Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-05

for him to have put some of his papers in
the office safe"
When the safe in the office was searched
personal papers belonging to different army
officers in the judge advocate generals
keeping, showing that it was natural
practice that justified the suspicion that
Judge Holt had dore the same thing.
The Only Safe.
The only safe in the office is an old
fashioned Farrell, which clerks in the
office assert was bought subsequently to
Judge Hollis retirement. 1t is the one in
which for many years the Booth relics
were kept, and it is the recollection of
Judge Hollis feeling about these articles
| that suggested the search. 1t was by his
orders that Booths pistol, carbines and
| diary We're secreted in the office of the
| Judge advocate general and as far as posi-
several occasions after his retirement he
| went to the Winder building with friends to
look at these relics, and Washington Holt
remembers going with his uncle for that
| purpose.
For number of years after Judge Holt
left the War Department the old desk
| which he used there remained as he left
it. When the office of the judge advocate
| general was moved from the Winder build
| ing to the State War and Navy building
| this desk, together with a lot of other old
desks, was cleaned up and moved. Some
| of the clerks in the office think that posi-
| bly, the will of 1873 was in Judge Hollis
| desk and in some way fell into the posses
| sion of the person through whom it has
now come to the register of Wills
How the House Was Searched.
Washington Holt, before leaving the city
| for Kentucky this week, related to a Star
reporter quite circumstantially the way N
which he made the search among Judge
l n1f
Holt found on the floor in the closet OPEN
ing off from Judge Hollis library an old
| fashioned oilcloth satchel-one of the real
| old-timers-with a handle on each side of
the frame. In this were United States
| bonds to the amount of over $50 600 and a
small. peculiar key, which Mr.. Holt at once
| recognized as a safe deposit key, as he
| himself had used similar keys in his own
business. He also found ordinary
| drawer key, which, upon trial. he found
| fitted the left-hand drawer in the judges
| desk. There were but two drawers in this
| desk, one on the right-hand side and the
ether on the left The right-hand drawer
| was not locked, and contained a lot of mis-
| cellaneous ARTICLES, such as a screw-driver
| and pens, corks. nails. etc. The left-hand
| drawer was locked, and the drawer key
| found in the old satchel opened it. In the
| drawer he found a number of valuable
| rapers, consisting of deeds, notes and men,
| oranda, all of which were turned over to
| the safe deposit company The will was
|
| safe deposit key, precisely like that found
| in the old satchel, lay among the papers.
Mr.. Holt says that he looked between all
| the bonds and opened all the papers in his
| search for the will. and in his presence the
| cashier of the safe deposit company opened
| and examined the $1,000 worth of gover.1-
meat bonds that were found in Judge
| Hollis box at the safe deposit companys.
| No evidence was found of the judge having
papers en- deposit anywhere else.
| Silence Enjoincd
1t is now regarded by the heirs as a most
unfortunate thing that the library of Judge
| Holt was dispersed and his papers dis
turbed. Yet it is said that no papers were
| destroyed among which the will could Dos
sihly have been. Charles Strother, Judge
| Holt'S body servant, says that all the
| papers that were destroyed he himself
| burned by the order of Mr.. Washington
Holt and Mr.. Sterrett in coal scuttle in
| the back yard. These papers were looked
over carefully. and everybody feels sure
! that the will was not among them.
All of the heirs at law have been eau
| toned to talk as little as possible about
| the case. 1t is therefore hard to tell
whether the memorandum giving the date
| of the will of 1856 is really in existence
| Mr.. Sterrett and Mr.. Washington Holt say
| it is not in their possession, and that if
| anybody has it, it must be John Holt of
Mississippi. The latest version of this i'm
| portant incident in the mystery is that no
| such memorandum of Judge Hollis hand
writing was found, but that the line of
| writing about which so much has been said
| was a copy written out by old Ellen, the
| housekeeper, and sent to Mr.. Holt. None
| of the servants seem to have a very defin-
| lite knowledge of this memorandum and it
may turn out that what Ellen wrote was
| dictated on his deathbed by Judge Holt.
Viewed as Il Forgery.
Some of the heirs look upon the mysteri-
Gus will of 1873 a forgery and point to
| 1fo,, {< T.,
or any weli-educated man would not have
| allowed to appear in such paper. They
| say that he would have used. capital
| letter "H' about midway down in the doc
ument, where appears the sentence, Her
| father Major Charles B. Throckmorton
| will hold her share in trust" Nevertheless
an examination of a large number of pa
| pers IN the handwriting of Judge Holt and
| the firm dockets of Harrison & Holt dur
| ing the years when Judge Holt was prac-
ticing law at Jackson, Miss, show con-
| clusively that he often ran his sentences
| together and failed to use capital letters
| where he should.
1t is also pointed out that he would have
used different lenses in the sentence, Liz
zie Hynes is to inherit hers at my death
Josephine at the age of 21. her father
| Maj. Charles 3. Throckmorton will hold
| her share in trust
| Syntax Criticised.
The of sis" and will in the same
|
! avoided. 1t is also said that he would
have put comma after the word death"
Again 1t is pointed out that at the close of
! the document the words these witnesses
| in the city of Washington, D. c., February
! 18th, 1873, J. Holt" do not appear to be in
| the same handwriting as the rest of the
paper, which is not improbable, and at the
same time would cut very little figure in any
| attempt to assail the genuineness of the
| will.
The theory that the will is a forgery is
not very generally believed. The hand
writing is too well known to admit of
| much doubt The criticism of the syntax
and punctuation IS met by the presunlp-
ton that the paper was written hastily
| and possibly under a stress of circum-
| stances which cut athwart Judge Hollis
| usual precise habits of composition. An
| instance of this appears where the word
''as" is left out between the word wishes
| and my executor" in the third line from
| the end of the will. 1t is quite obvious
| that this omission made, and it
| strengthens the belief that haste char
acterized the drafting of the paper, if not
| its signature and attestation.
MIR. ATLEE'S FUNERAL