The Portland daily press., 1897-09-18

her. she waived all claim to his property.
Another similar agreement was drawn
up by Lawyer Potter and signed by them,
in confirmation of the first agreement, he
he didn't know as he had that sum, and
when the bank books were brought to
him and it was shown that he had much
more than $500 he expressed surprise,
though the books showed that his ac-
counts had been balanced but few days
before.
Last October or November he became
Indifferent toward religious matters IN
general and the Methodist church in
particular. He was a very devoted
Christian and church member, had al
WAYS been regular in family devotion and
in reading his Bible. All at once he
abandoned his devotion. When asked
why he had given up prayer, he said he
did not care to have any more.
His memory became SO weak that he
had to make a memorandum OF every.
thing he did or was going to do. He was
very hard of hearing and his sight was
weak. He had been sick in bed about ten
days when he made the will He sent her
to summon Lawyer Potter. She was sum-
moned into the bedroom and Mr.. Grover
asked her to tell the lawyer the names OF
his children and their places OF residence.
Questioned in detail regarding his al
legged mental wanderings, Mrs. Grover
said that both before and after the will
was made he talked q great deal to him
self, said dogs were worrying him and ne
was going to chop them up into m1nce-
meat He said that messages were coming
to him through the windows, and at one
time SAID somebody was f1lllng his wood
shed with coal and he would have to pay
for it, He went out to the woodshed twice
before he became convinced that o coal
was being stored there.
Under cross-examination, Mrs. Grover
produced the ante-nuptial and post
nuptial agreements, both of which were
produced in evidence.
Being recalled later in the hearing, she
testified that her husband once last fall
said he was tired of living, and the
quickest way to die would be to commit
suicide. She took the precaution to. hide
his razor. She sent for his daughter, Mrs.
Rand, and told her about it.
Mrs. Susan S. McKown of Boothbay
Harbdr, another daughter of the testator,
testified that she was much surprised at
his sudden departure from religious de-
votion. He talked great deal about
churches and ministers, said that preach
ers were followers of a trade; that they
were in it for money, and would take the
bread from anybody's mouth. He often
talked disconnectedly. He had great
difficulty in counting money.
Mrs Octavia Love, another daughter,
and Wilbur N. Grover, son, gave cor
roborative testimony regarding the old
gentleman's physical and mental con-
dition.
DR.. Mitchell was further questioned on
scientific points and then Mr.. Potter
took the stand and related in detail his
business transactions with Mr.. Grover.
AT the time the win was made he saw no
evidence of mental weakness in the old
gentleman. The visit at the house was in
response to a summons from Mr.. Glover
and the suggestion about making will
and naming an executor was purely
voluntary on the testator's part.
Under cross-examination he estimated
that real estate in the case at about S10,-
0OO and the personal property at $4,000.
The latter consists Of sl3, 500 in bonds. a
small amount of gold and less than $4,000
in bank deposits.
The case will be submitted to Judge
Peabody next week.