The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-26
THE HOLT WILL DECISION
Supreme Court Reverses Position
of District Tribunals.
Highest Judiciary Body Cites Errors
and Rcmands the Case for New
TriaI-Ncw Phase of n Famous Con-
test-History of the Litigation.


TriaI-Ncw Phase of n Famous Con-
The Supreme Court yesterday rendered
decision in the famous Holt will case,
reversing the judgment of the District
| of Columbia Court of Appeals and re-
mcnding the case to that court with di-
rections to reverse the judgment Of the
! Supreme Court of the District of Column
bia, and 20 remand the case to that court
with instructions to grant new trial.
The case is an interesting one, and in
wolves the alleged forgery Of the names
of Gen. w. T. Sherman and the late
| President L. S. Grant, as witnesses to
the will. The matter has been in the
courts for years, and because of the
prominence of the interested parties has
attracted much attention.
/ In August. 1894, Judge Holt died. leaving
an estate valued at s1SO,000 He was at
one time Postmaster General, and from
1862 until 1873 was Judge Advocate Cen
eral of The Army.
The nearest surviving relatives were
number of nieces and nephews. No
will having been found, three of his
nephews, w. d. Holt, William G. Ster-
EFT, local newspaper correspondent, and
John w. Holt filed petition in the Su-
preme Court of the District of Column
bia, holding a special term for Orphans
Court business, setting forth his intesta-
cy and asking the court to administer the
estate.
On the 2Sth of September, 1894, the Ma
tional Safe Deposit. Savings and Trust
Company of the District was appointed
| administrator of the estate, and that cor
poration Immediately entered upon the
performance of its duties as admnistra-
tor and has since continued to perform
them.
on the 18th day of August, 1895, there
came by mail to the Register of Wills in
Washington a sealed envelope addressed
to that officer which was postmarked
Washington, d. C, August "A, 6 p. m,
1851" Upon opening this envelope the
Register of Wills found therein a paper
purporting to be a will executed by y.
Holt dated "Feb'y It'll, 1873, to which
were appended what purported to be the
signatures of Ellen b. L. Sherman, L. S.
Grant, and w T. Sherman.
This will give one-half of the estate to
Lizzie Hynes' and the other half to Jo-
sephine Holt Throckmorton. On the aft
ernoon of August "a Josephine Holt
Throckmorton, who lived in New York
passed through Washington, stopping
about an hour at the Baltimore and Po-
tomac depot. The envelope in question
was mailed between and o'clock, or a
little earlier or little later, on that aft
ernoon, in letter box in the northwest
section.
Josephine Holt Throckmorton is a
daughter of Major Charles b. Throckmor-
ton, of the United States Army. In 1873
and for long time prior thereto the re-
lations between Judge Holt and the
Throckmorton family were intimate. Jo-
sephine was born in September, 1866, ond
was consequently about six and half
years of age at the date OF his alleged
will.
A petition was filed asking that the
court admit the alleged will The trial
began on May IS, 1895, and the jury found
that the Will had never been executed by
Judge Holt. The matter went to the
Court of Appeals which affirmed the
Judgment of the lower court The matter
came to the Supreme Court by writ of
error.
The executor named in the alleged will
was Luke Devlin. From 1862 until 1869
Devlin was a messenger in the Office of
the Judge Advocate General, and during
the remainder of Judge Hollis term as
Judge Advocate General he was clerk
in that office.
On the Goth of September 1895. DevIin
filed petition asking the court to admit
the alleged Will to probate and to re-
woke the letters of administration there
1885, Washington ID. Holt, and the ether
nephews and nieces of Judge Holt who
would be the distributes of his e;tate
ii he had died intestate filed a caveat TO
the alleged Will. Devlin, Lizzie Hynes,
and Miss Throckmorton filed an answer
to this cayeat. On the 10th of March,
1895, the Probate Court framed four is
sues TO be transmitted to the special term
of the same court, sitting as a circuit
court, there to be tried by a jury.
These issues were whether the i"Stru-
ment In question had been executed by
Joseph Holt as his last win and testa-
ment, whether its execution had been
procured by fraud, whether il had been
procured by undue Influence. and whether,
If he had executed II, he had revoked it.
The trial of these issues began on the
18th day of May. 1895.
The evidence at the trial was confined
entirely to the first and fourth Issues
that is, as to whether Holt had executed
the paper as his will, and, If So whether
June -, 1896 the jury finding that the
paper had never been executed by Joseph
Holt as his last well and testament, and
that because he never executed it he
had not revoked II.
This verdict having been returned by
the Circuit Court to the Probate Court,
final judgement was entered in the Pro
bate Court on July 10, 1886 formally ad-
judging that the paper was never exeeut-
ed by Holt as his last Will and testament
and denying IT probate for that reason.
evidence of three witnesses on behalf of
the caveatees tending TO prove the gen
uineness of the three signatures which
appear at the foot of the paper in con-
troversy. This was followed up by evil
dence tending to prove that the remainder
of the paper, including the signature u.
Holt" is in the handwriting of Joseph
Holt II was admitted by counsel on both
sides that the paper in controversy came
to the Office of the Register of Wills
anonymously on August &c. 1895, in the
same state in which it was presented to
the tury-that is, mutilated and partly
burned, and the place torn off where the
seal should have been.
The evidence of p. Tecumseh Sherman
was not competent in rebuttal, and the
court excluded it.
This evidence was offered on the
ground that 1t was in rebuttal Of what
John b. Randolph, a witness for the
caveators, had testified to in regard to a
certain 'quirl'' and other characteristics
in the genuine signature of General Sher-
man, as that signature had come under
the observation of the witness as a clerk
in the War Department. Mr. Randolph
of course, testified, as the record dis
closes, only from his own personal knowl-
edge of General Shermans signature.
Judge Holt was twice married. first in
1897 to Miss Mary l.. Harrison. who died
in Rag. Four years later. in 1850, he mar
ried Miss Margaret Wickliffe, and was
again left widower in 1860, no children
having been born to him by either mar
ne -IohI years OI
his life he spent alone, unattended by any
relative. his household consisting merely
of his domestic servants.
His father died prior to 1861, and his
mother in 1871. He had one sister and
three brothers. The sister, Elizabeth
Sterett. died in 1863, leaving two children
William G. Sterett and Margaret T. Bow
mer. His brother James died in 1867
childless. His brother Robert s. also
died in 1867, leaving nine children. six of
whom, Locke w. Iglehart, Sarah Holt
Robert S. Holt John W. Holt, James
Holt, and Thomas Holt, survived Judge