The morning times., 1895-12-09
ISSUES UNDER THE WILL
Contest Over Instrument Signed by
the Late Judge Holt.
Issues Are TO Be Three, q q 10 Int ept
of Testator, the Signatures of Wit
nesses, ,and Proba BILE Rev ocation

There is great eeal of interest center
ing in the Holt VIII contest, a proceeding
that VIII soon be resumed before Justice
Hagner. 1t was expected that on Friday
last counsel would be ready with a motion
TO assign the issues and that j date would
be liked for their consideration, but neither
side was represented in court.
The main issues are three. First, whether
the viii received by the register by mail
on August "a, 1895. and dated February
Z, 1873, was executed as the last viii and
testament of the late Joseph Holt; second.
whether moi Ellen b. Z. Sherman. Ulysses
S. Grant and W. +. Sherman witnessed the
document as the last will and testament
at the request and in the presence of the
testator, and third, whether or not the
will was afterwards revoked.
CELEBRATED ATTORNEYS ENGAGED.
Tie celebrated attorney, JosephH. Choate
of New York has been retained is the coun
sci for Miss Josephine Throckmorton Holt,
and his appearance as a participant in the
proceedings will add much to the interest
of the controversy. The presence of the
plaintiffs, also, in the court viii be an
incident of moment, and VIII lend a roman
tic tnge to the proceedings.
One is a decrepit Old lady, all her life
paretic and dependent upon the kindness
OF the relative whose will Is in cOntro-
yersy: the other is a beautiful young lady,
described as tail, Queenly and fascinating.
The contention of the heirs-at-law as
recently presented to the court by their
counsel was that the will is a forgery;
but IL valid and otherwise OF force, the
Instrument was not properly signed. The
answer of Miss Holt and Miss Hynes is
that the will is clearly not q forgery
and thai the other facts, as to the time
and act of signing, could not be proved.
1t Is now ever three months since the
mysterious document was received by the
register of Wills by mail. As will be re-
membered, the document was posted from
some point in Washington between 3 and
o O'Clock In the afternoon of Saturday.
August "a.
WRITTEN BY JUDGE HOLT.
The viii was clearly written by Judge
Holt, the aforementioned hand writing
being thoroughly established. AS to the
fact of signing by the witnesses whose
| names appear as such, it is shown by
reference to newspaper files that on Febru-
airy Z, 1873, President Grant and Gen. and
Mrs. Sherman were in Washington, and
the rest is up to this date left to conjecture.
Not a single fact has been unearthed
since August "a to throw any light on
the case, but two presumptiuns accord
ing to the lawyers, are believed to be
incontrnvertble in regard tn the history
of the paper after Judge Holt and the
witnesses signed it. t was folded when it
was burned, for the holes. made as If by
Goals on a crate fire, are in a coinciding
line diagonaily across the paper when 1t s
folded, and these holes grow gradually
smaller from the outer fold to the inner.
The other fact presumed Is that one
fourth of the paper on which the VIII was
written is gone, for there is ruled line
| within an eighth OF an inch of the top of
| the sheet. The writing is close to this edge,
and the document, when folded in the way
| in which lawyers fold legal papers, shows
| clearly that portion of the sheet is
| missing
| AS the estate amounts to $500, 900 the
heirs-at-law declare that they will fight
hard and long against this will. They
assert that there was another viii made
in 1896, which made an entirely different
| disposition of the property.