The San Francisco call., 1898-12-09
ARCHBISHOP
 R|ORDAN WINS
 A NOTED CASE The Requests in the Donahue Estate. RECOVERS TWENTY THOUSAND IMPORTANT DECISION BY DIS TRICT JUDGE BEATTY. An Honest Agreement Not Against Public Policy and Must Be
 Fulfilled by Mrs.
 Sprague.
RECOVERS TWENTY THOUSAND
IMPORTANT DECISION BY DIS
 TRICT JUDGE BEATTY.

United States District JNdge James H. | Beatty of Idaho rendered his decision in the case of Archbishop Riordan vs Mrs. | Belle w. Sprague in the Circuit Court yes- | terday. The questions presented arose | upon demurrer to the complaint, and were presented before Judge Beatty while | he sat in the Circuit Court several months l ago. His opinion has been forwarded to the clerk from Idaho. The defendant. Mrs. 1 Sprague, is daughter of Judge William | T. Wallace, and was formerly Mrs Belle | w. Donahue, widow of James Mervyn | Donahue, deceased
 | While MT. Donahue's estate was in | course of administration at San Rafael, | two agreements were made by the Arch bishop, Mrs. Sprague and certain Catholic | asylums. By the terms of one of these stipulations Archbishop Riordan and the Catholic asylums agreed that in any dis tribution of the estate two-thirds of the property should be regarded as com- munity property, and that the estate should be distributed accordingly.
 The law allows man to give in char ity one-third of his separate estate and one-third of half the community proper ty, the other half going to the widow. Consequently, the larger the amount of community property, the more would go to the widow, and less could go to char ity.
 Judge Angellotti decided that the com munity property did not reach two-thirds of the entire estate and, consequently, those charitable institutions which did not make the agreement that two-thirds of the estate was community property received greater share than Archbishop Riordan and the Catholic institutions that did sign the stipulation.
 The amount which the Archbishop and these institutions lost by their stipula- tion was $20 ,S58 40, which the Superior Court of Marin County distributed to Mrs.
 The stipulation upon which the suit de- cided by Judge Beatty was brought was a part of the same transaction. By that stipulation 1t was agreed by Mrs. Sprague that if a bequest of S25 900 for the build ing of a fountain was decided to be a gift to charity and to be taken out of the fund legally disposable for charitable purposes she would make up the loss to Archbishop Riordan and the Catholic charities which had signed the stipulation with her that two-thirds of the estate should be regard ed as community property.
 The Superior Court of Marin County did decide that the fountain was a char fly, and the losses sustained by that de- cision were as follows: Archbishop Rior- dan, s15,15I ; 51; Roman Catholic Orphan Catholic Orphan Asylum of San Rafael, $3030 30, and St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Infant Asylum of San Francisco, s757 57.
 Notwithstanding the agreement Mrs; Sprague refused to pay the several amounts above named. and suit was ac- cordingly brought in the Superior Court,
 
 Circuit Court upon the ground that she was a resident of the State of Louisiana, where she lived with her husband, Rich ard T. Sprague.
 The point upon which she attempted to avoid her contract was that it was against public policy. in this: that the result of the stipulation was to. give more than one-third to charity. This claim IS disposed of by Judge Beatty in an opin. ion covering nine pages, in the course of which he says. "It may be observed that at the threshold of the negotiations be- tween these parties their declared pur- pose was to avoid the trouble, expense and delay of litigation. Such contracts honestly entered into are not discouraged by the cOurtS.'
 In conclusion Judge Beatty said, speak ing of the plaintiff: 'T can perceive no reason why he may not by such a con- tract as he made with the defendant protect himself against the possible adverse action of the court" and con- cluded by deciding that the contract was not against public policy and that it was enforceable, and accordingly overruled the demurrer.