The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1897-01-02
THE TILDEN WILL.
4 Great Lawyer Made a Sad Mess OF
His Good Intentions.

HIS Good Intentions.
That is a very melancholy an
nouncement which Judge Beekman
has found himself obliged TO make,
that the plans of the late Samuel j.
Tildeu for the benefit OF his fellow
citizens are completely frustrated and
nulifed by his failure to make proper
provision for executing them. The
proposed little libraries at Yonkers
and New Lebanon 60 the way of the
proposed great library for New York.
A fragment has indeed been saved
from the estate for larger purpose,
but it has been obtained through a
private arrangement with the only one
of Mr.. Tilden's heirs-at-law who has
shown the least disposition to respect
his undoubted intentions and carry
out his will. 1t is at least satisfac-
tory that this exceptional heiress
should still be, as Mr.. Tilden intend
ed that she should be, the chief bene-
ficiary OF his fortune.
The moral that even a lawyer can
not trust himself to draw his own will
is trite one, and is said to have
been illustrated in the case of a Lord.
Chancellor whose will was found in
valid. WHAT makes the failure of
Mr.. Tilden's good inten tions so par
ticularly pitiful is that the plan which
is wrecked was the cherished purpose
almost of life time, and also that no
private injustice was done in his en-
richment of the public. 1t was saffi-
ciently shown when the litigatjozs
arose that the claim of those heirs
at-law who disputed the will was ex-
legal and technical. The
testatOr had no real heirs except the
public. If his will could have been
carried out, it would have furnished a
fresh illustration of the truth of
Bacon's saying: Certainly the best
works and of the greatest merit for
the public have proceeded from the
unmarried or childless JQsR, who,
both in affection and means. have
and endowed the public,
That was eninently true of Mr.. Tilden.
He did marry the public" during his
lifetime, expending upon it the ''affec-
ion" which men more happily situa-
ed bestowed upon their families. Pol
tics s5was to him pleasure, or a pas
sion, but never a means of livelihood,
lor. directly or Indirectly, of money
getting. He thus married the pub
ic' while be was alive, and he at
empted to endow it after his death.
Gould he have foreseen the failure of
his attempt, the close OF his life would
lave been greatly embittered.
But there is another sentence of
3acOn's which might have been COM
nended to Mr.. Tilden in his lifetime,
md which may be commended to such
# his survivors as cherisha like pur-
,ose with his: ''Defer not charities
i'll death: Tor, certainly, if a man
7eigh it rightly, he that doth so is
ather liberal of another mans than
# his own 1t was impossible for
In. Tilden to spend the income of his
or Il great proportion OF it.
o as TO conduce to his own happiness,
nd, as We have seen, there was no.
'ody who had any better claim upon
he principal than the public. If he
ad himself carried out the scheme of
is own benevolence he would have
zen remembered by his benefciaries
$ gratefully as Peter Cooper is re-
rendered, who did that wise thing,
tho carried out his own will, and saw
18th his own eyes the fruition of his
ood purposes. If the Tilden library
ad been built and equipped by Sam
el J. Tilden, the investment would
ave been safe and beyond the reach
f greedy heirs.-New York Times.