Evening star., 1895-08-31
Washington Holt Examines the
Document Filed.
What BE said TO A STAR REPORTER
Other incidents in Connection
With the Case.
MR.. DEvLIN'S COUNSEL

mystery by the arrival at the register of
wills office this morning. of Washington
d. Holt of Breckenridge county. KY,
nephew of Judge Holt, and the man
who is generally supposed to have
been made executor and principal bene-
ficiary in the will of January l, 1885, Mr.
Holt arrived in the city last night, and was
accompanied to the registers office today
by Mr.. ]. E. Iglehart, a lawyer of Evans
Vile, Ind, who Is one Of the interested
parties in the case because of his marriage
to daughter of Robert Holt of Misss-
sippi.
The VIII Inspected.
The object of their visit to the register S
office was to inspect the mysteriously re-
ceived will of February Z, 1873. 1t was
shown to them incased in its glass frame
by Col Wright, but what they thought of
it they kept to themselves, even declining
to say, when questioned, whether they be-
lieved the handwritings of the testator and
of the famous witnesses to the instrument
to be genuine or not. They were given all
the circumstances attending the receipt OF
the alleged will and were evidently greatly
interested in what they were told. They
were also given Photographic copies of the
instrument and Of the envelope in which it
was mailed.
What Mr.. Holt Says.
To Star reporter Mr.. Holt explained
that he knew nothing Of the document be-
yond what he had read in the newspapers
and what had been told him by the regis
ter of wills. In fact. he said, since learn
ing cf the receipt of it he had not had the
opportunity to investigate the matter, and
assured the reporter that he probably knew
much more of 1t than he (HolO did. Asked
If he believed the will to be genuine, Mr..
Holt declined to say whether he did or not
H. Dy%r NJ IL IA
&C ntinued, land have not even had an
opportunity of consulting my attorney,
Judge Jere Wilson, who is out of the city
1t would hardly be proper for me to say
anything for publication at this time;
surely, not until after 1 have had the op-
portunity of consulting Judge Wilson, al
though l would be very glad to be able to
ohiige you gentlemen of the press. l ap-
preciate the fact that the case is one Of
very great interest to the public, but
cannot well afford TO say anything just
now in any event"
VIII Protect the Heirs-at-Law.
Mr. Holt stated that he expected other
heirs-at-law to come on, and told The Star
man that he was at liberty to say one
thing at least, and that was that their
rights would be protected in the fullest
manner, and that nothing would be left un-
done to secure those rights. That he had
every reason for believing that Judge Holt
made a will subsequent to the date of the
mysteriously received one Mr. Holt did
not deny, nor did he deny that he had
every reason for believing that in the later
will he was named as executor and prin-
cipal beneficiary Mr. Holt stated that he
knew that q memorandum In the hand
writing of Judge Holt. relating to later
will, had been found upon the desk of
Judge Holt after the latter's death. That
memorandum, Mr.. Holt stated, gave jan
uary 1, 1886, as the date of the later will,
and the memorandum was now in the pos
session of one of the heirs-at-law.
Not Troubled About the '73 Will.
Neither Mr. Holt nor Mr.. Iglehart ap-
peared to feel the least bit troubled by the
unexpected appearance of the will Of 1873,
and impressed those with whom they con-
versed as feeling very confident that it
would not stand. MI. Holt will remain in
the city for some time, he said and inti-
mated that nothing would be done by him
in the case until after there has been a
full consultation between him and the other
heirs-at-law, which will probably be some
day next week.
No New Clue.
Nothing new concerning the alleged will
of 1875 was developed at the city hall to-
day, and where it has remained all the
years and by whom it was possessed or by
whom it was forwarded to the register of
wills rem1ns, apparently, as great a mys-
most constantly inspected by the curiously
inclined and while very nearly every one
who inspects it has theory respec ting it.,
none has yet discovered the unknown per-
son who sent it. Col. Wright received in
his mail this afternoon the business card
of local firm of experts in handwriting
addressed to Mr.. McChord, the nephew and
attorney of Miss Hynes, one Of the bene-
ficiGries under the will of 1878.
Capt. CuDninghan,'s Story.
,ho ;c tod in, q
morning paper for a story that he found
the Holt will among lot of charred papers
dumped with the refuse from the Knox
fire. told story about the Knox fire papers
to a Star reporter two days ago which
differed from that which he is credited
with telling in the paper this morning.
Mr.. Cunningham volunteered the sugges-
tion that the will might have been in the
Knox fire. He was asked by the reporter
why he thought of this and replied that
lot OF private papers had been burned IN
that fire, and some that had been scorch-
ed were recovered. The fact that this will
had been burned, he said, suggested the
idea to him that it miSnt have been in
that fire.
"Mr. Lylas and myself" he said, found
a lot of papers in the dump belonging to
other people, and 1t may be that MI. Lyles
fl und that will"
DO you know whether he found any Holt
papers?" was asked.
mo. / do not; cut ne might nave
.Did you save any Of the Holt papers,?
NO"
Did you see the will or anything that
might have been it?
mo, only there were lots of private pa
oers burned there, and it is not tmproba-
BILE that Judge Holt had some papers
burned, and that the will was among them.
There were so many papers of different
people there 1 did not notice particularly
whose they We're"
The Star reporter questioned him very
closely to Judge if his theory was worth
following, and the end of it was that Mr..
Cunningham said it was only theory that
he had formed, and thought it might be
worth looking up.
He said positively that he did not see
the will and finally admitted that the pres
ence of any of the Holt papers in the dump
was only an inference from the fact that
so many private papers were destroyed in
that fire.
What MIR. Cutter Says.
The account of Capt Cunninghams alleg-
ed discovery of the Holt will is discredite ed
by Mr.. Cutter, the young man to whom
he says he presumes the will was sold
Mr. Cutter said this morning: "I learned
| last winter from the newspaper accounts
| that there were valuable historical papers
| to be found on the dump, and, at my aunt's