The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-27
KELLOGG DEFENDS
MRS. W|LDER'S WILL
Declares Law Should Be Given
COnstru CtiOn Broad as
Charity Itself.

This law should not be narrowly con-
strued for the purpose of breaking the
will; but should be given a construction
as broad as charity ITSELF" said Frank
B. kellogg yesterday in his address before
Judge Bum in defense of the Fanny S.
Wilder will and the legislative amend
ment of 1908, under which the will was
drawn.
w. B. Treadwell, the San Francisco at
torney who has just come into the case
in the interest of the presumptive inter-
venors, consumed a portion of the morn
ing in completing his address to the
court in support of the motion to inter
vene and his argument of this time was
q continuation of his attack upon the
Wilder will, although at times he di-
gressed so far as to include the will of
Mrs. Appleby
Mr.. kellogg, of counsel for the trustees,
began his argument late in the morning
and continued 1t after the noon recess,
and when court adjourned at 4 o'clock
he had not finished. The manner of his
address was simple and incisive and his
argument, unlike that which had pre-
coded 1t, was to a great extent compre-
henSlble to even person not verSed in
the intricacies of the law
Will Must Be Held Valid.
The will of Mrs Wilder, he said, was
probated here and must be held valid, un-
less it's provision for charity were inhib-
tied by some very plain rule Of law in
this state. This will, which had been so
freely and severely criticised by counsel
for the intervenors, contained the wishes
of Mrs. Wilder and those wishes were
made very clear. Mr.. Kellogg said that
when he came to make his own will he
would express his own mind and make
known his own intentions with the ex-
pectation that they should be respected.
The wishes of the teStator must be para
mount in the construction Of a will, and
the law given its most liberal interpreta-
ton to permit a will to stand He quoted
a distinguished judge of the supreme
court of Wisconsin who said in one Of his
opinions that a will should never be set
aside except upon the application Of some
well known principle of law
Mr.. kellogg declared the wills of Mrs.
Wilder and Mrs. Appleby to be valid and
sufficient, and of the Fanny s. Wilder will
he said that it was generally satisfactory
and would be shown to be so to the entire
satisfaction of this court He read ex-
tensively from Mrs. Wilder's will to show
IT'S clearness and how plainly manifest
must be the purpose Of the testator. and
he emphasized the fact that in the device
which had been called into question she
had used the exact language of the
statute under which the will was drawn
Validity of Law Not Doubted.
He made it plain throughout his argu-
ment that he had no doubts Of the validity
of this law. He called attention to the
fact that after providing for the Wilder
charity in the language of the law the
testator had made general provision for
corporate action for the relief of the
worthy poor of st. Paul. and she had not
merely permitted but had directed the
organization of a corporation.
The will, he said, did not violate the
law of perpetuities, and if the corpora
ton which she had provided for might
legally receive property for the worthy
poor, then Mrs. Wilder might give as she
chose to that corporation Said he:
Under the very strictest decisions of
the state of New York. from which we
get our law. this will is absolutely valid
beyond any question"