Evening star., 1895-10-11
A HOLT WILL STORY
Another EXPLANATION of Its Mys-
terisus Appearance.
LAWYERS HERE DIsCBEDlT IT
The Document Said to Have Been
Found in an Old Desk.
ART OF 1T ONE

The latest sensational story concerning
the Holt will mystery is that Clyde Cullen,
keeper Of a store at Buckton. Warren coun-
ty, Va, mailed the Holt will from out Of
the dark. According to this story 1t came
into Cullen's possession through the late
James H. Vaudeville, who for many years
practiced before the Interior Department In
land and patent cases. Mandeville died In
1892, and. it is said, bequeathed his desk
and papers to Capt. c. w. Cullen or BUCK
ton. whose son, Clyde Cullen, is The lat
ter, it is asserted, says Vaudeville drew up
the mysterious document, and claims that
he (Cullen) addressed the envelope In those
queer big printed letters, brought it to
Washington and gave 1t to colored man
telling him to mail it outside the city, and
the colored man mailed it at Langdon.
The story met today with little creience.
James Vaudeville was a well-known char
acter ne an active little lnan with
small practice in land end patent cases,
which gave him acquaintance with many
congressman and department officials.
That he wrote a will for Judge Holt no one
who knew either man would believe.
Mnndeville,s Handwriting.
Mr.. August Petersen of the firm Of Louis
Bagger & Co. says that he knew the late
Mu.ueVllle QuTluS oSeI twenty
years acquaintance. For a time," said
Mr.. Petersen this morning, "he had his
office here with our firm. I often heard
him speak of Judge Holt, and inferred
from his remarks that Judge Holt held him
in considerable esteem, but whether he was
his attorney or not do not know, although
| would have been quite likely 70 know 1t.
For the last year Of his life Vaudeville
was not in good health, and much of the
time was in rather dazed condition. He
kept to his room over in Georgetown pretty
closely and had no Office anywhere. What
ever effects he had were there with him.
Mr.. Bagger was not executor of Mande-
villeS estate. He had no estate to admin
lister upon. and in what way his desk and
papers came into the possession of Capt.
Cullen do not know. can say in regard
to his handwriting that he did not write
the Holt will of 1873. For instance, here IN
my safe is paper drawn up by Mr..
Vaudeville End acknowledged by him as
easily see that the person who wrote the
Holt will did not write this paper. Mande-
vile had a free-running, generous hand
writing, wholly unlike the cramped style of
no mystery about oMandeville's writing. you
might say. there are thousands of papers
in his writing on file in the land Office and
patent Office -St
A'Famous Story.
Mr. Charles Fowler well-known patent
attorney, was for a number of years an in
innate friend of Vaudeville, and his room
mate. Mr.. Fowler. when seen this morn
ing, had not read the account of his old
friends participation in the Holt will mys-
terry. Mr.. Fowler had scores of Mande-
ville's letters, having carried on unique
correspondence with him, covering over
year, while he was his roommate. This
correspondents is more or less famous, and
ic nh- Ia mos r a
record of a thoroughly carried out prac-
tical joke. Fowler pretended to be a young
lady up in Pennsylvania, and by CORE
spondence became engaged to Vaudeville,
and received from him numerous presents
and an engagement ring. When finally the
truth came out Vaudeville broke with his
hoon friend. and they never again spoke
to each other. The incident throws some
light upon the presumptions in this latest
story with regard to the Holt will. Not
only Mr.. Fowler. but number of gentle
men who knew Vaudeville well, insist that
while he was bright man ir some re-
spects, and something of a lawyer, he was
about the last man in the world that Judge
Holt would have employed as legal counsel.
Mr. Fowler says that comparing the hand
writing of the Holt WILL as printed in The
Star some weeks ago, with the familiar
script of Vaudeville, the difference Is too
obvious to require any emphasis in denial.
What Mr.. Darlington Says.
Mr.. ]. ]. Darlington of counsel for the
heirs under the will of 1873 stated to a
Star reporter today that he knew nothing
about the story. He had read the account
he said, but while declining to express
direct opinion as to the correctness of the
story, he intimated that he placed no faith
whatever in 1t. Mr.. Darlington explained,
however, that he and his associate In the
case, Mr.. Blair Lee, were in possession of
many interesting facts connected with the
will, which would. at the proper time. be
made public. Until that time arrived they
would, of course, be remarked be COM
PEELED to remain silent.
The document was intrusted to the Gus
tcdy of Vaudeville, according to the Cullen
story, from out of whose custody it passed
for few days. and while out of his pos
sess sion was partially burned in fire which
occurred in the office of one Judge TAFT, D
between Sd and AZ streets, but not, how
ever the Squire TAFT whose office on Capt.
tol Hill was destroyed by fire several years
ago.
After the fire in this Judge Tait's office,
whose identity is not clearly established,
Judge Vaudeville regained possession of
at his death, in April, 1892, 1t passed, to-
gether with the deceased's desk and pa
pers into the possession of Charles w.
Cullen ard the latter's son, Orlan G.. Cul-
len. They placed the papers, it is said, in
trunk and then removed them to the lat
ter's home, at Warren, White Sulphur
Springs, Va, some time after the death
of Judge Holt. August 1, 1894, when it ap-
peared that no will of Judge Holt had been
discovered
Mr. Orlan c. Cullen, it is stated in the
story, remembered that about nine years
before he had accompanied Ju e Mande-
vile in a call upon Judge Holt, when he
had concluded that Judge Holt had made
a will in which Mr.. Devlin had been
named as executor, and that it was the
wish of Judge Holt that Judge Mande-
vile should act as Mr.. Devlin's attorney.
How the Alleged Discovery Wns Made.
1t then, in 1894 occurred to Mr.. Cullen,
so it Is stated, that perhaps the will was
in the papers received from Judge Mande-
vIlle's executor, the late Louis Bagger.
Thereupon he made a thorough search
among them, and that search, it is further
stated, resulted in the discovery of the
But, it is explained, Mr. Cullen wished to
be unknown IN the matter, and he there
fore inclosed the document in an envelope,
addressed it in q disguised hand to the
register of wills. and, bringing it here from
Virginia, handed 1t to Jacob Moses, an old
and trusted coiofeo man, to mail it at some
point outside the city limits, and Noses It
is said, mailed 1t at Langdon station, a
few miles out on the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad where the man then lived
1t is claimed that Mr.. Cullen retained a
oI,o of = he