The San Francisco call., 1896-11-17
deliver 1t to this honorable court, which 7
has jurisdiction OF the estate ot said deceased.
Fair Case.


now deliver It to this honorable court, which
has jurisdiction OF the estate ot said deceased.
The petition contained a prayer that:
A time and place may be fixed for the hearing of
the application that said will may be
admitted TO probate the last will and testament
OF said James q. Fair, deceased.
This petition bore the autograph signatures
of the three chidren-C. L. FAIR, Theresa Alice
Oelrichs and Virginia Fair-and also those OF
all their attorneys and counsel.
The genuineness of this document was
vouched for, not only by the solemn manner
in which it was brought into court and the
formal petition for its probate, but also by
many contemporaneous interviews published
in the daily press by the children, their friends
and their legal advisers
In the Examiner of March 10, 1895 the day
after the will was presented 10 the court, one
of the attorneys for the daughters is quoted as
having said:
The three children haveI Joined In petition for
the probate of this WILL and they are a unit in
their Judgment that tits genuine. The girls recog-
niZe the handwriting and the signature, and have
no hesitancy in declaring il genuine. Fair wrote
frequently with pencil. We have compared this
with no end of his hand writing, and the resem-
blance is throughout. The will bears inh evil
dence OF its genuineness, even If the proof OF its
execution and signing were not so overwhelming.
We have ielt right along tina; a later will, writ
ten BY the Senator himself was in existence, but
we did not know in whose custody 1t had bee O
left
On the same day one of the counsel of Charles
l.. Fair made the following statement TO a re-
porter OF the Examiner:
Mrs. Craven was upto Sacramento In the inter
est of the Teachers pension bili and she dropped
the remark about the legacy 10 the pension
fund. L sent for her, and after little she
told me the whole story. ! then sen! her
to Mr.. Lloyd. and that is ali there Is
TO it Mrs. Craven was great friend OF Senator
Fair. lived for years at the same hotel with him
and he was frequent visitor TO her home He
there wrote the will and gave it to her keep.
she realized the Importance OF the matter but
dreaded a arflv nm
sue. Hence she hesitatei to speak of the matter
and to deliver the document into our hands. She
came by II honestly and we finally persuaded her
10 turn II over II us, which she did on saturday
last in time for to present 1t in court this
ing.
In THE CALL of the same day, March 10.
1895. another interview with one of the attor-
neys for the daughters is reported, in the
course of which he said:
These Photographic copies of the will have been
certified 10 by County CLERK Curry ~ no has charge
taken that nothing can occur to prevent the pro-
bate of this WILL Mrs Haskins the other witness
to the will, is very respectable lady who lives
with Mrs Craven.
In the same paper, THr CALL of March 10,
1888, one OF the attorneys for Charles l.. Fair
is quoted as having said:
The accusation that the will is a forgery is alb
surd. Its history Is a little peculiar but no one
should think for a moment that reputable attor-
neys would introduce IL into court until they mad
become thoroughly convinced that IL WAS genuine
The names OF the attorneys ia herring the will
ought to have considerable weght-Garber, Boat
& Bishop, Lloyd Il Wood Wilson d Wilson and
my partner. Mr. Heggerty, and myself would
never sanction forged will. We investigated IL
thoroughly before we became satisfied that 1t was
genuine and we feel confident that it is.
In THE CALL of March 20, 1895. one Of tho
attorneys OF Charles L. Fair is reported 10 have
said:
The will is all right. The late Senator Far has
been telling all over town that h had made such a
will. '10" I"
In tba ea,na ronar CbarIo. r.t
affirmed the genuineness of the will as follows /:
I think 1 ought to know my fathers hand
writing, and this talk about the Will being forgery
is absurd.
On the same day Richard v Dey, the trus-
tee of the children under their mothers will.
is repor ted in the same paper 10 have expressed
himself follows:
The handwriting OF the will is most assuredly
that of the late Mr.. Fair, and don't hesitate to
pronounce the viii genuine in every respec, I
should be familiar with Senator Fai IS handwrt-
me see; anyway 1t was in the '6U's, until / SS4 /
understood him thoroughly. We consulted to-
gether, diued together, travelled together.
There is no doubt In my mind but that the new
document expresses the manner In which the
late senator wished to dispose of his estate IL
was Just ike him to write this new viii. 1t was
his way of doing things He allowed these execu-
tors of the first document filed to think that they
had everything their own way, and then he went
Off and upset the whole matter by writing another
Will. Nothing could be more char acterstic OF the
man.
- L. -. Il
attorneys OF Charles l.. Fair vouched for the
genuineness OF this will In the following Ian
guage:
1 am confident that there Is no other will in e~
istence made later tn an the filed We are
satisfied OF that AID also hat 1t is genuine one
We Will Introduce some proofs OF its genuinene IS
the wills recently made by Fair. (ioodfellow has
one dated October IA. 1898, Pierson u Mitchell
Will is the last and third will senator Fair made in
the last year OF HIS life. OF course IL will be tte
slights they can on our will and spread reports OF
other wills, so TO make people bell We a will
genuine
This will, dated Septembe "a, 1894. and
commonly called the pencil will, named me as
one OF It's executors. Apar. from my own in
v1dual conviction it wou i'll have become
me to entertain doubt oil the genuineness of
an instrument thus strenuously avouched ana
solemnly sponsored, not only by the children
put by most eminent and honorable pracr-
OF one of them, sought to have considerab bic
weight and none of whom, surely, .'would
ever sanction forged will" Acting there
fare, in iurtherance of their mantle st wishes. I
joined in their efforts TO have the will pro-
Daied. filing petition to that end on the 25 III
OF March. 1895.
secure the probate of that will and TO remove
every obstacle from their path that after
nearly two months of reflection one of them
acting for the benefit of all, did on the 7th of
May OF the same year file contest of the
trust will on the ground that:
On, TO wit: the "a h day of September, 1894, an
three days subsequent to the date upon which said
alleged last VIII and Testament dated September
II, 1884, purports TO have been executed the said
James Graham Fair, deceased, made anu exc
cutcd his last will and testament, wherein and
whereby he revoked all prior wills by him made:
that The said last will and testament so executed
b! tad James Graham Fair, deceased on the 14.h
day of September 1894, and is entirely writ
ten. dated and signed by the hand OF the said
James Graham Fair.
The will was further contested on the ground
that its provisions, in so far they relate to
trust, had been procured by fraud and undue