The San Francisco call., 1897-06-24

deeds from the gaze of the attorneys for
reading nowadays in view of the present
at litude of those lawyers as compared
with that which they occupied early in
1895 as regards the so-caIled pencil" will.
One of these, for instance, taken from
the Examiner of March Is of tnat year.
contains an interview with Reuben H.
Lloyd, one of the attorneys for the Fair
rirls, as follows:
In this matter, shortly after the death of
Senator Fair, reports reached the ears of his
children that their father had made holo-
graphic will. These reports were followed up,
ana, in several instances, found TO come from
Senator Fair himself. 1t was learned that he
had lold different persons that he had made
VIII. He tod them that he had written 5he
will himself and also hon he had disposed OF
his property. Search made for this will,
but Just where il had been deposited it was
I'm pos sible TO discover. until an accidental re-
mark revealed the fact TO the heirs that it had
been left in The possession OF q LADY, who,
will say, is well, widely and most 1avoTably
known in this CITY. This lady was reluctant
TO have her name dragged into the case on ac-
count of the notoriety, and naturally shrank
from having her name known, but, finally,
and on the advice OF her counsel that il was
her duty to give this will to the children OF
Senator Fair, she gave II up
Immediately after Senator's Fairs death, in
fact, the very next day, VIII was filed which
this lady presumed was the last VIII and tes-
lament of Senator Fair, and she paid no more
attention to the viii in her possession until
the will flied here was stolen from the office OF
the County Clerk. Then, when the papers
were full OF that sensational event, she looked
a [ the wi / ir her possession, and, to her sur
prise, found that it was dated three days after
the one that had been stolen. On the i'm
pulse OF the moment she sent the Will out of
the jurisdiction OF this court, and it was only
after we discovered that she had it, and after
she had been advised by her counsel that il
was her du ty TO present il to this court, that
she sent for IL and handed it to the heirs, and
will present 1t to the court this morning.
The viii was written with a soft pencil on
two sheets OF paper.
This, will add, is a holographic will, exc
cuted IN the presence of two witnesses, who
VIII be brought into court at the proper time.
On the following day there appeared in
the same journal another interview with
Mr.. Lloyd, worded as follows:
The three children have joined in a petition
for the probate of this VIII and they are a
unit in their judgment that ii is genuine The
girls recognize the handwriting and the sig
nature. and have no heslJancy IN declaring 1t
genuine. Fair wrote frequently with pencil.
We have compared TINS Will with no end of
mis- handwriting and the resemblance Is good
throughout. The viii bears inherent evil
dence OF It's genuineness, even if the proof of
lis execution and signing were not so over
whelming.
We have felt right along that later viii.
written by the Senator himself, was in exist
ence, but we did not know in whose custody it
had been left
Attached to the above article was a
statement emanating from one of Charles
l.. Fair S attorneys. 1t reads:
Mrs. Craven was up TO Sacramento in the in
terest OF The teachers pension bill, and she
dropped the remark about the legacy TO the
pension fund. l sent for her. and after a little
she told me the whole story. / then sent her
10 Mr.. Lloyd, and that IS all there Is to it.
Mrs. Craven was a great friend of Senator Fair,
lived Tor years at the same Motel with him, and
he was frequent visitor to her home. He
HnnT Ia ha NurffI and J.
keep.
she realized the importance OF the matter,
but dreaded the notoriety that would neces-
sarily ensue. Hence she hesitated TO speak OF
the matter and TO deliver the document into
our hands. Sne came by il homes tly, and we
finally persuaded ner to turn it over to US,
which sne did on Saturday last, il time for us
TO present II in court this morning.
In THE CALL of March 10 there appeared
an interview with George A. Knight, rep
resenting Charles Fair, in which he said
The accusation that the will is forgery is
absurd. It's history is little peculiar, but no
one should think Tor moment that reputable
attorneys would introduce IL IN TO court until
they had become thoroughly convinced that
il was genuine. The names of the ATTORNEYS
fathering the Will ought 10 have cons .derabla
weight. CARRIER, Boalt & Bishop, Lloyd Il
Wood, Wilson Il Wilson, and my partner. Nj.
Heggerty, and myself would never sanction d
forged W i'll. We investigated it thoroughly
before we became satisfied that 1t was genuine,
and we feel confident IL is
In THE CALL OF March 20 the same attor-
ney added this positive statement to what
be had previously said:
The viii is all right The late Senator Fair
has been telling all over town that he had
made such a will
In the same 7urnal and on the same
date Charles l.. Fair himself affirmed the
genuineness of the pencil" will in this
language:
think ought to know my fathers hand
writing, and this talk about the will being
forgery Is absurd.
Richard V. Dey, the trustee of the Fair
children under their mothers will, made
the following statement TO a CALL repor-
ter, the same appearing in the issue of
tLat paper of March 20:
The handwriting OF the will is most assuredlv
thatof the late Mr.. Fair, and ! don't hesitate
to pronounce the Will genuine in every
respect. / should be familiar with Senator
Fairs handwriting, if any body is. l was his
secretary irom-let me see-Rnyway IL was IN
the SOS uutil 1884. / understood him thor
oughly. We consulted together, dined to-
gether, Travelled together.
There is no doubt in my mind but that the
new docume Mt expresses the manner in which
the late Senator wished TO dispose OF his
estate. 1t was just like him to write this new
will. IL his way OF doing things. lie
allowed these executors 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. Moth