property was in direct
line with all his previous actions AnX-
ious lest it should be squandered, or go
outside of his kin, he had placed it in
such way as to have it kept in the fam
lily, for the most part, reasoning from
observation that the third generation
would be more likely to use it frugally
than the second. In regard to the condi-
ton of the mind of the testator at the
time the will was made, it was shown
that, of the witnesses who testified to it's
eight of them testified to con-
versations had with him in the month of
January, the month in which the will
was made. An exhaustive review of all
the testimony was made and the evidence
of the witnesses strongly placed to es-
tablish the will. The careful investiga-
ton made by Elon before placing his
loans, as testified to by those who have
had the most to do with his property
during the past few years, the calm man
ner in which he told how his requests
ing, as testified to by one witness, togeth-
er with the desire he manifested not to
have it go out Of his family were all
lwelt upon to impress thejury that there
was no mental impairment whatever to
with his testamentary capaci-
ty. The defense made strong point re-
yarding those who were the principal
of the will. OF those who it
would seem would be most likely to APP
pear in the contest to have the will set
aside, only two, the sister Of the testator
and ce,appeared. Neither the neph-
ews nor the children who had become of
age put in an appearance in its behalf,
but, on the contrary, he of all 9TH
ers interested to have the will sustain
ed was most active to have it set aside.
In regard to the theory Of inbecility, set
up by the contestants, it was argued that
the testimony of those who transacted
most business with him. the last two or