The San Francisco call., 1897-06-13
Decides Also That the Woman'S
Son Is Not the Child of the
Late DR.. James.
Relatives of the Decedent Will Obtain
Possession of the 100000 Estate
Now in Probate.

widow of the deceased by virtue of a con-
tract marriage. On this account she de-
manded half the estate and presented in
court a boy baby, which she declared to
be the posthumous son of the decedent,
and for him she asked the court to set
aside the other half of the property.
To this arrangement the heirs of the
dead man objected and contest ensued.
In his opinion Judge Coffey decides that
the pretended marriage contract is a
forged document; that the young woman
was not the wife OF DR.. James and conse-
quently is not his widow and that the
child claimant is not the child of tue de-
cent, Charles a. James.
This trial was one of the longest that
ever occurred in this City. 1t began on
Dpcem Der g. 1896, and continued inter-
mittently until March l3 of This year. The
battle was stubbornly fought by Attorneys
w. Ii. H. Hart, Aylett r. Cotton and
George W. Fox on behalf of the pretended
widow ana by Attorneys George D. Shad-
burne and George Hudson for the heirs
at-Iaw. The prize at stake consisted of
improved real estate in this City worth
bout 500, 000
The alleged marriage contract offered
by the female claimant is as follows:
SAN FRANCISCO Cal, Jan. 6, 1895
90, and Laura Milen, aged 10, do hereby mu-
1ually bind ourselves unto each otner as hus-
band and wife. This agreemeneor co-.ract TO
be authority 1or same before GOD ae.aa'--44En.
CHARLEB a. JAMES
LAURA MILEN.
The finding of this paper was the subject
OF comment in the opinion given by the
court yesterday. Witness Cluett CLERK
for the Public Administrator made a
thorough examination of the premises
and was not able 10 find any such paper.
Others who searched for Yalua bles papers
were equally unsuccessful, but when At
tor1sy Hart looked through the desk of
the deceased he quickly discovered the
valuable writing. Judge Coffey remarked
That this illustrates the importance of a
man knowing what he is trying to find.
The others were looking for will, while
Nj. Hart was more interested in finding a
marriage contract, so the contract was
found and there was no trace of any other
important paper.
The history OF the relations of DR..
James and the woman who claimed to be
his widow covered a very short time.
They met for the first time Dece IN Der 13, /
1894, and, according TO her story, were
married by contract on the 9th of the
succeeding month He died suddenly
twenty-five days later.
Counsel tor the claimant contended that |
she was pure young girl and declared /
that 1t was not reasonable to suppose that /
she was capable of carrying out such a |
scheme as was involved in this marriage /
contract matter. To this suggestion coun-
sci for the heirs at law responded that she |
was dominated by her srepmother, Mrs. |
Jessie Luella OTIeH Milen, who was
proved TO be the author OF a book called /
The Temptress; or Was He to Blame?" /
This volume was so vile that it was seized |
by the Society for the Prevention OF Vice |
Attorney General Hart seemed to think |
this act unwarranted, and intimated in /
"a of ha trio h,t Es,ho
Work of the book is not immoral"
Judge Coffey does not concur in this |
opinion. His verdict is recorded as fol- |
lows: ut may have a profound moral |
purpose tor the propagation of purity OF |
thought and action, but if that be its in !
tent it is too deep and obscure for the car
nal sense to penetrate; 1t is essentially |
bad book, bawdv book; the letter pI ess |
written up to the lascivious engravings, the |
tenor OF the text turgid and tawdry the |
composition execrable IL every respect !
cheap, coarse, ungrammatical; and, as /
suming it to be original in conception. it |
IS lneffably vile in matter, manner and !
execution"
This book was printed by the Bancroft |
Company of this CITY, and was copv- !
rghted by NJ. NJ. Packer under the fcti- !
tious name OF NJ. NJ. Caine. He explained |
OH the witness stand that he did this be- |
cause his mothers maiden name was |
Game, which circumstance brought out |
me IoIIoWlhS comment by Judge Coffey: |
'Rare mark OF respect for the memory of |
ones mother. Since the time of the first |
Cam 1t may be doubted that any such |
mark Of tlhal veneration has been be- |
slowed OH descendant of Eve.''
Andrew c. Cunningham. who made the |
eneravings for Mrs. Milen, testified that |
she told him the nude form in the photo |
graph used as a frontispiece was that of |
her Step-daugnter Laura. This was de- |
MED by Mrs. Milen and her step-daugh- |
ter.
There was some testimony tending TO |
prove that DR.. James introduced the !
young woman as his wife to certain per-
sons in this City, but this was discredited |
by the fact that he did not make anv re- |
marks TO his most intimate friends and |
associates. Several dresses that were |
given 20 the young woman and her stem
mother were shown to have been the cast |
off apparel of DR.. James former wife, He
had tried to sell some OF this clothing to |
a servant girl, but she declined to become
a purchaser.
Miss Ella Sullivan, a dressmaker who
was employed to change the garments
formerly worn by the doctors late wife SO
that they could be utilized by his new ac-
quain tances, testified tnat while she was
fitting Mrs. Miien's dress Laura came in
and Mrs. Milen said to her: Lets blow
the old man in for theater tickets and a
supper" and Laura said she would try.
At this particular period of time, accord
I ing to the woman's present story, she was
the wife of DR.. James by contract, and
her stepmOther knew of the relation ex-
isting between her and the DOCTOR
The court referred at length to Attor-
ney Shadburne's point that If the al
legged wife had really made such con-
tract as is here alleged she would have
kept it in her own possession for her pro-
lection, inst stead of letting it remain N the
possession of another, where it might be
lost or destroyed, 10 the irreparable dam
age of herself and her progeny.
In conclusion Judge Coffsy quotes evi-
dence to show that the claimant here did
not assert that she was the widow of Dr.
James until about February 13, which was
more than two weeks after his death; she
did not weep at the funeral and showed
no sign of bereavement; she threw a rose
in the grave and at once left the cemetery
with her chaperon, Mrs. Milen, the
author of tnat unspeakably nasty book,
"The Temptress," and the court is of
opinion that the scheme of widow hood
was concocted some time after the death
OF DR.. James. In addition to declaring
1z1 of g.