The Saint Paul globe., 1896-07-31
WILLED THE EARTH
To His Nephew, and the Young Ma
Promptly Claimed His Legacy.

To His Nephew, and the Young Man
Promptly Claimed His Legacy.
Detroit Free Press.
Colonel BrOadacre, Of Texas, who
was quite wit in his way, had a
bumptious young nephew, Of whom he
was not over fond, and when the
colonel finally died with his boots on
"a way they have in Texas it was
found that he had got even with the
young man in question by facetiously
willing him the earth
The colonel wanted his sorrowing
relatives to enjoy the joke, as early in
the reading of his last will and testa-
ments as possible, so he remembered
his conceited nephew in the very first
clause Of the will, which ran as fol-
lows:
ITO my well-beloved Cby himself and
self-opinionated nephew, John Henry
Broadacre, who has always wanted the
earth, as the saying goes, I hereby
give and beg ueath said body or planet
for him and his heirs and assigns to
have and hold in fee simple forever,
Or as long as said planet, known as the
earth, shall continue to revolve in it's
accustomed orbit. And I trust he will
live long to enjoy the bequest and pick
up a more useful stock of knowledge
than he now appears to be burdened
with at the date this document is
drawn"
The coloneps estate was worth cou-
pie Of millions, invested about equally
in land and good sound securities, and
of course the other heirs had the grand
snicker, so to speak, on John Henry
1t was very amusing, indeed. until
John Henry's lawyer came forward
and claimed every square inch of the
coloneps landed estate for his client, on
the ground that it was part of the
earth which his uncle had willed him,
and he was clearly entitled to It,
The other heirs pointed out the fact
that the landed estate had been specifi-
cally bequeathed to them, in the clauses
of the will following that in which
John Henry had been so handsomely
remembered, but the wide-awake law
yer stoutly contended-and said there
wasn't court in the country but would
sustain him in so doing-that this por-
ton of the will was null and void, as
the testator had already disposed of
every acre Of his real estate in the
first clause of the document, and no
last will and testament ever made could
give away the same piece Of property
twice.
In fact, he said, the strict letter Of
the law would justify his client in also
claiming the securities belonging to
Col. Broadacre's estate, as the possess
sor Of the earth was rightly entitled to
all it contained.
1t didn't look so much like a joke to
the rest Of the heirs as 1t did at first,
and they finally dubbed together and
bought off the colonel's bumptious
nephew (who evidently had bump Of
enterprise among the resO for a good
round sum-up in the hundred thou
sands, 1t Is said-in consideration of
which he withdrew his claim to all
that portion of the earth formerly
owned by Col. Broadacre.
John Henry rides around in his own
carriage nowadays, and when people
ask him If he isn't getting rather ex-
travagant, he simply closes his left eye
for the space of perhaps a second. in a
thoughtful sort of way, and says:
mot unduly SO. I guess. for a. young
man who is heir to the earth"
The moral Of this story seems to he
that facetiousness, though it may be
the spice of life, Is out of place in ones