The record-union., 1894-12-01
CONTESTED Will SUITS.

The Celebrated Murphy Case Decided
by the Supreme Court.
SAN Francisco, Nov. 3O.-The cele-
brated Murphy will contest, which has
agitated California society circles for
many months, was decided in the State
Supreme Court to-day by the overruling
OF a decision rendered by Judge Hen
shaw in the Superior Court of Alameda
County. The decision to-day sustains
and orders probated the will of Anna l..
Murphy, the mother, who died in Lon
don in 1891. 1t is a signal victory for the
three unmarried daughters, Mary Helen,
Frances Josephine aud Mary Margaret
Isabella, and crushing defeat for the
other daughter, Lady Anna Wolsey OF
England, and the brothers, Samuel j.
and Daniel /. Murphy.
When the widowed mother died she
left will bequeathing most OF an estate,
valued at several hundred thousand dol
lars, TO her three unmarried daughters,
stating that her other children had al
ready been well provided for. Lady
W oIsey began contest, alleging that her
mother was of unsound mind when she
executed the will, and that she had been
unduly influenced by the unmarried
daughters. After bitter contest in the
Superior Court of Alameda County Lady
entered setting aside the will. 1t was this
decision that was knocked out to-day or
an appeal by the three sisters.
VERDICT IN THE PRATT CASE
Los ANGELES, Nov. 30.-The cele-
brated viii contest in the estate of Anna
Pratt, deceased, came to conclusion in
Judge Clark's court to-day. The verdict
of the jury was unanimous, and in effect
breaks the Will and codicil that General
kfanGfiplH and MrG nd \
Mansfield tried to have allowed as Mrs.
Pratps will. While the jury found that
the Will and codicil were entirely in the
handwriting of Mrs. Pratt the issue OF
unsound mind was found against the
will, and its probate will be denied.
According TO the allegations of the con-
testants, who, in the action, have been
Mrs. Lucy Goodspeed of San Francisco,
daughter Of the testatriX and the two
children of Charles A. Pratt, deceased, it
was a heavy shrinkage in land values
that has been the indirect cause of all
the litigation. To provide against GER
tain bequests being reduced pro rata, as
might have been the case, four pages OF
the will executed by Anna A. Pratt in
1881 We're Withdrawn. These referred to
the bequests of S250, 900 to each of the two
children. The Mansfield legacies. aggre-
eating $4,000, still remained intact
In 1884 Mrs. Pratt drew up another
will, revoking the one of 1881, but this
document, it was claimed. had mysteri-
ously disappeared. The Mansfield heirs
contended that codicil drawn by Mrs.
Pratt in 1880. and attached to the will OF
1881 revived that document, even if there
had been another one made in 1884, and
that the will, with its pages Withdrawn
and others interpollate6, has been the
legal bone Of contention throughout the
case. This codicil, contestants claimed,
was forgery for the purpose of defeating
the wishes of the deceased, but that even
ii authentic it would still be invalid, for
the reason that Mrs. Pratt was of un-
sound mind at the time 1t is purported to
have been drawn.
1t is probable that an action for a new
trial Will be made at once, and every eff
fort To sustain the will put forth.