The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-08-09
Midsummer Court.


Drake, of Camden, represented the e.
ceptants and Mark R. Sooy appeared fC
the executors.
The points to be settled are the rental {
the hotel occupied by Lewis Wallace an
questions of when right of property wa
acquired by the widow of deceased Lev
is Wallace occupied the hotel during til
lifetime of his father The rental was SO
per month. The parents of Lewis Wal
lace lived with him, and provided til
table For this service they received tn
proceeds from the hotel table and $40 0
the rent was also applied to that account
The exceptants claim that no notice shout,
be taken of this arrangement but that tn
rent should have been charged in full b,
the executors.
They also claim that the executors haC
no authority to pay to the widow at ono,
the interest on certain railroad and othe
stocks; that she was not entitled to thi,
income until year after the death of heI
husband. On this point the executor,
say the will provides that the stocks
in question were bequeathed to the widow
during her lifetime, consequently she was
entitled to the interest at once
Counsel agreed to present their case tc
Judge Gaskill on brief, decision to be
rendered on September B.
The exceptions to the accounts of Will
liam B. Wills, executor of Thomas Black,
deceased, were next heard
Mr.. Wills took the witness stand and
was questioned on the additional excep-
lions to his accounts which had been filed
since the last hearing. There was com
plant because he had not collected some
mortgages and notes that are among the
effects of the estate The first to which
his attention was called was mortgage
known as the Croshaw mortgage 1t is a
second encumbrance for 81, 1877, the first
mortgage being for 1927. Interest on
both of these instruments had been prompt
ly paid and the executor did not think it
was advisable to attempt to collect the
principal at forced sale in view of the
present depressed condition of business,
as such action would be attend
ed with considerable expense and proba-
ably result in being compelled to buy the
farm in for the estate. The Smires mort
gage was another of the same kind He
had expected to have received the princi-
pal on this paper, but the mortgagor had
not been able to make the arrangements
he had hoped to be able to effect A note
for $640 against George H. Haines was
the next item. 1t was given for cattle and
Mr.. Wills had succeeded in having it re-
duced to $500. This was done by being
easy with the maker of the note who
was willing to pay little at time, but
who could not be forced to pay cent.
Several other notes were referred to, all
being in the same condition as the Haines
paper Mr.. Wills showed that these OBJ
legations had been received by the de
ceased, who had really done less towards
their collection than his executor had
In reply to questions as to why he had
not made sale of certain property, Mr.
Wills said if he had done so the money
would have remained in bank without
drawing interest as the amount received
would not have been sufficient to make
any distribution among the heirs As some
of it was drawing interest where it was he
thought it better to leave it alone The tim
Der belonging to the estate he had offered
as whole and failing to receive satisfac-
tory bids, had been selling in lots BY the
latter method he had realized double what
had been offered for the whole tract. In
reply to question by his counsel Mr.
Wills said he had not used a single dollar
of the estate for his own benefit
On cross examination witness said he
had been guided, in the matter Of dispos-
ing of railroad and other stocks, by the
brokers in Philadelphia who had done
business for his uncle. In reply to a
question by Mr.. Atkinson why he had not
made an effort to sell certain securities
Mr.. Wills replied that he did not think it
would be good judgment He did not
consider that he was forced to do any
thing that might prove detrimental, as
the will made provision for sale to be
made when he deemed advisable The
second item Of the will reads thus: Il di-
rect my executor to sell all my real and
personal estate, except such as is herein
after specifically bequeathed, within such
time as he may deem advisable
Charles H. Lewis, who owns the prop
erty covered by the Smires mortgage, tes-
titled that he had tried to raise the money
to cancel the obligation but had not sue
ceeded.
1t was expected that Mr. Croshaw
would be present, but as he did not appear,
Mr.. Sooy took the witness stand and testi-
fled that Croshaw had twice applied to
him to raise the money for the purpose OF
cancelling the mortgage, but the fact that
it was second encumbrance was always
an objection. The first mortgage was a
trust fund with provision against its
cancellation until after the death of the
beneficiary. In Mr.. Sooy's opinion the
executor would not have been justified in
forcing a sale in this case
Since the last hearing of this matter
testimony was taken in Philadelphia and
it was now read to the court. 1t was the
evidence of a member of the firm of brok-
ers with whom deceased did business dur
ing his life time, and with whom the ex-
ecutor has consulted since the death OF
his uncle The various items to which
exceptions had been entered were recited
to this witness who, in substance, said that
at no time since the death of Mr. Black
could the securities have been sold at any
material profit, and in his Judgment the
estate had not suffered to the extent of !
single dollar by the action of the executor
in holding the securities.
This concluded the testimony and The
case will be argued on the third of Sep
tember
Pemberton.
Mrs. Daniel Luker, of Hanover, is quit,
i'll.
Wilmer Budd, of Philadelphia, wa
visiting here on Sunday.
Mrs j. H. Buchanan, of Plainfield, il
visiting her mother, Mrs. Annie COLON.