The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-01-01
WAS ALL DONE IN FUN
4 Man Makes Els Will Drawn in Pure
J3St.
BUT HE DIED SOON AFTER
He Sad He Would Outlive the Pa
per It Was Written on, But
He Didn't by a Good
Deal

Passing through the county clerks Office
in this city one day, only few weeks ago,
jovial German resident of the town of
jefferson ran across an acquaintance, one
of Henry Wulf's employees, stealing a
march upon the public by drawing his
own will during business hours.
make one of those for me" said the
visitor, laughing.
The county clerks man said he would
do it. and his friend retorted that he
didn't need it; that he would outlive the
worry paper the will might be written on.
However. the county clerks man obtained
description of all the property his friend
owned and drew for him a will as good as
his limited knowledge CO the law per-
mitted him to make.
few days afterward the man from
jefferson dropped in again, got his will as
he would take a good joke, had his sigma
ture witnessed by two other employees of
tho county clerks office, and departed
with many jests at what he seemed to re-
gard as n wholly unnecessary and I'M
timely step on his part.
Only a few days passed and the ac-
quaintances of the man from Jefferson
the robust, rollicking German who would
outlive his own will-were shocked by the
announcement that he had died suddenly
been stricken down at home in the pres
ence Of his wife without being able TO
utter so much as word before life
ceased.
Few persons, even among the near
friends of the man, have heard the tragic
story OF his death-a story such as drama
lists seize upon 10 give realism and action
to mimic life on the stage.
The man from jefferson had not told
his wife of the will prepared under such
unusual circums tances, and when he fell
smitten with heart disease almost at her
feet not even her awful fright and grief
could efface from her mind the peculiar
actions in his death struggle-movements
and signals which terrorized and mysti-
fed her. For when he fell he raised him
self by exertion that was apparently the
utmost of which he was capable, and,
while seated on the floor, one hand be-
hind him to support his rapidly-weaken-
ing body, he thrust his other hand into his
trousers pocket and drew forth bunch
of keys, and, shaking il as if to attract
her already absorbed attention, pointed
with il toward the heart of the city. Then,
with an expression on his face denoting
fear that his wife had not understood, his
hold on life relaxed and he fell to the
floor and breathed his last, the keys still
clutched in his hand.
The day of the funeral came and went
and yet her husbands voiceless message
was not understood by the widow. Tor
tured by the feeling that the death scene
concealed a secret which it were better for
her 10 know, she told the dramatic story
to n friend, and he suggested that one OF
the keys might be that of a box in a safety
deposit vault. Although the wife had
never heard her good man speak of hav-
ing such repository for his valuables,
she acted on the suggestion, n search was
made, and at the office of one of the
safety deposit companies she learned that
her husband had held the key to one OF
the boxes. Proper Identification gave the
widow access to the box and therein she
found not only money enough to relieve
her wants for some time to come, but the
very will drawn as joke in the county
clerks office a few weeks before. The
instrument had not been recorded but
the testimony of the witness who had
signed it and seen il signed, made il
valid, and the widow is in lawful posses
sion of property, some of which she was
not aware had belonged TO the partner IN
her joys and sorrows.