Waterbury Democrat., 1901-12-20
MRS SMITH THREATENS.
Will Disinherit Her Children if They
 Ask for a Conservator.

Bridgeport, Dec 20.--'.I shall disin- herit any member of my family who asks for or countenances the appoint ment of q conservator over me- said Mrs Mary l.. Wright Smith this morn ing, in that calm, quiet voice of hers. Mrs Smith made the statement smil- ingly. but she also smiled when she said: T refuse to answer in court on Saturday, December [, and was com mitted to jail for the contempt. When Mrs Smith speaks she always smiles, but the smile takes nothing from the force of what she says, and persons who are prone to talk about the vacil- lating will of women have begun to believe that ill Mrs Smith at least there is q woman who means what she says, even if she smiles when she says it. And so it is understood that whoever has the temerity to ask for the appoint ment of q conseryator will be cut off from any share in that $500. 900 worth Of government bonds which Mrs Smith is so carefully concealing.
 It is very unlikely that Mrs Smith will be released through her own ef- forts, and it is pretty certain that any one who secures her release by either of the two methods possible, the pay ment of the Judgment against her or the fatherinG of the appointment of q conseryator. will receive no thanks for II. In the first case. as soon as one Judgment is paid there is another of the same amount merely being held until Mrs Smith is released from the jail to be served upon her, q process which will call for another payment on the part of her friends or q return trip to the jail by the same route which landed her there in the first place. III the second case, it is certain that the attempt will be fought tooth and nail by Mrs Smith,
 Mrs Smith has helped in spreading the name of Bridgeport to the remotest corners Of this great land. but she doesn't mind that in the least It is to be feared that she regards herself as martyr to the cause of woman's rights, and. believing that she is right in what she is doing, is determined to stick the matter out until doomsday. if it is necessary to continue it for that length of time. Such a state of things is unfortunate, in that it may lead Mrs Smith to believe that she is generally regarded in the light of heroic suf- ferer. whereas the true state of feeling in the majority of those who trouble themselves about her at all seems to De profound pity. and q pity which 1 is not at all in sympathy with her present position. If Mrs Smith could thoroughly understand that it might help her in making mp her mind that the orders of court must be obeyed. at no matter what personal inconyen- fence
 The comments of the outside world trouble Mrs Smith very little. how ever, for they do not reach her. The new fad which, while it might never become popular, was at least attract ing considerable attention of holding fetes at the jail every day, with Mrs Smith as hostess i'll chief. and the members of the w c. T. U. and other organizations of which she was an ar dent member as the guests, was final ly stopped by Sheriff Haw1ey, who di- rected that no one but the members of Mrs Smiths family should be a1- mitted to see her. That put a stop to the stream of visitors and also put a. stop to the implied sympathy with the position of the prisonernw which might have been drawn from such attention.
 It was q response to the rumor that her eldest son. Daniel $. Smith. had consulted lawyer relative to the peti- tion for the appointment of q conser- vatOr made her threat of fisinher;- tance for anyone who meddIed with her personal liberties. ssShe is the same Mrs Smith as when she first came up here" was the response at the jail to the query as to how the wealthy prisoner takes bor confinement That is taken to mean that she is perfectly contented with her surroundings and is as obstinate as she ever was.
 The immense crowds that push their