El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-21
ARGUMENT FOR LAMB
In the Burns Will Case.

Judge w. M. Coldwen commenced
his argument in the Burns will case at
9 O'clock this morning. He bad pro
vided himself with q large number OF
law books which were placed on the
table in front of him and from these
volumes he frequently read extracts
In support of his contention.
He produced many authorities 20
prove that oral declarations were
perfectly admissible to show that
Burns, long after the making OF the
alleged Patterson will, of July "a,
1897, had no idea of having willed his
property to anyone but Lamb ana
Lambs daughters and had no knowl-
edge whatever of the existence OF the
Patterson will or any other.
Attorney Coldwell was several times
interrupted by the court to expound
fine points of law and he was found
After Attorney Coldwell had read
considerable law and argued for time
he was interrupted by Judge Wslthall
who asked:
"Suppose q certain party was pos
sessed Of sound mind and dispos1ng
memory, as has been proved to be 9
fact in Burns's case, what effect would
that have on the will of July "A, 1877
Coldwell: We do not deny that
Burns had suffi cient mind to make the
will but we brought in the declarations
of many witnesses to show that he had
no knowledge of having made 1t, long
after 1t was made. We admit that
Burns was of the same mind and me-
mory when he wrote the first Will In
favor of the heirs but we contend that
he had no knowledge of the existence
of any will in favor of Patterson. We
introduced declarations to show that
Burns thought he had made no will In
favor of Patterson, and the condition
of his mind in regard to 1t long after
July "a, 1897.
Did not Patterson and Wallace
stand in q position to abuse the conf
dence OF Burns? Was not Patterson
his attorney and Wallace his emanuen-
sis? The same typewriter wrote both
Wills"
At this juncture Judge Walthall
asked: Suppose Patterson did use un-
due influence TO get Burns to come up
and sign, what would be the effect on
the will?"
Coldwell:-"It would be wrong and
the will would be invalid"
Wslthall:-"If Burns was still in
possession of all his mental facul-
ties?'
Coldwell:-"If he was as sound as a
dollar; il he possessed as much sense as
Justice Marshall when he rendered his
most famous decision, the will would
have been invalid. The decisions are
more numerous on that point than on
any other"
Attorney Coldwell read from Pome-
roy on the relations of attorney and
client as effecting the validity of wills
in favor of the attorney. my oppo-
uents claim" said the speaker, that
the will was likely genuine because
Patterson had vast opportunities for
influencing Burns and great power
over him. On such arguments as this
the words OF Pomeroy fall like the AK
OF the guillotine upon the neck OF the
criminal. But if they had shown that
Burns's heart as we'll as his hand con-
veyed the property to Patterson then
the will would be valid. They have
shown neither.
ga will must not be a mere physical
act but mental or spiritual act.
Even the S200,given to Lamb in that
will was not the free GIFT of Burns;
they swore that. Wallace gave it
that he might deprive the heirs of
$1,000. L contend that Wallace and