The morning times., 1896-05-18
TO PROVE THE HOLT WILL
Legal Fight Over the Mysterious
Testament Begins Today.
WILL BE A FAMOUS CASE
Identity of the Sender of the VIII
Is Yet Mystery and the La wyers
Do Not Expect to Unearth Hinl-A
Fortune of More Than $780, 900
at Stake.

The interest that Will be manifested in
the trial of Murderer irwin Ford before
Judge Cole in criminal court today will
be rivaled in legal battle that will begin
at the same hour in Judge Bradley's court
civil part, No. /. 1t will be the first
strokein open court TO test the genuinenesS
OF the alleged will OF the late Judge Adj
vocate General Joseph Holt.
IL has been almost nine months since
the remarkable document, purporting to
be the last testament of the deceased
reached the office OF the register OF wills
through the mail. The sender then vas
mystery, is still a mystery, and will
remala one, unless the cayeators and
their counsel come forward and solve the
problem. 1t will prove by all odds the
most iutere sting will trial that ever oc-
CURED III this Jurisdiction aud one OF the
most interesting on record.
On the morning of August 20 last, Col.
Wright, who was then register of wills,
found in his mail a long envelope ad-
dressed in crudely penned chara aCters to
1.-The Register OF Wills, Washington, D.
c." There was no doubt that the hand
that addressed the missive attempted To
disguise its ide nifty.
RECEIPT OF THE ALLEGED WILL.
The envelope was postmarkcd Washing
ton and was mailed about O'Clock of the
afternoon before.
on breaking the envelope Col. Wright
found the strange paper purporting to be
Judge Holt's will. II was written on
half sheet of fools cap paper. The
paper had been folded twice, thus dividing
1t into three nearly equal sections.
Along the left hand edge the document
was burned away in some mysterious man
ner until Il ragged and scorched border was
left with here and there indentures almost
half an inch in depth and in other spots
wholly intact. Small holes were burned
through the paper in various places as if
smOldering cmbcrs had been careesSly
placed over the sheet. The distance OF
the burned spots from the Creases showed
that the burning had taken place when the
document was folded.
Not word was eliminated by the burn
ing save the beginning testamentary Charac-
ter ''r' and even of this the top curve
OF the letter was left.
The bequeathing clauses of the mysterious
will read as follows:
Il do hereby devise and bequeath all my
property, both real and personal, 70 Lizzie
HyneS, cousin OF my first wife, and to
Josephine Holt Throcknorton, who is my
gUdchild and To their heirs ana assigns
forever. | do hereby direct that at NY
death all Of my property be divided equally
bet wcen them"
Lizzie Hines is TO inherit hers at my
death; Josephine at the age OF twuety-ene.
Her father, Major Charles B Throckmorton,
Will hold her share in trust | appoint MIR.
Luke Deviin OF Washington executor.
Signed aud sealed in the presence OF
these witnesses at Washington, February Z.
1873 u. HOLT
ITS PRICELESS SIGNATURES
The names Of the witnesses were one of
the most astonishing things i'll connection
with the VIII, probably three signatures
OF people or such prominence never before
appearing on a teStamentGry documen:
They were: L. S. Grant, at the time in the
White House; W T. Sherman, the famoux
general. and Ellen b. L. Sherman. wife OF
the general.
The strange document was pasted on a
sheet OF white paper. The fasting had
been carefully done and the fan instrument
that had apparently laid folded for so many
years was well protectedin in its new backing.
There was not single word about the
missiye thattoidin any manner from whence
II had come and, as stated above. the mys-
terry of the sender and where the viii has
been for over a decade still remains IN
solved.
Judge Holt died at his home Gu New
Jersey avenue August l, 1894, a after
living life of comparative retirement and
seclusioa for several years. lie left an
estate variously estimated al from $500
900 to $4,000 He was supposed to
have died iutestate, and proceedings under.
that supposition were begun shortly after
his death by the appointment of the Ma
tional Safe Deposit, Savings and Trust
Company, with BENJAMIN p Snyder pres-
dent, as administrator. The appoint
meut was made on the petition of Wash
ington y Holt. William g. Sterrett, and
John W. Holt, the only heirs-at-iaw.
AN ANNULLED WILL.
Some OF Judge Holt's heirs submitted
to the register of wills, October 10, 1894,
llmade b him, nd dated April IA, 1S48
This was annulled, however, by the words
written across the wrapper enclosing it:
This will has been wholly revoked.
u HOLT"
The only distribution Of money made
by the administrator was the dishurSal Of
$4,000 among the heirs-at-Iaw W, so that
the estate practically remains intact.
About the middle OF October the heirs-at-
law filed caveat to the will. They made
the customary denials that the paper was
the last will of the deceased and called it
a forgery. Though the signatures of the
famous witnesses were Identified by a
score or more Of persons who called to
see the strange document. the heirs-at-law
asserted that they. too, were forgeries.
They also said that if it were possible
the will was properly drawn and signed.
yet it was revoked by subsequent actions
of the tCstator. They said the will was
not among tine papers of Judge Holt when
ne died. and the benefiCiaries under the
Will admitted it when they made answer
to tie caveGt. but the latter maintained
that that fact was immaterial, and asked
the caveators to prove their assertion
POINTS OF THE CONTEST.
The respondents said it mattered littlein
whose custody the Will was in from its
writing until the submission for probate
The only fraud capable OF having been per
formed III the whole affair. they said was
in the Withholding OF the W i'll by some un-
known person until the period of time in
which its custodian had to file it had ex-
pired.
The heneficiarieS concluded their ans wep
to the caveators by saying
If the paper is forgery, or if it was
Ot signed by Joseph Holt or If it was
procured by fraud or undue influence, or
iflt was revoked by him, these respondents
do not desire its admission TO probate and
record but. believing that none of the al
legauOnsin the petition touching the validity
of the instrument are well founded in point
Of fact, aud that the same are wholly un
true. they unite in the prayer that ap-
propriatc issues may be framed and sent
TO the circuit court for trial by jury in order
TO determine the question of their truth,
and of the validity of the will"
4 short time subsequent to this the cafs1
was certified for trial and set for hearing.
The legal fight cannot prove other than an
intensely interesting one in which it will.