The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-07-29
Wills of Angry People.


| In the old days when people used TO
make their own wills instead. OF dep nj
/ ing upon a lawyer 10 do the Work, as Is
/ the custom these days, there used 10 b
a greater abundance Of eccentric wills
! than can be found at present, says the
| Chicago Chronicle. Often no legal lgh-
was al hand to curb the fancs Of ,ae
wlll-maker or 10 ted him that he could
not do this or that or the other. he
simply wrote down wat p.eased as
fancy, and in many instances the result
produced was gIofesque.
on one occasion a musty, yellow dec
ument evidently of considerable age was
found among the effects OF dead
/ preacher. In his young = days the m n
lster had been Of great prominence
among the unregenerate. de had Tor a
/ long time been a salOonkee per and had
been noted for his hatred II tn pastors
! in town There was at the tine one
minister whom he mated in particular
and he never lost an opportunity 70 sho y
his animosity toward this preacher, v no
was a warm temperance advocate, blt
whom the deeedent at that time accuse
of being a hypocrite.
The date Of the will showed that il
had been executed in those days In
the body of the document was found
even more ind,sputable evidence thai il
had been made in the days before tn
saloonkeeper was converted. The lssr
clause in the viii read
To the extremely reverend - l give
and bequeath one pony keg OF beer. Ii
ne had been a better talk r : wo Id
have given him whole ksg. II he
had been an honest man | would have
left him barrel of my best whisky
1t is needless to say that after his con-
version and entrance into the ministry
the saloonkeepeT had e-thsr forgotten n
disrespectfuI Will or had been unable to
find and destroy it. The beneficiary OF
this clause OF the viii was still living,
but the executor never made any offer
to deliver 10 him the pony keg.
1t used TO happen with comparative
frequency that in his will a man or wo-
man would take occasion to give some
enemy or heartily disliked person IA e.
well kick thai would lsave no doubt
of the sentiments entertain d BY tie
reEct.
About twelve years ago a little knot
of horror-stricken persons mace th,ic
way out of a small West Side parior.
where they had listened 10 the read ng
of the will of the head of the house, " 10
lay a corpse in the next room. Alter
giving full directions as to- the DISPOSE
ton of all Of his property, the decease
IN q COO-Cll dQQeU IulS last DtqutSL-
ITO my beloved and upright Fin man,
my first cousin John, l give and BE-
queath the bottle and its contents, con
sisting of two ounces OF iaudanun ,
which he will find waiting for him il
the far corner on the T.ght-hand side o.
my upper bureau drawer. II JOnn wi
take this bottle and drink all OF its con
tents and remain away from a doctor
for about ten minutes he VIII win from
me the undying esteem which | have
never felt that 1 have been able to sivs
him before"
John did not fancy the present left
him by his cousin.
Preserved in tAe records of the probate
court over at the criminal court build
ing on the North Side IS the VIII OF an
other Chicagoan who openly set forth
the resentment which he felJ toward 5
wife for her conduct in times gone by.
The husband neither forgot nor forgav 2,
and moreover he proceeded in his VIII o
infict punishment to the st Of his alb l.
ity. Almost in the very first sentence
of his will the man launched forth and
proceeded to present his case against his
wife as follows:
As my wife has often chased me with
the butcher knife, presumably with tn
intent of letting out my blood and as
she has on numerous occasions thrown
at me the largest and heaviest coffee
cups in the house / therefore explic-
lily express by desire that she shall have
none of my property, either In whole or
in part: / regard her actions as such
that 1 am entitled to Will away from her
all of that property to which she would
otherwise be entitled"
1t is seldom that the wills of deceased
men who were of great prominence or
wealth contain any reflections upon rel
atives or friends or aught other than the
formal and regular disposition Of tn
various parts of their fortunes
Occasionally wills come 10 light which
are deemed odd on account OF the in
significant requests which they make
Small requests are in the wills OF the
rich as well as those of the poor. Some
times it would seem that Ii tie things
are wiled out Of pique or spite, but
sometimes the small things were most
priceless possessions Of the deceased. It
was not long ago that an aged woman
died in Chicago leaving an estate of con-
siderable size. The woman had no i'm
mediate family, but left two nieces, one
nephew, and one first cousin, once r.
moved.
1t was an open secret in the ne ghbor-
hood that these relatives did not care
two straws for their relative, but that
the devoted attention when they pail
her was solely for the sake of ingrati-
ating themselves n her favor in the be
lief that between them the four wouli
divide the entire estate. At last [ e
poor woman died. but no hystcr,c Il
weeping was noticed on the part OF tn
cousins. nephews and nieces. They re
little nervous, but It was from expcc-
fancy over the contents of the VII w1icl
il was known she had made several
months before.
The nervous four could not wait unt1
the funeral was over 20 hear the wi
read. They knew that the will, in the
cases of more or less friendless people
was sometimes read before the interment
and although they loved their relativs.
on. so dearly. they thought tHat for GER
tain reasons it would be best 10 nave
the WIZ read az once"
"AIl right, said the lawyer WAC BE-
drawn the document. "jrst 8 you say"
The relatives and a few fiends we're
called into the library and the lawyer
drew from his pocket the viii. which y
had been preserving in his SAT- q hs
office. He opened up the Paper and read
Il slowly. While the first few formal
sentences relating 20 being OF sound
mind" etc. were being read the fcu-
relatives fairly squiFned with impa-
tience
Then came 8 ateuent 81 2 bequss
# Slo0oo to a charitable Institution og
the North SIDE. The four termed pal
and gasred in unison Next $1,000 " n
70 South d. hospi al. and tne reDH-w
nearly fell or his c1air. wnils n Other
hree pressed their lips firmly -
nd ground their taeth. Beguest aft--
beeues. ~ent 20 charity and s6ut M
Institutions and one ~ tGe fer asked
80 have window opened 81 Iet Itti-
air into the room Finally all ~ thr
personal p-operty ard real esst- wsr
gone. end the fou~ relatives = ire rif