The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-06
Handwriting Expert Declares
Mary j. divers Name Was
Wrongly Put on Deeds.
HER HEIRS MAKE A CONTEST.
Beneficiary in Transfer of Prop
erty Insists That Land Was
Given to Her in
Friendship.
RErrRr.lc SPECIAL.

REPt Bi.lC SfIIiAA-
~ New York, Dec. 5.-Several papers pur-
porting TO have been executed by the late
Mrs. Mary ]. Oliver were examined in the
Office of Assistant District Attorney Paul
krote! by David n. Carvalho. an expert
IN handwriting. WHO pronounced them
crude forgeries. Mr. Carvalho will study
the signatures, and Mr.. krotel will In
vestigate the charges that have been laid
before him by Mrs. divers relatives.
Mrs Oliver lived in perjury at No. 22s3
Second avenue, and her neighbors deemed
her poor. 1t was only after her death
that the fact became known that she had
owned property worth $4,000. Her only
daughter is Mrs. Philip Campbell. who is
In santarium and is sad to be Incur
ably insane. Mrs. Campbell has three
childrcn--William y. Campbell of No. 200
Eighty fifth street, Bensonhufst: Mis-. r.
y. jacobson of No. 2Si East one Hundred
and Twenty-seventh street, Manhattan
and Mrs. {. l.. Stevenson.
The aged woman had not been on terms
Of intimacy with ner grandchildren. Tney
came lurM1ru when she d-ed TO claim neT
.sJroperiy, and discovered that WITHIN lew
NnonIhs deeds had been dawn Conveying
10 MISS Mary +. AIderdice I'VE pieces ~
property on the east side of har.enl, IN
eacn instance tor a Nominal ,onsileratloh.
Mrs Ohver's best Trend and adviser was
Miss Alderuices tatner, the Reverend
James Aloerdlre, who fell dead in front o.
the aged woman'S house after lea. mug
of her death. All the papers now under
investigation bore the name OF James
Aideruice as Commiss -oner OF Deeds. MSS
Alderdice insists that the deeds We're maze
out to her as marx OF giatitude toI the
care she had gwen to Mr.. Oliver during
period of nine yeas. when the woman had
been deserted by her relatives
Lawyers reta -neo by me heirs aS law
deny Tins and declare that Mrs. Oliver
never intended to have her property pass
out of her family. They disputed the va,
LOFTY of the deeds ana nnaily presented
the matter to the District Attorney ana
MIR Carvaiho was summoned.
Those are the clumsiest forgertes j
ever saw in ali my life" exclaimed the
expert after cursory examination.
james Alderdice, son of the clergyman
and a brother of the beneficiary named In
The deeds, said:
..The entire matter will be cleared up In
IA few days. and the public will learn why
Mrs Oliver cut off her relatives without
cent. II was by Mrs. divers express de-
sire that the deeds were not recorded un-
Til after her death. She wished TO have
the fact withheld from her relatives 10
ment. No mother could feel more bitterly
toward n daughter than Mrs. Oliver did
toward Mrs. Campbell. Some years ago
Mrs. Campbell obtained $4,000 from her
ton. Bitter QIarrelS followed and Mrs.
oliver planned retribution, giving the
property to my sister, not 30 much
through gratitude as to prove her spite
perfectly legal. and i can produce all the
evidence TO that effect that is necessary"
Mrs. jacobson said she and the other
heirs were convinced that the deeds were
torgeries and the case would be contested
TO the end Mrs. Oliver has told her that
repeated attempts had been made to In