The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-05

there was no question about admitting
the will, even without the signatures of
the customary witnesses. The estate
was worth 100000
From Pittsburg also comes the story
of a nuncupative will, admitted with
out question. A "nuncupative,' or I'M
written will, Is q verbal express
sion of the testator's wish merely, and
the admission Of such will is eX-
ceedingly rare, two witnesses, or,
speaking more properly, two auditors,
being necessary. In this case the tes-
tator was a workman in one of the
iron mills, and he desired his wife to
get all his property-a house and lot
and small sum in the bank Being in
the prime of life, he had never thought
of making will, when, without warn
ing, he was hurt frightfully in an ac-
cident. He understood clearly that he
could not live longer than a few min
utes at the most, and, in fact, had only
breath enough left after being hurt
to gasp in few whispered words that
he wished his wife to have all his small
possessions.
The romantic finding of her grand
mothers will by Miss I4avinia A. Van
Westervelt Dempsey, better known as
II. r. H, the queen of the Holland
danes, has been forgotten by nearly
everyone, but it raised great SEN
sation in 1S90-91, when a will contest in
which the Dempsey family was inter-
ested was on in the orphans court Of
Bergen county, lover in Jersey" The
complete story of this contest is long
and intricate. but at the time of Miss
Dempsey's find a big pot of money
was in dispute between the Dempseys
and two professional men, the lawyer
and the doctor, who had been employed
by Mrs. Louise Melville, an aunt Of the
Dempseys.
Found in a Tea Chest.
The reason for Mrs. Melville leaving
her fortune to the doctor and the law
yer was supposed to have been quar-
rel between her and her brother, the
father of the Dempsey children. Docu-
ments bearing upon that quarrel were
wanted, and, therefore, Miss Lavinia
Dempsey began to search through her
dead fathers papers.
She hunted several weeks without
finding anything Of consequence. Eigh-
teen boxes, two trunks and chest of
drawers We're filled with legal and
other documents. One of the boxes was
a tea chest. 1t was searched last and
it yielded up not what was sought, but
the long-lost will of the grandmother.
This paper was dated only a few days
before the old lady's death, in 1858, and,
therefore, had been written 81 years
when found. The whole business had
a flavor of romance. Apparently the
Will, which was executed in Rome, was
carried around in his pocket for years
by DR.. Dempsey, father of Queen La
vinia. and there was a story of con-
flicting interests which involved the
Dempsey, the Melville, the Van Wester
welt and other families in a perfect
maze. Miss Dempsey played dramatic
part in the proceedings. for she not
only found the will, but she testified at
length before a crowded court room
concerning the document. The grand
mothers testament made Mrs. Mel
vile. whose will was being contested,
the life tenant only, and not the owner
of the property she Occupied. Thus it
nvalidated Mrs. Melville's bequest to
her doctor and lawyer.
p. T. Barnum drew a will of 700 pages
years before his death and in the alb
sence of information to the contrary,
it may be safe to consider it the longest
will on record. Aside from it's length
it was model document. 1t disposed
of millions. One famous will was
drawn jointly by husband and wife.
1t was the testament of Senator Terry
and his better half, father and mother
of Antonio Terry, whose marriage to
Sibyl Sanderson, the singer, created so
much talk few years ago. 1t contained
one strange clause-that 100000 in
Spanish gold was to be given to certain