Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-10-18
A NOTED WILL CASE.
H. II. Smiths Fortune of 100000
VIII Go to the widow He Disovned
at. Woodstock.

VIII Go TO the widow He Disovyned
at Woodstock.
The noted will case of Hezekiah b.
Smith, which involved an estate of $780,
OOO, and which has been in four different
courts during the past eight years, was
concluded in the courts of chancery at
Trenton, N. j., this week, when the will
was declared invalid and the disowned
widow and sons were restored to their
rights. Smith left his fortune to found a
technical school for young mechanics. The
widow, who will secure the bulk of the
100000, is Mrs. Eveline Verona Smith of
Woodstock, this state.
The case is a remarkable one which has
attracted much attention. Smith was a
native of Woodstock and at an early age
showed inventive genius. He owned a
small factory in Woodstock and held sew
eral valuable patents. He eloped from
there with Eveline V. English, the daugh-
ter of farmer, and they were married in
Boston. All went well with the family for
years. Smith moved his business to Low
ell, Mass, when he was about 40, leaving
his wife and two children in Woodstock,
the older son, then IA, accompanying the
father. In Lowell Smith met Agnes Gill
kerson, then pretty girl of IS. He paid
Tor her education, and she graduated from
a Philadelphia medical school. Smith had
in the meantime secured from his wife in
Woodstock the letters in which he had
Signed himself her husband and had de-
stroyed them. He finally abandoned his
wife and children in Woodstock, first put
ting money in the bank there for Mrs.
Smith, the deposit being in her maiden
vuhtah ha hn,NaI En- It'd 20
sign when drawing the money. The Off
GERS of the bank, plying her forlorn condi-
ton, paid the money without requiring a
check.
After Miss Gilkerson had opened an Of
flee as physician in Lowell she was cut
by her acquaintance on account of her re-
lations with Smith. On this account the
couple finally left Lowell and Smith estab-
lished town which he named Smithville,
near Mt. Holly, N. j. He built a large
plant where he manufactured machinery,
the Star bicycles and novelties. The ar
rangement of the factory and of Smiths
residence at Smithville show that he was
very eccentric. He ran for Congress, but
was defeated, tried again and was elected.
The story of his desertion of his Vermont
wife came out as a campaign scandal. FL
nally his young paramour died. Smith
was inconsolable and INDUCED in debauch-
es. His death occurred in 1887. Elton,
the oldest son, went with the father to
Smithville. He despised Agnes Gilkerson
and finally fled from his father because he
could not brook her presence. The son
became a sailor, then a stevedore at Sa-
vannah, and finally contractor controlling
large part of the lighterage business of
Savannah. From the day of his disappear
ance he never communicated with his
father. At the present time he is one of
the wealthiest men in Savannah. He
spends his summers at the old home in
Woodstock, where his mother and another
brother are still living. When he heard of
his fathers death Elton Smith came to
New Jersey and began the fight which has
| just ended. He declared that he would
never touch a cent of his fathers money,
but that he proposed to vindicate his
mothers good name and to establish his
| own, his brothers and sisters paternity.