The San Francisco call., 1898-06-14
Sig Contest to the
 Franklin Will.
RICH ESTATE AT STAKE
TW) WIDOWS AND MANY CHILL
 DREN INVOLVED.
A Long Struggle Is Expected Over the Possessions of the Late Julius L.
 Franklin.

Two petitions will be filed with the
 County Clerk to-day which will intro
 duo will contest involving the dkstrt-
 butbn of at least $50O,O0 and the fair
 nare of Mrs. Pauline Franklin. the
 widw of Julius L. Franklin. who died
 aftF a protracted illness on the 18th of
 December, 1Ss7 The petitions reek with
 serational matter. The petitioners are
 Be-amin J. Franklin, Mollie Wilson and
 Eaie Porter, the children of Julius l..
 FrnkIin by former marriage with an
 1nian woman. which. according to the
 allegations of the petition, was never dis
 soyed or annulled. Benjamin J. Frank
 lif is represented by Felix II. Merzbach,
 N'llie Wilson by Julius Solomons, JoLn
 E Riley and Crittenden Thornton of
 cInsel.
 will was left by Franklin and in It
 is recognized the offspring of his first
 marriage as his own children, but they
 were practically disinherited. To remedy
 he alleged wrong done them they have
 low petiuoned the Superior Court to re-
 'oke the probate of the will. The second
 oetition is for the removal of Mrs. Paul.
 ne Franklin as eXecutriX of the estate
 of the decedent for false returns in the
 inventory.
 About three months ago two petitions
 were filed by the attorneys for the con testing heirs which foreshadowed the published exclusively a story concerning the existence of these children by the first marriage, which was then generally un- known. The Indian mother had dfsap- peared from public ken many years ago and there was much doubt expressed both as to the uncertainty of her exist ence and to the locality of her residence. The attorneys for the petitioners now claim that Mrs. Mary Franklin is not only living, but that they have been in communication with her for several weeks, and it is their intention to in- troduce her at the trial It will be re- membered that Mrs. Mary Franklin, the mother of the contestants, was Julius Franklin's first choice as a spouse, It vas she, daughetr of a Chinook chief
 ain, that captivated the susceptible
 over when he was a trader in furs in the
 upcultivated and unsettled wilds of Brit
 iSh Columbia
 The first sensation in the contest Is the allegation that Julius Franklin at the time of the making and signing of the will was of unsound mind and was in- competent to make the will. The cause of this unsoundness is said to have been heart disease, from which Franklin had suffered during many years prior to his death, and which had, as 1t is averred, So weakened him in mind and body that he was incapable of rational effort.
 The second allegation in the petition Is or more serious nature, and, if proved, VIII make The children or the 0TSt mar riage the lawful heirs Of the deceased The contest reads that Julius Franklin was married to Mary Franklin-she with the blood of a chieftain in her Veins-in lA5l, and that the marriage was never dist solved or annulled, and notwithstanding these marital obligations he willfully de- serted and abandoned her in 1870 This was the time when Franklin made sucn sudden change in his mode of living. He then quit the forest, the hut and the Indian camp, surrendering the freedom of EHe in Portland With him he took his three children-Lena Franklin, Benjamin J. Franklin and Mollie Franklin-and the first rudiments of an education were taught them. The mother remained sur rounded by the scenes of her native heath and the people of her tribe. Latterly she drltted to Portland, where she now lives.
 The marriage of Julius l., Franklin and Pauline Franklin is spoken of in the con test as a pretended one. It recites how the deceased, leaving his wife in igno- rance of his own and his childrens where abouts, contracted another marriage. He then established a new home, to which he brought the offspring of his union with his first wife.
 As the petition reads. they were treated with great kindness until the birth of the first child of this second marriage when a course of discrimination in favor Of her own child was begun by Mrs. Paul. inc Franklin.
 It is claimed that this i'll treatment until the mind of the father was poisoned against the children of the Ilrst union and his affections alienated from them; that by means of a constant harassment the father was led to believe that they were undutiful, rebellious. dis obedient and lacking in fiIial affection.
 Another sensational charge in the peti- ton is that Mrs Pauline Franklin re- peatediy threatened in the presence of Mollie Wilson, one of the petitioners, that 1T she could help it, the latter would never inherit a dollar of her fathers money. All this oppression and opposi- tion, as stated in the papers to be filed to-day, eliminated in the election of Mol He Wilson from her ia ner's home The father was thereafter ooliged to see his daughter in secret, which he did on sey- eral occasions, confessing to her h. in- ability to alter the condition of affairs. II is charged that all this expressed an tlpathy on the part of Mrs. Pauline Franklin was caused by her desire to pre- vent the heirs of Julius Franklin by his first wife from inheriting any of their fathers estate.
 The second petition is for the removal of Mrs. Pauline Franklin as executrix Tn February of this year Mrs Pauline Franklin as executrix named in the last will and testament of Julius Franklin re- turned an inventory which showed an estate of $2953 in value. This the peti- tiOners assert is ridiculous, that the es- tate left by the deceased was at least a half million dollars. It Is alleged that various large interests in commercial en- rerprises are not mentioned in the in- rentory at all. No accounting of the in ness of Franklin & Metzger is mentioned and various other concerns in which l Franklin was known to have been a partner.
 With the filing of these two petitions a egal war has begun for the effects of the lead man. Which Mrs. Franklin the law will uphold is a a matter of time and 1 judicial ascertainment