The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-08-05
FREAKS OF WILL MAKERS.
Case In Which Authenticity Was
CuriOusly Proved.

Curiously Proved.
1t is probable that a whole volume,
and very interesting one at that,
might be composed of the freaks Of
legal evidence in will cases. The evil
dence is often purely documentary;
hence the paradoxes which arise from
time to time in its Interpretation. IL
ever such a volume comes to be pub
iished, it will surely be incomplete il
the following case, told by John Corwin
Of the firm Of Harris, Corwin & Gun
nisOn, is left out:
1.-The testatrix," said Mr.. COrwin.
died in Brooklyn some years ago, and
| 1t devC.ved upon me, as her lawyer, to
| fnd and probate her will. In trunk /
found an envelope containing a num-
Der of very small pieces of paper. on
| both sides of which was writing. In
side the flap of that envelope was writ
| ten, This will is all here in the hand
| writing and with the sigma ture Of the
g.. testatrix.
! "You must remember that these
scraps Of paper were very small in
deed. The paradox is this-that the
| extreme smallness Of the scraps was
| the evidence that this torn paper was
the last will and testament Of the de-
ceased. The law recognizes tearing as
| one method by which a testator may
| revoke a will, and the intention to re-
| woke is presumed in a testatOr who so
tears one. But If a contrary intention
| can be proved by another act done at
! the sane time then the tearing Of the
will does not revoke it. Now, in this
case the words This will is all here
| clearly showed that the teStatriX meant
those scraps of paper to be regarded
as her will. 1t remained to prove that
she SO meant at the time when she tore
the paper If she had torn the paper
at one moment, intending by that act
| to revoke the will, and had subsequent
| ly written those words without wit
nesses or other legal formality. mean
| ing to revive the force Of the revoked
| will, then the latter act was legally In
| valid and the will could not be pro-
| bated. Surrogate Abbott TOOK THIS
! view.
! my contention was that the writing
| on the flap Of the envelope was in tech
meal language part OF the same res
| gesta as the tearing Of the will. L ar
| gued that if the teStatriI had torn
that paper at one time and put 1t IN
| that envelope at another some OF the
pieces small as they were, must sure
| ly have become lost in the interval.
| The extreme minuteness OF the pieces,
| coupled with the fact that not one
| piece was missing, was my evidence
| that the tearing and the putting into
| that envelope were one res gesta.
| 81 had quite clearly demonstrated the
presence of every piece by taking
| sheet of glass covered with white OF
egg and carefully reconstructing the
| whole sheet Of paper upon it, leaving
| each piece with the same side TO the
glass as it's fellows. In this way was
able to present the will in legible
shane. Its physical completeness es-
| tablished my point to the surrogate's
satisfaction, for the presumption that
the placing of the pieces in the envel
one and the writing on the flap were
one res gesta was In my favor. And SO
I succeeded in probating that will"
To the lay mind the mystery OF the
tearing of the will remains no less in
teresting than the curious legal evil
dence of its validity. People who
make wills VIGOROUSLY indulge in
strange fancies at times, and 1t may
be that this woman resorted to the ex-
pedient of tearing up her will precisely
because that was one Of the last things
which any one who wished to preserve
a will would be likely to do with it.
and consequently no one who wished
to steal the will would be likely to look
for It in an envelope containing only