The San Francisco call., 1905-01-20
COUSIN ENTERS
SMITH CONTEST
Peterson's Claims Met With
Evidence of Hostility of
the Dead Parents of Heirs
SUPPORT GRANDMOTHER
Prominent Persons Called to
Refute Charge That She
Is Unfit to Be a Guardian
SUPPORT GRANDMOTHER

| A third element in the three -cornered
contest for the guardianship of the But
| Ter Smith children and their fortunes
| appeared in Judge Kerrigan's court
yesterday and developed more revela-
tions. General w, H H Hart intro
| duced his client, Robert Peterson,
cousin of the deceased mother of the
children, who claims recognition as an
outsider who can care for the interests
! Of the boy and the girl impartially in
case any litigation arises in which the
| grandmother or the stepmother would
| be opposed to them.
Peterson said he had been a law clerk
| In New York and cook, painter and
coffee seller in California He now lives
with his family on Second avenue Wit
nesses, including his wife and daughter,
were offered to prove his fitness to care
for the Smith children, and then a bomb
was thrown into his camp by the
widows attorney, Burrell G. White.
who called J. D. Whaley to the stand.
| Whaley was Butler Smiths attorney
and knew Robert Wilson, father of
| Smiths second wife. He said that Will
! son had bestowed s55, 900 in money and
! land upon his two nephews, of whom
Peterson was one. Whaley, on behalf
/ of the then Mrs. Smith, had reproved
the old man for this, and when Wilson
said that he would give when and tc
whom he saw fit Whaley applied for
| and obtained letters of guardianship
| over him. Whaley declared that Mrs.
! Smith, in discussing demand of Peer
| son for a deed to some of the property
| given him, had said that she wanted
nothing to do with him-that he and
| his brother had robbed her enough.
Peterson was recalled and admitted
| that he and his brother had each re-
ceived $4,000 from Wilson, but no more.
Mrs. Chamberlain, the grandmother,
also had an inning. Witnesses who had
| long known to her were called to testify
| to her fitness to guard the children.
They included the Rev. John A. Emery.
Archdeacon of the Protestant Episcopal
diocese of California; Appraiser John
T. Dare, Attorney Charles H. Hudson,
DR.. Howard Harrington. DR.. John I.
Vanderlip, Mrs. c. X. Yale and Mrs.
Mary e. Rowland. Mrs. Howland said
she was Mrs. Chamberlain's most inti-
| mate friend, but admitted that she had
heard Mrs. Smith say that she wished
her daughter and the grandmother
could get along better together.
Emily May Smith, the ewidow, was
recalled and told of a conversation
with her husband few days after their
marriage. He had made a will, he said,
naming the grandmother guardian, had
revoked it and named Hal v. Smith
instead, and then thought neither
would do, intending to appoint Garret
W. McEnerney. The need Of a guardian
was settled, he said, when he met her.
The will, made before the marriage,
is necessarily void and Judge Kerrigan
yesterday appointed Mrs. Smith ad-
ministratrix of her husbands estate,
fixing her bonds at 100000 She also
has special letters of administration
upon the former wife's estate, for
which Mrs. Chamberlain has applied
for general letters. The hearing will
go on to-day.