, 1904-06-15
Judge Voorhees, Declares the Will of
a Deceased Ocean City Man
to be Valid
Leaves n Fortune of Nearly IA Quarter
of "a Million Dollars, 10 be DistrI-
buted Among Relatives.
Cape May County Gazette.

oitANiiV NOItOStCu VII Vi llt ldl6 OdD-
tain Philip NJ. Wheaton, and to those
inception the news that the Court has
sustained the instrument in all its parts
will cause no surprise.
AT the session in question, there was
present to represent the c~aveatrix.
Mrs. Arabella Wheaton, widow of the
testator) Henry S. Stockwell, ESQ.
Hon. Joseph s. Gaskill, Samuel Bel
don, Esq. ano Attorney Andrew Bos-
well appeared for the respondent.
The following is the full text of Judge
Voorhees, decision, which is clear,
logical and forceful from beginning to
end:
CAPE MAY COUNTY ORPHANS COURT.
In the matter of the Probate of a o.,
Paper Writing purporting to be opuoh
the last Will and Testament of u
Philip Nj. Wheaton,, deceased. oo""
Captain Philip M. Wheaton died in Ocean
City, Cape May County, N. j., on June 10, 1902
leaving a paper writing purporting TO be his
last Will and testament bearing date Novem-
Der 10, 1900.
The probate of this will is contested by his
widow, Arabella Wheaton, who was his sec
ond wife. MIR. Wheaton left him surviving,
besides his widow, a daughter, May Steel
man, a child by his first wife. His second
wife bore him no children.
In his early life he had been n sea captain,
but had given up going to sea before he mar
ried his second wife, which occurred in June,
1875. He became possessed of n large amount
of vessel property, and for many years prior
to h $ death was the proprietor and owner of
a ship chandler store in Philadelp hia. In
the latter years of his life he invested a great
deal in mortgages, and was extremely careful
about the character of the securities. BY his
own efforts he had accumulated quite a large
fortune-something over two hundred thou
sand dollars. He was a man who attended
strictly to business, and was known as n
straightforward business man. He was
always a man of economy, so much so that
he never employed a servant in his home,
even after he had accumulated his fortune.
1t is insisted on the part OF the caveatriX
that the deceased was a monomaniac at the
time of the execution of the paper which is
offered for probate. And that she, the cayea-
triX, was the object of his delusions and aver
sions; and by reason of his diseased mind he
was incompetent to give rational considera-
ton to her claims on his te%stamentary boun-
ty at the time the will was executed.
1t is claimed that Mr.. Wheaton had a stroke
of paralysis in December, 1899, and that his
mental intirmity dates from that time and
continued until his death.
As to the execution and publication of the
will there is no dispute, for it was in strict
conformity with law, and was drawn by a
nished to him by the t%estator, and was eXecu-
ted in the presence of two of Ocean City's
business men The contents of the will itself
give no evidence of insanity, but on the con-
trary show fully that Captain Wheaton had n
clear conception of the extent of his property,
of those related to him, and of those who bad
a claim on his bounty.
In the will he makes requests to all of his
nephews and nieces save one or two, and the
testimony explains these exceptions.
He gave to his wife, the caveatriX, during
her life, the home in which they lived in
Ocean City, and also an income of twelve
hundred dollars "A year during her life; in
case of her again marrying this income to
cease. He was extremely careful that his
wife would always receive this income. He
provides in the will that a sufficient sum of
money must be SDeclalIV invested, from the
income of which the twelve hundred dollars
are to be paid. He goes so far as to request
the Orphans Court to approve of this invest
ment.
The will is not inoficious.
His main beneficiary is his daughter, his
only child. Some years ago when this daugh-
ter was married he gave her a wedding gift OF
ten thousand dollars in cash.
There is proof that Capt. Wheaton declared
his intention of making his will, regarding
wife, just as he did, that her family might
not profit from his estate. His will is con
sistent with this declaration and is incon-
sistent with the idea of an insane delusioni
concerning her, because it substantially pro
vides for her.
The form of mental disease attributed to
Captain Wheaton has been yariously termed
by the experts produced on behalf OF the
caveatrfX as monomania, paranQ1a ano
nomanica or paranoid form OF sen1le
dementia. All of the experts and the Court
decisions bearing thereon agree that in this
form of mind enfeeblement one of its charac
teristic features and necessary essential man
ifestatlons is the presence of "ixed and sys
tematiZed delusions.' That is, If Captain
Wheaton did not have such delusions, Their
he was not afflicted with this form of menta
disease.
1t is admitted on the part of the caveatrix
or at least the evidence they produce clearly
shows, that Captain Wheaton was sane as t
everything, except his wife, hence his wifi
was the object of his decisions, if any he had
AS to the definition of a delusion both thu
medical and legal authorities substantially
agree. The Court in the case of Smith VS.
Smith, 3 Dick, p. 566, gives the following
definitions: 'The spontaneous conception
"and acceptance of that as a fact which hai
"no real e sistence, except in his Imagination
'and his persistent adherence to II aga1ns
tall evidence"
In the celebrated case of Dew VS.. Clark,
Adams p. 70, and cited by counsel both 10
the proponents and caveatriX, the Court say
on page so "The true criterion-the true test
of the absence or presence of insanity L taxi
to be the absence or presence of, what, uset
in a certain sense of it, is comprlsable In
single term, delusion. Whenever the patien
once coneeives something extraordinary Il
, exist which has, still, no existence whatever
but in his own heated 1mag1nat1oni ant
whenever at the same time having once 81
conceived he is incapable of being, or, a
/, least, of being permanently reasoned out o
/, that conception, such a patient is said TO b.
!. under a delusion in n peculiar, half technical
!. sense of the term; and the absence or pres
ence of delusion, so understood, forms, in M,
. Judgment, the true and only test or criterion
. of absent or present insanity"
. There has been produced a large array Q
. Witnesses, and some noted medical expert
. on the part of the caveatriX to show tina
. Captain Wheaton from the time or the sc
. called first stroke of paralysis until his deaf
had decisions or insane aversions and tina
3 his wife was the object of such decisions Q
L aversions.
After a careful study of all the testimony,
q can find no satisfactory proof that Capital
y XUhnofnn entertained anV gnch deIlSlOnS c