El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-19
LAWYERS
STILL ARGUING
The Burns Will Case In The
District Court
THE BURDEN OF PROOF

Is In Effect Asserted To Be To the
COntestee, To Show That There
Was No Fraud In Connection With
the Will. CONF
When the district court opened this
morning Attorney w. H. Burgess con-
tinued his argument in behalf of the
Contestant Lamb. He spoke until near
noon. nj
LAYERS admitted thst.his argument
was logical and conclusive and that his
explanation of law points was clear and
easy of comprehension.
Attorney Burgess said in part:
"If the making of the Patterson W Ill
WAS Burns's own free act and the docu-
ment signed by those two witnesses,
then IL must bs valid and must be ad-
mitted to probate; but that fact must
be established the by two credible wit
nesses-to establish validity of the
will it must be signed in the presence
of two credible witnesses.
"Let US suppose, for the sake of argu-
ment, that Wallace is an entirely credi-
BILE witness and he has signed a will.
That is one credible witness; now let
US suppose another person who cannot
be believed on oath; then you have
but one credible witness and the will is
invalid. ~
uo Ttput6blOu Vi v 6u L 6tIcu nus
been damaged beyond reparation. On
the other hand as witness is the man
whose interest is Identical with that of
the leRatee.
Zone witness not to be believed on
oath, yet the statute says the will must
be proved by two credible witnesses.
"If such will as that, signed by
such men. is allowed to stand, there Is
not q man in this community who could
lfc do af nj mi he
that his property would not be diverted
and never reach his heirs.
Gail the testimony shows that Burns
could neither read or write. He was
peculiarly situated when he made this
will which they claim he made. 1t was
made in the Office of the legatee by q
man who was as much interested in the
property as the legstee himself. They
took the will to Austin. Austin is as
much entitled to belief as any man in
the community. He is as silent as the
grave concerning the alleged writing
on the envelope stating the contents
said he did not remember anything
about It.
Attorney Davis advances the re-
markable theory that Burns told none
of his friends about the will because he
wanted to protect Patterson; that he
had to have police protection and that
the will he would have been deprived
of it, and at that moment all the judi
cial powers of this state and this town,
vested in Charley Patterson, would
have been. invoked to ruin the dive
keeper and crush his prostitutes.
1.-THE fact that Burns depended on
the law as administered by the record
err to protect him and for his income
and that Patterson protected Burns's
prostitutes represents no reason why q
court of justice should be called upon
to do violence and deprive these legi-
innate heirs of their inheritance and
divert it to Patterson. There is no
reason, because he put himself
on the side of the law
breaker and assisted in accumulating
the property, that he should now ask
this court to- award it to him on the
strength of the testimony of his law
partner and Van Patten. | have
searched the authorities through and
failed to find anything said or any legal
excuse why this court should commit a
moral wrong by depriving these heirs
in. ireland of their Inheritance and con-