The morning times., 1896-06-26
HOLT WILL IS A FORGERY
Continued From First Page.

| Will. One tuat WIS uTaWu III Tie year 1910
was found. Judge Holt had revoked this
himself. In due tine an administrator was
appointed. The wheels of the probate court
move slowly however, and in twelve months
Gnly about $4,000 out OF personal estate
Of over 100000 had been distributed.
On August 26, 1895, an envelope bear
ing the mysterious will in dispute reached
the office of the register OF wills. The COM
munication came anony ymously The spu-
rleus will was written on piece Of fcol's-
cap paper. II was burned away down the
left side and holes were burned in the hody
Of it. The seal was burned off.
ITS STRANGE PROVISIONS.
Two persons were made beneficiaries
of the judges personal estate. One was
Miss Elizabeth Hynes, OF Lebanon, KY,
cousin of Judge Holt's first wife. The
other was Miss Josephine Holt Throck-
| morton, the godchiid Of the alleged testa-
tor Luke Devlin, clerk in the War
Department, was named as executor.
The mysterious paper bore date of
February =, 1ST3. There were tue sigua-
lures of three witnesses to it. They were
| L. S. Grant. then President: Gen. william
Tecumseh SHERMAN. and Ellen B. f.
Sherman, the generals Wife.
Every effort was made to find where the
| Will had come from and, assuming that
! IL was genuine, where it had been for the
last twenty-three years. Both the bene-
| ficiaries and the teirs-atlaw employed
counsel. Messrs. J. j. Darlington and
| Blair Lee and Ma jor BENJAMIN Butterworth
| represented the former
| Judge Jere NJ. Wilson and Mr. A. s
Warrington appeared for the latter As
stated above the case occupied almost
SIX weeks and was one OF the longest
trials in the history Of the District judiciary.
The proceedings yesterday were inter
esting.
LAST DAYS PROCEEDINGS.
The day was by all odds the most
momcDtous one OF the whole six weeks
of the trial. 1t was Il time when hearts
were prone to stand still an instant; when
lump would force its way occasionally
into ones throat: when handkerchiefs were
in evidence, and peoples nerves were
tense.
The climax was the burning oratory of
Buttcrworth, whose fame for eloGuence has
long preceded tim into the teiuplcs of
justice. He began the closing speech of
the argument ut twenty min utes before /
O'Clock. He stopped at fifteen minutes
after g.
II was the supreme hour which stood
out in certain relief against the didactic
statements OF Mr.. Lee, the olhchinS argu-
mcnts Of Mr.. Darlington, the Keen periods
OF Mr.. Worthington. and the unanswerable
logic of Judge Wilson.
The courtroom presented a distinctiye
appearance from any ii has had during the
triai. The crowd was greater II that were
possible, than IL had been at any hour
before. 1t was the last discharge OF the
batteries OF the Ibeneficiaries against the
bulwarks of the heirs. f.
INTEREST WAS INTENSE.
Actuate,i by an interest OF egualintensity,
yet higher morality, with that which drew
Rome's popuaceIto the arena. q crowd
gathered and waited IN breatbess silence
Tor the end. Judge Hagner came in from
the equity court and sat beside Judge Brad
ley and locked ard listened.
Maj'r ButterwOrth stood facing the jury
al the end of the railing THAI surrounds the
judges desk. Judge Wilson sat behind him
AT the end Of tile iawyers table nearest
The jury sat Mr.. WortAirrton. Behind him
Washington u. Holt orouciied ciumsiiy in
his chair. His vile AID daughter sat at
his left. while Eehind him was seated the
aged aunt CT Judge Holt.
Miss ThrCckmorton had mored d her chair
Juryward, and now sat with her right elbow
On the table used by the other side OF the
suit and their counsel. Her mother occu-
pied chair to her left and in front OF her
Back OF her sat MAJ Jor Throckmorton. At
the left of his daughter was Mrs. McCord.
Then came tie second table. Miss Uynes
sat at the corner OF this. Her moG-sty has
always caused her to keep rather in the
background in the trial. and even the stir
ring addresses Cf The law yers did not cause
her to move forward. Mrs. Ray occupied
the chair II her left Beyond her Luke Dev-
lin locked on with grim attention
Mr.. Lee ami NJ. McCord sat between this
table and the railing about the judges
sff
table. Over in the corner of the room
among the spectators was IA man with a
face strangely like McKinley's Stranger
still the man sitting beside him bore a
very fair facial resemblance to Secretary
Carlisle.
MANY WOMEN PRESENT.
Thrce-ronrths OF the seats in the court
room were occupied by members of the
fai'er sex. Men occupied the remainder
and men and women stood up clear back
To the door.
The crowd was very great all day but
1t did not reach its greatest magnitude
until Maj. Butterworth began to speak.
When court opened at 10 O'Clock in the
morning Mr.. Worthington began the con
cius"n OF his address. He went into every
question that had been brought out in the
evidence Again the question of revoca-
ton was FULLY discussed, the relationship
OF the deceased with the Throckmorton
family was recalled, the judges friendly
actstoward hisown kinfolks were revamped
and every important detail OF the history
OF his life was repeated.
Il have no doubt" said Mr. Wortbjngt.n.
that Judge Holt did write a will as he
to!d Mr.. Washington Holt. I'm which he
named his nephew as his executor; but in |
the closing hours of his life, as he lay on |
bed OF pain, realizing that the world that !
he had known would know him nc more, his
thoughts turned back, as an old mans |
thoughts will do, to the scenes ef his child |
hood; to his cid home in Kentucky.
whatever feelings may have been en- |
gendered by the war, and which the other |
side would have you believe resulted in the |
VIII OF 1873. and lasted to the time of his |
death, had in reality long since passed |
away.
AS the light through the easement be- |
gan 10 fade and the noises from the street |
reached his ears as sounds from afar off,
ms heart turned lovingly toward those Of |
his own blood, some or whom he may have
ignored in that will, and he decide to let his
properly go to all of them alike. and am
sure, gentlemen, as 1 am sure of anything |
mat Joseph Holt, by his own hands, de-
stroyed that will, leaving his property to
he divided among his relatives as the law
provides
JUDGE WILSON BEGINS.
Judge Wilson began as his associate left
off. His was the briefest talk to tie Jury.
The character of the witnesses in the case
was discussed. What one expert had said
was compared with the testimony of an-
other. 1t was necessary for the other side
to furnish the preropderance OF testimony
that the will was genuine
The mysterious paper was then analyzed
in every particular. The gifts the Judge