The times., 1897-09-19

/ Mr. keNonl and his sister, touched not
pleasantly Iny snuic 3 hat sensitive feelings.
II did sec.n 10 me that here " as a Glance
20 assist a deserving Young friend of
vhieh ar. KciloTd si-ould have gladly
ayailed l6Elsclf, especially when he knew
IS hC ,JulG moi fail To know that it was
not only re,. m ys,if that desired 10 wuri;
and 10 sacceed. This case, too, was very
siinyle onc. a mere ialLt ora viii proba hiy
forged or altered, such as / had often read
OF II Law hluks anG even i'll novels. It
would nave heenin cvr"y way most suit
( allr ,7, 81 for me- to begin upon but Was
not asked to ave the slightest assistance,
and M Eenora put tie case II himself
/ and Mrs. Crown into the Lands of MesSFs
! Shall,~usS x 1orman fiIu ofll " yerS WHO
alreaay naa 80 much business they did not
! know g-hat to do with it.
AHhousn soreiy AGrt. determined that
! " voull ms let anY Of tie Kefford family
/ knew il Even 10 Natalie / made no Cons
! plaiut, ard to Mr. KeffOrd / talked Of the
affair as l would OF any matter in which
II Has not expected that / should take
anything bl1 afriendiy interest. Thewound
! ranslad, ira ! believe | concealed it.
one strong objection TO the validity
| OF tic wiE was the fact that everything
| which had been owned by the testatCr
vas given without reserve to the III
stitdtioH. 1t was reasonably argued that
! even il old Mfr. X efford had desired to
/ give the greater part Of mis- property to
/ this charity, lie would have made some
/ bequestS 10 bis relatives / had studied
/ tli" viii very carefully, andin CONVEX "a ton
with Mr. Hefford ] took occasion TO give
nly :dcas concerning this peculiar feature
Of it.
4 ileiieve. sir " said l. that this VIII
is a copy of a trre viii, made by old
Mr. Eef5ord and of which Dr. Latin,er
1 had gained poss ession. The property
hequeaihed IL described so clearly aud in
sach deaf. that 90 bOt eil,ee any onr
! tut Jl.c OH eentIeinan could have dawn il
or dictated IL. II was probably all left
I to yourself aud your sister and the only
al Grafton which Dr. Latimer dared 10
make was ihe substitution OF his name
/ foF tE.se originally mentioned. IL he
/ could have Gone 80, / believe he would
/ have interled other bequests, 40 as TO
! give the aocument an air of naturalneSS
ans credihiIi y, but as hs could not consult
/ any 6l5e OF legal experience in the matter
! oc altering "A Wlll, and as be was afraid To
/ do II Himself, for fear OF making q mistake,
which would have spoiled everything he
confined hiuis1lf TO the change OF names.
! That Is the way look at it. sir"
AR. Kefford replied that he thought it
( was not "a all unlikely that / was correct
! in my sGppos.ions and l have reason to
believe that he mentioned those suppo
4 siUioDs TO SGaIlcrUSs & Dorman; but l did
not mind tAis. If there was anything
could do for Natalie's family | would 40
/ 1t, asking only that they should do one
ching fnr u'e; that S If | should find that
( Natalie was willing that it should be done
/ In regarl % the signature Of the will
/ there Were diverse opinions, but tile ma.
( ioriJy % th lse who examined il thought
/ that IL IL We're not The writing Of Nicholas
] Kefford, it looked very much like is
! However. it could not be expected That a
n4ah o. pr Latimer's shrewdness would
/ undertake to fabriCate false viii without
/ being able to counterfeit a signature
OF TIE witnesses to the viii one. John
/ Ashmore. an elderly man. employed on old
/ KefforG's 5 fam, had died soon after the
/ date Uf the viii. and no Ole had heard hira
( say anything about witnessing such docl-
/ ment. The other witness. Reuben Farris.
( was q man who also had been employed by
old NJ. Krfford. He was a carpenter aud
! had been enGseed at various times IN max
/ ingrepairs - harms and out-houSes. He was
! OF wandering disposition, and had left this
( pa.t of tie country soHie time in the last
I sumner but no one could be found who
recoIlected exactly whether or not he had
4 been Oh the Kefford farm at the date of the
1 viii. or course, 1t was very necessary 10
I find Farr's. If he could testify chat ne
! had witnessed that VIII, it would be an adj
van!ageous thing for Dir. LaJimer, and if he
/ could testify that he had not witnessed suen
4 viii, il woulu be equally advantageous for
the contestants.
/ Inquiries regarding the wherea bouts OF
! Reuben Farrio Were now set on foot. II
was known that he had gone West, and
/ that he rad relatives in Missouri. In the
/ mnantiEe tlere turned up an old woman
! IA Satbury vino felt quite certain that
Reuben Fafris had put hinge an her
garden gate early in August and she
thought II was about the 10Th Of AUGUST
of the preceding year. She based this be-
hef urcn the fact that while he was at
work IUon the gate he remarked that he
1 had not Yet seen tomatoes 50 nearly riLe
as those ia her little ratch, and she was
OF the opinion that she had ripe tomatoes
e8rly IN August As She could swear to no
Part . ter elief, having a poor memory
for exact dates. no legal notice could be
taHen "i ser opinions. especially as one OF
ttl neipbbors asserted ina he had gathered
rpe t5atat 3es oh the I'd day of August,
and therefore II Mrs. Budlong had had good
success with her tomatoes. Reuben Farris
inuf have made his remarks concerning
them considerably earlier than August TO-
But although the opinions OF Mrs. Bud
long aud Ter neighbor did not possess a
legal value, they made an Impression in
',anhorOugh SO iithe was known OF about
FarriS even IN Satbury, that the incident
OF tie gate hinge was considered of impor-
tance, giving some reason 20 believe that
the second witness had beeain the vicinity
OF the keffGrd farm on, or about the l0th
/ of August.
Rcuhen Paris was finally discovered
10 be living in St. Louis, and having teen
offered his travelling expenses and some
thing besides if ne would come and give
S-iue desired testimony in regard to old
Kefford's property, lie readily consented,
and set out without delay OF time It
must he Tsentioned that DR. Latimer in
sisted upon hearing part of the expenses
of bringing Farris 10 Camborough He
declared that he desired more than any
one else that everything in relation 70
he viii should be made clear and plain
Ihis was somewhat disfeartening Ia the
Kerforl interest. They would have pre-
tered that the dottor should have the
desire mas Farris should not testify