Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-05
CONTEST THE BALLARD WILL
Relatives Not Satisfied with Disposition of
the Property.
THEY WANT ANOTHER ADMINISTRATOR
Attack integrity of Administrators
Pusey While Acting as Executor
of tho Estate of the
Deceased.
WANT ANOTHER ADMINISTRATOR

Deceased
The heirs-at-law Of the late Mrs. Sarah
]. Ballard of this city, who are contcsting
her will and endeavoring to have set aside
the requests to the Woman's Christian as
ISOLATION hospital, filed objections yesterday
in the district court to the appointment of
N. NJ. Pusey as special administrator In
support of their objections to the appoint-
ment they filed a statement sworn to by
Irwin and T. w. Robinson, two Of the con-
testing heirs, In which somewhat sensa-
tional charges are made attacking the in
tegrity of Mr.. Pussy while acting as eXecu-
tor under the will Of the late Samuel M.
Ballard. From the position taken by the
heirs who have gone into court to set aside
Mrs. Billiards. will, the fight over her prop
eTty promises to be a long and bitter one.
Including the requests to the hospital, the
value of the property involved amounts to
between $40, 900 and 8 $1,000.
The dooumen Directing to the appoint
ment of Mr.. Pussy as special administrator
of the estate of Mrs. Ballard pending the
litigation over the probating of the will Is
a lengthy affair.
After referring to the fact that objections
have been filed to the probatlng Of the will,
inc IGdSOlS lOl lut OppOoltlOu w Nv up
pointment of Mr.. Pussy as special admin
istrator are set forth. 1t is recited that
Mr.. Pussy was the active executor of the
estate of the late Samuel NJ. Ballard. and
that for more than ten years past has had
the sole and exclusive management of said
estate; that as such executor he was en-
powered to assume the management and
control Of a large residue OF real estate
belonging TO such estate and to rent the
same and to collect the rent and profits
and to sell the same in his discretion; that
by tho terms of the will of Samuel Ballard
the executors were empowered to pay over
to Sarah j. Ballard the net rents and profits
and proceeds of sale from the residue of real
estate during her lifetime, and to pay over
to the parties filing these objections and
others all of said rent, profits and proceeds
not turned over to Mrs. Ballard during her
lifetime.
The allegation is made that Mr.. Pussy, in
his capacity as executor of Mr.. Billiards.
will. has allowed part of the real estate to
be sold for taxes and to be lost to the es-
tate; that he has sold parts of the estate
at grossly inadequate prices; that from
about the year 1885 down to the present time
he has rented portions of the real estate at
grossly inadequate prices. In one instance
it is alleged that he rented the farm of 74S
acres known as the Marine farm, in Cass
county, at an average rental for the last
twelve years of less than $3.50 an acre.; that
whereas the reasonable rental of this farm
for the eleven years last past would have
been at least $24, 900, Mr.. Pussy has real
led but $12, 900 thereon, and that he used
the rent extravagantly in the payments of
alleged improvements, and, according to
his report, filed January . of this year,
he turned over to Mrs. Ballard from such
rents only about Sc, 900.
The further allegation is made that the
parties filing the objections have reason to
believe that Mr.. Pusey has received and
converted to his own use a large amount of
money arising from the estate Of the late
Samuel NJ. Ballard and belonging to the
Sarah ]. Ballard estate, and that he is now
indebted to the Sarah ]. Ballard estate in
the sum of at least $40, 900. The allegation
is also made that Mr.. Pussy is indebted to
the said Sarah J. Ballard estate i'm an amount
over $40, 900 for property of hers coming into
his hands and not accounted for.
With regard to the requests to the
Woman's Christian association hospital, the
allegation is made that thirty days prior
to the execution by Mrs. Ballard of her
will Mr.. Pusey by undue influence induced
her to give away about $40, 900 of her prop
erty to strangers, and induced her to exc
cute a deed of trust, making his brother,
w. II. NJ. Pussy, the sole trustee, and Civ
ing him full authority to eXpend said trust
fund without. the supervision of any court;
that at the time Mrs. Ballard made such
trust deeds she was in a weak and feeble
state of mind and body and incapable of
transacting such important business and that
she had not the mental capacity at the time
to understand the nature OF the transaction.
The claim is made that unless these trust
deeds be set aside and Cancelled, the parties
filing these objections will be deprived Of
a large amount of property which should
rightfully come to them as heirs-at-law and
l~egatees.
n. NJ. Pusey, when seen after the papers
had been filed in court, said: 81 deny abso-
lutely every allegation in the objections eX-
cept the statement as to the relationship of
the parties to Mrs. Ballard and DR.. Ballard,
and except as to the statement that I was
the executor of the estate of the late Samuel
NJ. Ballard. The moment these objections
were filed in court this morning l called
the attention of the court to them, and /
announced that l was ready and willing at
once and without any delay to proceed with
their investigation. Mr.. Benjamin, their at
torney, however, stated he was not ready
to go on, and asked for further time"