The sun., 1903-10-01
FORGERY, BUT NoPUNISHHEHf
No PROOF THAT GIRLS KNEW
f,ARMSTRONG WILL VAS FALSE.
MN VINO Says He Was Adopted by wealthy
widow win Sue for Estate-Searchers
Find No Record Of His Ad0pti0n-Other
\, NIeces and Nephews Claim . Share.

MIN VINO Sayy He Was Adopted by wealthy
widow win Sue for Estate-Searchers
Find No Record Of His AdOpti0n-Other
Il Nlcces and Nephews Claim . Share.
Notwithstanding the fact that Surrogate
Silleman Of White Plains decided on Monday
that the will presented by Eva and Georgiana
Bradley, sisters, of Cliffside, N. j., which
purported to give to them the $50 600 estate
Of Mrs. Armstrong, was forgery, 1t Is
altogether unlikely that criminal proceed
ings will be taken. The next step in the
settlement Of the estate OF Mrs. Armstrong.
q wealthy Mount Vernon widow, will
be taken when the petition OF William G.
Armstrong, who asks to be declared Mrs.
Armstrong; adopted son, comes up for
hearing before Surrogate Silkman, on
Nov. 8.
Armstrong is one Of a number Of nephews
and nieces who are claimants to the estate.
HIS contention that Mrs. Armstrong adopted
him Is disputed by the others. The lawyers
of the other claimants say that the records
in New York and Kings counties, in both
Of which Mrs. Armstrong lived nearly all
her life, fail to show the adoption. The
estate is now believed to amount to about
$4,000. >- Ice -.-r.~-
Lawyers who had the Bradley will de-
clared forgery said yesterday that the
reason why they did not intendto institute
criminal proceedings was that it would
be difficult to prove positively that the will
was not mailed to the Bradley girls anony-
mously from Manila, as the girls maintain.
As proof OF their contention the Bradleys
produced in court an envelope bearing
the Manila postmark in which the will
seemed to 1t. This Surrogate Silkman
regarded as sufficient to establish their
good faith and to clear them from any
suspicion Of forgery.
The lawyers for the Armstrong heirs say
nothing indicates that the will was within
the envelope when it came from Manila.
The envelope was of the kind in which
ordinary letters are mailed. The lawyers
for the Armstrong relatives say that Eva
Bradley, the elder sister, has sweetheart
in the Philippines and that she has been
receiving letters from him in similar en-
velopes for some time.
The Bradleys with their mother keep
q liquor store in ClifIside, N. j. 1t has
been discovered since they appeared as
claimants for the entire estate Of the Arm
strong woman that they are interested
In another litigation over the will Of their
father, Francis Bradley. which Is now
on file in Hackensack. A stepdaughter
is fighting this viii on the ground that the
signature of Bradley is forgery. This
will leaves Bradley's estate Of IS 600 to the
widow and the two daughters, who pre-
sented the forged will at White Plains.
According to James E. Ludden Of 229
Broadway, counsel for the Bradleys, the
signature is Bradleys. But Mr.. Ludden
admits that the other will was forgery.
How 1t was produced he would like to know.
Mr.. Ludden told this story yesterday Of
the way the Bradleys tried to get the prop
erty Of Mrs. Armstrong:
Some weeks ago the Bradley girls,
Eva and Georgiana, came into my Office
bringing with them this alleged viii en-
closed In an envelope bearing the post
mark Of Manila. The will left all Of Mrs.
Armstrong; property to them. The en-
velope was addressed to Eva, the elder.
RHy II had come without any ex-
planatory, letter or any thing else to show
that they had no friend In Manila or in the
Philippines who might send It.
AThey told a story which found out by
other witnesses was the truth. This was
that their father years ago had known Mrs.
Armstrong In Brooklyn and had become
engaged to marry her: She afterward
married carpenter and Bradley, who was
then an oil merchant, married their mother.
Later I found out he renewed his acquaint-
ance with Mrs. rmstrong and that after
the death of the latter's husband, some
years ago, when she lived In West Forty
third street, he called on her frequently ard
that he and his wife had many quarrels
49, T., H. hat ~
to be true the receipt Of the will from some
unknown person In the Philippines did not
seem altogether inconsistent.
Il learned further that Mrs. Armstrong
had niece In the Philippines and that for
two months prior to her death she had been
away. thought she might have gone to
Manila and left the will there. The Brad
leys furthermore told me they could prove
that the signature Of Francis Bradley as
witness to the will was their fathers and
could establish the authenticity Of the
signature Of the other witness, William
Lindy, also deceased. That was how I
came to take the case.
when the case came up in court on
Monday Eva Bradley did not appear Her
mother and sister, Georgiana who is 10
years old, were there. The sister, to my
surprise, after swearing that the signature
was that Of her father, admitted on cross-ex-
animation that she couldn't read or write.
The father of William Lundy, the other
witness, swore that his son knew the parties
and then on cross-eXamiration swore that
his son was sick at home on the day the
will purported to have been executed at
white Plains. In justice to myself then
Salled Mr.. Lyons, counsel for the other
side, and got him to swear that the signature
was not Mr.. Armstrong;. When looked
for the Bradleys at the trial they had dis
appeared and they have not communicated
with me since. Now, what / want to know
il whether 1t was a Joke on the Bradleys,
or something more serious.
Julius Lyons, counsel for the Armstrong
hairs, said yesterday that the trial had been
shorter than they expected and hence a
lot Of their evidence had not been called
I'm the first place. said Mr.. Lyons, 4we
had Carvalho, the handwriting expert, to
testify that the ink Of the alleged will was
not as old as the document purported to
be, also that the usual effects Of a long sea
voyage on the ink and paper were entirely
absent. We would also have had post
Office employees to testify that the docu-
mont could barely have made the trip to
Manila and back again In the time between
the date Of execution and the Clifrside
postmark. We had witnesses on hand to
sweetheart In Manila from whom she gets
letters. As for the story that Bradley
knew Mrs Armstrong, that we don't know
anything about. It was one Of he strangest
cases ever brought forward In court, but
now that we have beaten them so easily
we shall take no further proceedings"
TOM HORN, SCOUT, MUST DIE.