The San Francisco call., 1897-01-05
DR. PARDEE RISES
IN HIS WRATH
His Answer to the State
ments of His Legal
Opponents,
Scorching Words About Those
Who Wish to Break the
Pardee Will.
He Supposed the Dead Would Be
Respected and the Living
Let Alone.
OAKLAND OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO CALL,
COS Broadway, Jan. 4.

COS Broadway, Jan. 4.
Dr. Pardee has risen to answer the
numerous stories which, ever since ms
fathers death, have been repeated about
his father. his fortune and himself. HIS
answer. written by himself, is as follows:
Ever since nv fathers death there mas been
so much said both in the newspapers and out
OF them, concerning his and my affairs, and so
many statements made by those interested in
breaking my fathers last VIII, that, IN spite of
nv reluctance 10 air the family disputes in
the papers. am at last driven 10 that eXpedi-
enr. Ny father has been accused OF almost
everything; his reputation mas Deen aSsalled
and his sanity attacked. !, too, have been
maligned and abused, and accused of things
that exist only in the minds Of those who
abused my father living and have endeavored
10 besmirch him dead. / have kept silent
under these attacks on my father and myself,
hoping that they would cease and that the
dead, III least, would be respected and the liv-
ing let alone Such, however, am ashamed
and sorry to say, has not been the case.
The attacks have grown in virulence and
mendacity un til at last in pure desperation |
have been forced to make public my side (or
al least portion of it) OF the unfortunate state
OF affairs. l do this with extreme reluctance,
and only then that the people of Oakland may
no longer think that my father was the kind
Of man that his detamerS are trying to make
him out, and that they may no longer think
that my continued silence is a sign of weak
ness or that admit, even by silence, that he
was anything but good man. As Tor myself
l desire 10 say that shall at the proper time
show that all OF the stories circulated so in
dustriously against me are absolutely and
unquallfedly untrue, and that the persons
making them are unworthy OF belief.
In has been industrIously circulated by
word OF mouth and in interviews in the pu blic
prints that my father made an unfair divi-
sion OF his property and bequeated the larger
portion 10 me, leaving his daughter, my half
sister, and his widow, my stepmother, but Ill
provided for. 1t has been sta ted both by word
OF mouth and in newspaper interviews that
the value OF my fathers estate was from $3.50
600 10 S400, 900. Neither OF these statements
is true.
My fathers estate at this time is, at a fair
and liberal estimate, not worth more than
$2S0,000. This estate he divided into two
unequal portions. To me he gave the lesser
portion and to his widow and my sister, be-
tween them, he gave the larger portion. To
me he gave property valu d at not more than
1927 600 and to his daug hter and his widow he
gave Sl43,O00- 1t was fair to suppose that his
uaugh er would survive his widow and be-
come her heir-so that he practically divided
his property into two unequal portions, giving
the larger portion to his daughter and the
smaller portion TO his son. All this property
was acquired by my father before his mar
rlage with mis- widow, and o portion of IL was,
rs my father declared in his will, community
property. The property he gave TO his widow
IS, at q low estimate, worth $4,000, there
fore, ore-quarter of the whole estate, ana
brings in al ncome OF $215 per month The
total income OF the property given 10 my sister
and ileT mother over $3.50 per month.
1t is true that my tatneT provided that the
property bequeathed TO my sister should in
the event oil then entirely improbab contin-
gencies go to me. Those contingencies have,
unfortunately, arisen, and the property be-
queathed TO my sister goes, under the provi-
sons of the will. TO me. What is there unnat-
ural in this Is it not perfectly ma tural that q
man should wish that his property should 90
10 his direct descendants and not to the family
OF his second wife, neither of whom, the wife
the family, had helped him accumulate any
portion OF it And is not that vile (and even
her family well provided for when she is left
property of the value OF $40 900. home rent
free and an income of over 5000 month
even in these times, when rents are low and
property has deprecated
As have said before, l make public a por-
tion OF my defense of the good name of my
father with great deal of reluctance, and
only after l had waited patiently and in
silence many weeks for the attacks upon him
10 cease. As sfor the false accusations that
have been made against me and my good name
have at this time only to say tnat they are
absolutely and unqualfedly untrue, and that
when the proper time comes (as it will when
the contest comes in court) shall show that
those who have believed these tales without
waiting TO hear the other side have done me
an injustice and themselves no honor