Evening star., 1896-12-11
Mr.. McCAULEYS ANSWER
Denies Charges Made BY His Brpthers
Widow.
The Letter From His Brother, He
Says, Was nf. Testimen-
tarysCharacter.

Henry c. MccauIey, executor of the es-
| tate of his brother, rrthe late Theodore F.
McCauley, today filed, through Attorneys
A. A. Lipscomb and Philip Walker. his
answer to the petition of Mrs. Catbarine
v. McCauley, his brothers widow, who
several days ago asked the Probate Court
to remove him as executor.
In his answer Mr.. McCauley says: Il
deny that 1 concealed from the petitioner
and her children all knowledge of the ex-
istence of the letter from her husband,
Theodore F. McCauley, which have since
filed for probate in this honorable court
Her own testimony in equity cause No.
1925. cited by her, is that I admitted its
existence, but declined to divulge its con-
tents l did this in good faith and in ac-
cordance with what I understood to be the
wishes OF my brother Theodore, as ex-
pressed in the said letter. 1t was address,
ed to me personally and privately, and I
considered that had no right to show 1t
to any one. In it I am directed to take
certain action in connection with the gro
Gerry store, which, before his departure for
Europe, my brother sold to William H.
Spelser, and to held the proceeds of said
sale In trust for the benefit Of his children.
Norah Virginia, May Ida, Louis A., John
Henry and Samuel McKim. after giving the
said Speiser credit of 500 on one Of the
rotes given for the purchase Of the said
store.
AS will be seen by an examination of my
brother's will, these five children are the
sole benefciaries Of the residue of the es-
tate neid by me as testamentary trustee
the other three children Thomas, Theodore
and William having each been given a
small legacy $1OO), and the widow having
been devised a life interest in the home
stead, and then bequeathed a life interest
In lieu of dover. Had the widow, there
fore, elected to take under the will the
sole erect of the testamentary letter men-
toned would have been to give the said
Spefser credit of $500 on his notes, the
oalance OF the amount due on them passing
into the residue of the estate and being
held by me to the use of the five children
nrst above mentioned But the widow elect
ed not to take under the will, which gave
her life estate in one-fourth Of her hus-
bands property, and came into equity to
nave, and thereafter did have dover as
signed TO her. By this renunciation of the
Will she also became entitled to one-third
OF the net personally of the estate of her
husband, so that as to that third the
wishes of her husband expressed in the
letter mentioned were void, a third of the
net proceeds Of the sale of the store being
diverted fr"m the trust for the benefit Of
the five children, and passing, by opera ton
OF law, TO the petitioner, their mother
Seeking to carry out the wishes of my
brother, such portion of the money as I
have been able to collect from the said
speiser have held in trust for the five
guardians account will show, until the
petitioner having fled the aforesaid bill in
equity against me. consulted counsel and
was advised that the letter. coming into my
hands as 1t did. IN law, after my brother $
death was of a testamentary nature, and
did. >''''U'
Il deny that l ever willfully deceived the
petitioner. l admit that refused to give
her certain Information to which l did not
consider that she was entitled l had no
OBJECT in misleading her, as was acting in
the interest of five of her children Uho
ought to be as deari to her as they had
been to their father. and in whose welfare
she had and has every reason to be con-
cerned AS l have set forth in answer to
the first litigation. of her petition, / have
always used every effort to carry out the
directly expressed wishes of my deceased
protheT, between whom and the petitioner
MS wife, there was for many years a de-
cided coldness, 1t appearing by the testi-
mony OF their daughter that they were not
on speaking terms when he went to En-
rope. At the time that I refused her the
information as she complains, she had not
renounced the will, and was Hereunder
distributee only as to a life estate In the
personality contained in the homestead
That personally she has always had Dos
session or, Its value being $27S, as shown
by the inventory herein, although I have
been charged with it in my account as
executor. 1 am informed and believe that
the personality left by my deceased brother
than that contained in the said inventory.
but when the officers of the court went to
the house to appraise 1t, the petitioner
claimed as hers everything of especial
value, and / have no means of disproying
her assertions. 1 have therefore been
forced to abide by the return Of the officers
of the court, so far as the personally in the
homestead is concerned.
Il deny that 1t appears by the testimony
that ! have combined with any person or
persons to prevent part of the assets of
the estate from being realized or to enable
William H. Speiser to hold the same in
fraud of the petitioner or the legatees un-
der the will, but aver that it shows that
l have used every effort to conserve the
estate and collect what Is due to it. My
deceased brother sold the business of his
grocery store to William H. Speiser The
evidence in the equity cause shows as
much, and / was 50 informed by my broth
er before his departure from Washington,
were others Of his friends and business
associates.
Il deny that the accounts that exhibit
ed in the orphans court. as executor, are
dishonest or unjust. l admit that my first
accent was erroneous, because l treated
the aforesaid letter a trust, instead
of testamentary paper. Upon this false
impression being corrected / have used
every effort to correct the statement of
my accounts and put them in proper form
as required by the order of the court.
When my accounts as guardian
stated it will be found that have overpaid
my wards, and that they have in every
case received all that they were entitled
TO, even more promptly than the condi-
ton of the estate would allow, for where
there has been temporary shortage of
cash in my trustees account I have ad-
vanced funds from my own pocket that
my brothers widow and children might not
want what they needed"