The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-08-30
The Testatrix Was of
!: Sound Mind.
JUDGE CoFFEY'S OPINION
HE REFERS TO HER RATHER
PECULIAR PERSONALITY.
She Was Proud of Her Figure and
Used to Indulge in Nude
.. Gambols Before Her
; Mirror.

A decision was rendered by Judge COT
. fey yesterday sustaining the Will of Mrs.
Angela r. Scott. The contest filed by
Emerson w. Scott, husband of the de-
ceased, was found to be without merit
and the $780, 900 estate of the testatrix will
be distributed according to her desires.
:: The fortune left by Mrs. Scott was be-
:: Queathed her by her first husband, S. 2.
Collins, a prominent liquor dealer, of the
firm. of Wheeland & Collins. At the adj
vanced age of IS she, in March of 1883
married Scott, who was a widower, sew
: eral years her junior, and the father of
several children. In December of 1897 she
died. A few days later her will was filed,
and the husband, after many requests
were specified, was given two-fifths of the
residue, a bequest valued at about SO, 900.
Those to whom the bulk of the estate was
-bequeathed were: Mrs. Louisa Garcia, a
sister of the testatrix; her niece, Mrs.
Helen Gerrish, and her nephew, Frank
Gerrish Jr.
Scott in the contest charged undue in
fuence, and especially based his conten-
ton that the will should be set aside on
the allegation that his wife was insane
when she executed the instrument. He
charged that Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Gerrish
and Frank Gerrish had poisoned his wife
mind against him, had made false state
.ments and led her to believe that he had
baar er1Iilfxr Of in6de1itv Nv reason of
:; this influence Mrs. Scott became jealous
:: of her husband, and, as he alleged, treat
The case was tried before Judge Coffey,
and was sensational to a degree when 1t
referred to the disposition and conduct OF
. Mrs. Scott. As reviewed by the court IN
" the decision, Mrs. Scott was q woman
=. endowed with physical form of symmet-
. rfcal. proportions, with stately presence
and dignified carriage, conscious of her
charms, proud and vain of her beauty
and avariciOus of admiration and jealous
of attention bestowed upon others of her
sex, of whom she was not fond, having
=. little confidence in the virtue of women
and less faith in woman's virtue. Ney-
ertheless, she was or sound MIND, holds
q the court, and was capable OF dlSpoSing
= tated
At the time of his marriage Scott was
IN financial distress. He, for some time,
- had met with but little success in bust
ness, and new duties deVolved upon him
when he came to manage his Wife'S eS-
tate, and as such manager he was not a
success. The court, on the other hand,
=: finds that Mrs. Scott was learned in bust
ness methods and shrewd. 1t was nat
ural under the circumstances that she
should have been disappointed, states
Judge Coffcy, in finding that her husband
was lacking in business ability. Her abil-
=: fly and. her disappointment that her hus-
band was not so gifted are strong evil
dences Of her sanity AS to her personal
nature, the court found that she was
coarse, obscene and immOdeSt. Although
proud and stately in public bearing,
I'm her. home, states the court, she
threw off her affectation of reserve and
= reticence and assumed an abandon of act
and expression that would put Billings
gate to blush and cause Its fshmongers
to hide their heads in shame" She used
!: obscene language, INDUCED in nude gam.
bots before her mirror and was guilty of
. departure from modesty in many ways,
but the court refused to consider such
characteristics as evidence of insanity.
=. Another point in her favor was that she
had reason to believe that her husband
was unfaithful to her, and reference was
made to an occasion when she caught her
husband fondling a servant girl.
will a Is evidence
sanity of the testatriX. She disposed of
her property in a natural way remember
ing relatives Of her first husband as well
e. as those of her second. She left her hus-
band that portion that pleased her mind
and that it did not please her husband is
no reason for setting it aside. Conse-
. uuently the will was sustained.
Scott, it is believed, will take an appeal
to the Supreme Court.