The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1892-09-23
WILLS OF MILLI0NAIRES.
ONLY A FEW OF THEM HAVE ES-
CAPPED BEING CONTESTED.

Within the last dozen years very few
wills made by wealthy people dying in
New York city have been left uncon-
tested. There are, however, two shining
examples where the requests of the dead
millionaires have been carried out. One
was the case of William III. Vanderbilt
and the other that of Miss Catherine L.
Wolfe. Vanderbilt had the experience
which he had gathered years before in
the great fight which was made over his
own fathers will, and which brought the
Vanderbilt family and its early history
so conspicuously into public notice. Miss
Wolfe was happy in the fact that the
wealth already enjoyed by her legal
heirs made the alienation of her millions
a matter of comparatively small mo-
ment. She, however, like Mr.. Wander
bilt, spared no pains to make the terms
of her testamentary instrument so brass
bound and iron clad that a contest before
the surrogate would prove unremunera-
tive.
When Surrogate Rollins retired from
office the statement of the business done
during his incumbency showed that
nearly 400 wills had been the subjects Of
contest before him, many of which had
entailed long and expensive litigation,
and had in some instances almost beg
CARED the estate. One of the great and
controlling causes which tend toward
the contesting of wills is the provision
in the laws of this state which assures
to the lawyers in the case large fees and
allowances and pay them out of the prop
erty whether they win or lose.
SAMUEL J. TILDEN's GREAT REQUEST.
1t is fact that very few persons of
large wealth succeed in disposing of their
property by will in manner that meets
the requirements of the laws, or that
will stand the keen scrutiny of the legal
advisers of dissatisfied relatives. 1t is
true that most of the contests made,
especially by the heirs of wealthy men
and women, are based upon the flimsiest
preteXts, and solely with the hope that
grabbing for the whole or the greater
part they may secure for themselves a
few thousands by compromise. That the
causes for contest are usually of a char
acter which units them for close judicial
consideration is made evident from the
fact that of the 400 contests begun before
Surrogate Rollins scarcely 80 were sus-
4 tanned
Enterpris;Rg lawyers laugh at men and
women who sit down and, in words de-
void of legal technicalities, write their
own wills in their own way. Yet the
records show that this sort of will is the
/ very hardest to break. The lawyers
themselves are not infallible in will
making-not even the greatest of them.
In his long and successful career as a
business lawyer, Samuel j. Tilden drew
| the wills of scores of his clients, and it is
not on record that any of them ever was
4 upset. When he was to make his own
/ he called to his assistance a counselor nc
less eminent than himself-Mr. James
/ @. Carter Together they prepared the
| document. which, besides other provi.
sions, was to provide $4,000 900 abso-
lutely for the endowment of great free
! library. Well, the case will in all prob
ability furnish the most conspicuous ex-
ample of failure to carry out ones inten.
/ tions.
OTHER FAMOUS RECENT CONTESTS.
When James Stokes died few years
ago he left an estate estimated to be
worth at least $4,000, 000 He was
scarcely in his grave when the fight over
the property began, and it went on with
wearisome details for months. BY and
by there was an adjournment, and the
! iol -
court. The lawyers must have had a
! good million amongst them after the bat
tie was ended.
Jesse Hoyt had gathered a big fortune
before he himself was gathered to his
fathers. He died worth about S12, 000,.
4 600, and the monument that was to mark
his resting place was unbuilt for years,
as the heirs were too busy contesting the
provisions of his will, and trying, each
of them, to get a bigger share of the
money than the dead man had decided
they should have.
Louis Hammersley's SO, 500, 900 and the
way in which he left it by will was an
other fruitful source for litigation. The
legal twists and tumbles that character
ize the case made it one of the most in
teresting on record, and the end is not
4 yet. Every now and then his widow, at
present the Duchess of Marlborough, APP
! plies to the courts for more money out
of the estate, and though she sometimes
receives what she asks, she is occasion
ally refused.
There was Mrs. Sarah Burr, who,
when she departed from earthly realms,