The San Francisco call., 1898-02-05
Willev's Death Was Prob ably Only a Sad
 Accident.
Coroner's Jury, However, in Doubt About How He Came
 to His Death.
It May Have Been UnintentiOnal or It May Have Been De-
 sign.

AS a reult of the examination of the Coroner's jury into the facts surround ing the death of Charles w. Wiley, who was found dead in his room at 1145 Mission street on Saturday last. verdict was rendered by the jury yes terday morning at the Morgue that the deceased came to his death from car bon monoxide poisoning, caused by fn- haling gas, but the jury was unable from the evidence to determine whether his death was the result of accident or design.
 The inquest had been adjourned over from Thursday at the request or AL torney A. L. Hart, who represents Will ley's relatives, and yesterday he in- formed the Coroner that they were sat- isfed that his death was caused by gas, and not by any other means. The jury then returned its verdict, and the re- mains were conveyed to the Masonic Cemetery at Il o'clock and were in- tered.
 Willey's death Is surrounded by cer- tain mysterious circumstances, which have grown out of the fact that he left a will, In which he makes Mrs. J. B. Muirhead of 31a Larkin street his sole and absolute heir, and the property left by this will is supposed to be valued at 0.0O0 A. W. White of Marysville and w. K. Springer, now of this city, are the relatives who have employed At torney Hart to look after their interests in the case with the view of breaking the will.
 The will is dated November IT, 1896, and. while 1t was in Willey's handwrit- ing, it is supposed to have been drawn up by a lawyer, as it was couched in legal terms. The suppGsition is that it was drawn up by an attorney and then copied by Wiley. Attorney T. J. Lyon, who has had charge of Willey'S af- fairs for some time, and with whom he was most intimate, is the person who is supposed to have drawn the will but when asked the question if he had done so he refused to either affirm or deny 1t.
 It appears that Willey's relatives when they learned of the circumstances of his death had their suspicious aroused, and at once determined to make an investigation. For this pur- pose they secured as counsel Attorney Hart, who had the cremation of the body stopped on Tuesday upon the grounds that the relatives desired an inquest held. They were further desir- OuS CL udF1LS llic QSdo llidi analysed, but are said to have been de- tered in this by the cost.
 Willey's past life tends to give the true solution of his death, and also the incentive that must have caused him to make the will that he did His rela- tions with his family were not of happy nature, and when his father died he left his property, then valued at $125 900, to charitable institutions, and to his son Charles he left only the small annuity of $500, with the proviso that if he contested the will he was to get nothing. Subsequently, upon the death of his mother, he received legacy of S100 a month from certain rentals, but this property so depreciated that for the last three years he Is said to have realized nothing from this source. His father before his death made a deed of trust giving away his property and in his will he provided for the distribution of such property as was not covered in the terms of the will.
 Attorney Lyon broke the deed of trust in the Superior Court of this city, and he later broke the terms of the will in the Probate Court, but it was car ried by the trustees, for the estate, Dr. William Boericke and E. w. Carpenter, to the Supreme Court upon an appeal
 Willeys father is said to have disin- ed habits, and there was no love lost between them. In fact, Wiley on more than one occasion expressed to his friends, the Muirheads, the desire to be cremated when he should die, as he did