Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-11-09
LAWLOR WILL CASE.
Judge Roraback is Hearing the Evi-
 denrs To.Da

The superior court resumed jury business to-day at II o'clock Judge Roraback presided and the case taken
 up was Christopher Lawlor's appeal from the probate courts decision in
 approving of the late Father Martin F. Lawlor, whose estate consisted o1
 real estate, was appraised at $17,OOO by Michael Guilfoile and Charles R. Hart and was all left to his nephew, Francis, and Assessor Martin J. Mo 1 Eyoy. Father Lawlor was brother l of the appellant, who alleges undue in- huence over Father Lawlor on the part of some of his near relatives, and also that Father Lawlor at Nthe time he made his will he was incompetent ] to properly dispose Of his estate owing. to indrmities of age and the alleged
 undue influence of the relatives re- l ferred to. The defense was a general
 denial of the allegation. Attorneys
 OsNeiH and Russell appeared for the appellant and Guilfoile and Williams l for the will.
 The first witness called was James IJ. Cassin, clerk of the probate court,
 who testified to the probatfng of tbs
 will. Attorney E. F. . Cole testified sh6 1 drew up the will -and that at that time
 Father LawlOr was. perfectly com l petent mentally and strong physically. 1 The document was drawn up August 1 24, 1897, in Attorney Coles office, and l witnessed by Miss Iva A. Miller, now
 Mrs William M. Gillette, Miss Louise
 A. Adams and Attorney Cole.
 Very early in the case conflict be- tween the counsel began MT O'Neill 1 asked Mr. Cole if he had ever brought
 suit against Father Lawior for Mrs I Mary A. Lawlor, in which the propers 1 ty mentioned in the will was involved. At first MT Cole could recall no such
 case, but eventually he said he did re- l member, but not very much. This was the cause of the first wrangle between counsel Witness did other business for Father Lawlor. He sold him the | house in which he lived and died. At one time, witness could not re call the exact period, Father Lawlor was quite intimate with him. He l used to see him in his office almost 1 once day, and then once or twice in a week or two. He was oftener there after John F. Lawlor's marriage than before. MT Lawlor studied law in witness's office for year or two. Then he got married and engaged in the livery stable business.
 tThen he was livery stable law yer" said Mir O'Neill, and MT Williams objected. 5sisss.ss # Mir Cole was positive that neither Mrs Lawlor, Martin McEvoy nor Fran cis McEvoy were present when thA will was drawn up. The suit above
 mentioned was never tried. It was withdrawn soon after the papers were returned to court. Witness loaned Father Lawlor the
 book "The Damnation of Theron
 Ware" by the Rev MT Sheldon, who stirred the country some time ago by
 editing the Topeka Capital, Kansas
 paper, as he said Christ would edit a
 paper were he on earth.
 Mrs Mary A. Lawlor took the stand
 about noon and was closely examined
 by MT O'NeilI. Her early family af-
 fairs were revived and her mind was
 forced to take long step backward,
 and memory revived many page OF
 tender relations, for she was not very
 long under the examination when she
 burst into tears.
 Mir O'Neill had her tell all about
 Father Lawlor's property, how it was
 accumulated. how she became finan.
 cially interested with him in several
 pieces of property, going as far back
 as the days of the old Lawlor hotel
 on East Main street. She had to tell
 where she got the money she put in
 real estate and how much and where it was invested. She said she owned
 piece of property on Cherry strees
 herself, and that she has no rights in the property situated on the corner of
 East Main and Cherry streets.
 f