The Anaconda standard., 1899-05-30
A NEW WILL DISCOVERED
Sensation Sprung in the Airport
Estate Case.
APPEARS TO BE GENUINE
Executed Few Weeks Before His
Death and Intrusted to One of
the Witnesses Who For
got All About 1t.

Another sensation in connection with
the affairs of the Airport estate was
created yesterday by the discovery of
new will which appears to have been
executed by John D. Airport in Butte
about six weeks before he died and
about four months after the iate of the
will which was recently at the trial of
contest at Basin proved to have been
forgery The new will, which bears
all the evidence Of genuineness, was
drafted by B. c. w. Evans of this city
| and has since been in the possession
| of NJ. S. Geigerich, one of the witnesses
| to the instrument Geigerichs only
explanation for not producing the will
sooner is that after Airport gave it
to him for safe keeping he placed it
in tin box among number of other
papers and never thought of it again
until yesterday, when he came upon it
while searching for some other docu-
ment. The will was enclosed in a seal
ed envelope marked with the initials
u. D. A., and as soon as he saw the
package he recalled what it was. He
did not open it, but placing it in his
| former partner of Airport, and told
him what he had found and together
! the two went to the office of Judge
E. A. Nichols and Gegerich requested
him to open the envelope He said
| he knew what it contained, but he de-
! sired it to be opened in the presence of
| witnesses. The judge opened the en-
! velope and took out the will and read
it. 1t bequeathed everything to Mrs
| Caroline V. Kelley, a sister of Airport,
then resident of Denver, but now re-
siding with her husband in Butte.
| In a very few minutes j. l.. Wines,
attorney for Mrs. Kelley, had been no
titled of the find and he soon had pos
! session of it and held a consultation
| with Mrs. Kelley and her husband
Within an hour afterward the will had
been filed with the clerk of the district
court, and Mrs. Kelley had petitioned
for its probate. The will reads as fol-
lows:
Il, John D. Airport in Butte City,
state of Montana, realizing the uncer-
tainty of life, do hereby make, exc
cute, publish and declare this to be
my last will and testament:
"First-I do hereby give. devise and
| bequeath unto my sister, Caroline vi
ola Kelley, now residing in Denver city,
city, state of Colorado, all my proper
| ty both real and personal, of every
kind and description, wherever the
same may be situated at this time or
at the time of my DEATH
| "Second-I do hereby designate and
appoint my sister, Caroline Viola Kel-
| ley, eXecutrix of this my last will and
| testament with no bonds. $50
In testimony whereof I do hereby
sexecute this document as my last will
and testament in the presence Of B.
c.. W. Evans and NJ S. Geigerich as
witnesses, and do request them to ex-
ecute the same as such, this the 18th day
| of October, A. D. 1895.
(Signed) JOHN D. ALLPORT.
I'VE, B. C. w Evans and NJ. S. Gel
gerich. do hereby certify and witness
that the above and foregoing document
consisting of one page, was signed by
John D. Airport and was published and
declared by him to be his last will and
testament, all in our presence, and
| that we do now sign the same as wit
nesses at his request and in his pres
ence aud in the presence of each other.
Witness our hands this 18th day of
October A. D. 1895 B. c. w. Evans,
residing in Butte, Montana; NJ. S. Gel
gerich, residing in Butte. Montana"
In her petition Mrs. Kelley recites the
facts that Airport died on Nov. 26, 1895,
aged 56 years, and that he left property
at the time of his death as follows:
Six patented mining claims in Jeffer-
son county; a fourth interest in the
Minnie Healey mine in Butte; 81 1880 in
cash in the First National bank of
Butte; $340 in the Bank of Boulder, and
60 lots in the town of Basin valued at
about $4,000. The cash left has since
been used up in the administration of
the estate and before the discovery of
the will. The estate, it is alleged, is
largely of a speculative value, but is
estimated to be worth at least 100000
The following persons are named as
tie next of kin, all sisters of the de-
ya1lo
aged As; Mary Miller of Helena, aged
20; Lille S. Farleigh of Chicago, aged
30: DEWEY Airport of Glare, Mich.
aged As, and Frances Wellman, whose
age and residence are unknown.
B. G. w. Evans, who drew up the will
| for Airport, stated last evening that
| he remembered doing so and the only
reason he gave for not saying anything
about the existence of the will while
the contest over the estate was going
on was that he had no interest in the
fight and was not friendly toward some
of the parties connected with it. He
said that at the time he drew up the
will for Airport the latter was very sick
and he made the statement at the time
that he had made another will some
time before and had given it to the
"boys," but he did not believe Mrs. ALL
port would get it,
The will over which the recent con-
test was made was executed on June
Is, 1895, at Basin, and was signed by
Hank Osborne and a man named Law
renee as witnesses. About two years
ago that will was forwarded by Os-
borne from San Francisco to James A.
Talbot of this city. Osborne said in
a letter accompanying the will that he
had overlooked it before leaving Mon
tana and that he was then on his way
to Alaska. That will also left the en-
tire estate to Mrs. Kelley, except that
it also made a provision for some Gem
etery ground for the town of Basin and
small bequest for a library fund, in
accordance with an oft-eXpressed in
tention by Airport during his lifetime.
The other sisters of Airport instituted
a contest on the ground that the will
was a forgery, and at the trial they
had such a great array of expert and