St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-28
MILLIONS DIVIDED.
And So Ends One of the Most
Famous Of Contested
will Cases.
DAVIS HEIRS COMPROMISE
And Allow the Probating Of
the Long Disputed Doc
ument.
DAVIS HEIRS COMPROMISE
BUT THERE MAY BE OTHERS.
Should New Claimants Turn
Up the Case Will Have to
Be Reopened.

BUTTE, Mont, March 81. = The
great Davis will case has been set
tied by judgment of the
court, amounting to a victory for the
First National bank heirs and the
proponents of the John A. Davis
will, but making liberal allowance
by agreement with the New York
and Boston contestants, represented
by Henry A. Root, for whom Col. r.
G. Ingersoll was leading counsel in
the great legal battle in 1891. The
estate was valued then at $7,000,000.
The disputed will was probated to-
day by consent of all parties to the
suit, and the following decree of dis
tribution entered:
The Sheffield heirs, or the children
of Asa Davis, are given one-twenty-
fifth of the estate. The remainder
is divided between the heirs of John
A. Davis, who receive -four and
hree-quarter-eleven of this, and
the contestants, who will receive
six and one-quarter-eleven An
drew j. Davis retains the First Ma
tional bank stock.
All parties to the suit are satisfied
with the terms and the case will
probably be heard of 10 more. Should
other heirs appear wi;ntn a year
the case can be reopened. This
point is very important.
LEYSON FOR RECEIVER.
The heirs have asked for the ap-
pointment of j. II. Leyson, a jeweler
of this city, as administrator, and Mr..
Leysion has filed a petition asking the
court to appoint him to the position.
The petition here shows that Mr. Davis
died in 1883, and left an estate of real
and personal property valued at $3,-
OOo,000, consisting of bank, mining and
other stocks, mortgages and securities,
cash in bank, mines, real estate and
personal property, and also property
in Iowa and Massachusetts, and that
the heirs-at-law have requested the ap-
pointnent of Mr.. Leyson as admins
traitor. The. names and residences .ot
the heirs-at-law are given as follows.
Edwin Davis, New York; Calvin r.,
Davis, California; Diana Davis, Con-
necticut: Maria Cummings, Massachu-
setts; Elizabeth Bowdin, Massachu-
setts; sisters of the deceased Ellen S.
Cornen, New York;N. A. Root, Helena,
Mont; Mary Louisa Dunbar, Massa-
chusetts; Lizzie A. Smith, California
III. r. Sheffield, New York; Henry A.
Davis, Massachusetts; Lizzie Ladd,
Massachusetts; Thea Jane Davis, Chi
cago; r. ]. Davis, Butte; John A.
Davis, Butte; Edward Asa Davis, Chi
cago; Charles Granville Davis, George
Wesley Davis, Morris Alfred Davis. all
of Chicago, and children of John Z.
Davis.
The manner in which the estate is dis
tributed is set forth in the document
ordering theprobate of the will The
settlement of the great legal battle was
brought about by the heirs themselves,
who, after holding several conferences,
with this object in view, concluded that
it would be better to get something out
of it than permit it to dwindle away
in the hands of attorneys
While the adjustment was some
thing of a surprise here, it created but
little excitement, as it was antici-
pated.
Harriet Sheffield gets one-fifteenth
of the estate of Andrew j. Davis Jr.
and John E. Davis, of BUTT Edward
Asa Davis, G. Wesley Davis, G. G..
Davis and Morris Albert Davis, of
Chicago heirs Of John A. Davis, de-
ceased, a brother Of A. j. Davis de-
ceased, receive nineteen forty-fourths
of the remainder. Henry Root and
Ellen S. Corune, of Croton Falls, N.
Y, children of Annie c. Root, de-
ceased, sister of A. j. Davis, and Sarah
A. Cummings, of Ware, Mass, also a
sister of the dead millionaire, and Mary
l.. Dunbar, niece of the dead man,
and Charles Ladd, her husband, and
Hoshua G. Corrune are to receivee
twenty-five forty-fourths of what is
left. The will contains some bequests,
the delivery of which is provided for
in the order OF Settlemant