The St. Johns herald., 1899-04-15
JACK AND HIS WILL.
A Special Act of the British PRrlIa-
 ment Arranges That Matter.

Special Act of the British ParlIa-
 ment Arranges That Matter.
 Jack has the proud distinction of having had an act of parliament passed for the express purpose of deciding the way in which he must make his will. so that while all other Britons are Jumped together in this matter under the wills act of 1888 sailors testament ary documents are made under the naval wills act of 1866. The most i'm portant proviso of this act is that all wills made by sailors or marines must be witnessed and attested by the chap lain or some other officer if they are actually made on board ship. and this is somewhat curious
 If a sailor likes to make his will on shore, any one can witness 1t for him, but on board ship the case is different. Needless to say they almost all to a man choose the latter course. as they know that things will be straighter for bearing an officers signature. If, how ever, supposing that the vessel was in action and 8 man was to be struck down who had not previously made a will, if he had to do so before he died. even if it were not attested by an off Ger, the admiralty has full power to act on the merits of the case and to dis pense with that or any other formality that it was impossible to comply with. Another thing-a sailor shares with a soldier the privilege of when on active service being the only man who can dispense with written will and make a verbal one.
 In former times any one could make his will verbally if he so desired, but this, as may be supposed, opened the door to no end of fraud. and it was consequently repealed in the 1888 act. except in the case mentioned above. On the night before ship or regi- ment goes into action there is no more pathetic sight than to see the men, young and old, laboriously writing their wills in case tomorrow should be their last day in this world. and what with witnessing wills and making them on the forms issued by the authorities for those who cannot write-and this class has now almost entirely disappeared from both the navy and the army-the officers have a very busy time.
 washIngton's Tomb.
 Washington was buried in what is now known as the old vault, which is perhaps 200 feet away from his present resting place Before his death he had requested that new family vault be constructed after his decease, and the reason given for this is that the earth upon the side of the hill where the old vault was placed was likely to slip paway in the springtime.
 No attention was apparently paid to this request, however, until about 1880, when an employee who had been discharged from the estate broke into the old tomb as an act of revenge and stole a skull which he supposed to be that of George Washington. This he took to Alexandria, and, as usual in such cases. ''got drunk, and so his secret was discovered, and the skull, which proved to be that of Laurence Washington instead, was returned.
 This incident led to the final carrying out of the wish of General Washington The tomb which is his present resting place was promptly built. and in 1881 his remains were removed to it. The old vault was allowed to fall into a state of decay. and only few years ago it was restored by the aid of drawings found in the congressional library. An iron fence has been built around it, and it now receives the same care as the new tomb. Exchange.