Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-21
ARGUMENT ON WINCH WILL
Case Before Judge Sears is Now Drawing
Near Its Fad.
SAUNDERS PAYS ATTENTION TO THOMAS
Calls Jury's Attention 10 Fact that
Missing Document Was Last
seen iu Possession OF At
tOrney for Contestant.
SAUNDERS PAYS ATTENTION TO THOMAS

Tho Winch will case before Judge Sears |
IS nearing the end. The attorneys on |
both sides are making their closing speeches. |
w. A. Saunders opened his argument TO |
the jury yesterday with a brief history Of |
the will, commencing with its execution, /
November 70, 1891 when II was witnessed |
by W. 8. Shoemaker and W. +. Wappich. |
The will was shown to some Of the neigh |
bors and they were asked I'm regard to
certain requests. Mr.. Saunders went on.
THE next trace Of the will It turns up in
the possession of IL. A. Norman, who took
It 10 the once of Mr.. Wappich, VINO imme-
diatcly recognized IL as the VIII he wit
messed The will was next taken to the
grand Jury room and left In the hands of
Mr.. Elmer +. Thomas and the last seen OF
Il was on MI Thomas desk in the New
York Life building But here is the peculiar
and singular thing about this whole bust
ness. Both MIR. Thomas and Mr. Norman
made each copy. why should they do
that? What need had they for a copy, as
long as the original was IN their hands.
Didn't they overdo It just q little bit Mrs.
Stone saw and recognized the will as the
Mr.. Winch had signed. She saw 1t in
the grand jury room Mr.. Thomas was
deputy county attorney at the time, and
now appears as attorney for the contestants
and is here trying to take advantage of the
loss Of the will, which he himself lost.
who is contesting the Will of 8. f.
Winch? The children are not here In
whose interest was the will lost and who
is the beneficiary? The law requires a will
to be filed within thirty days OF the death
OF the testator, II Mr., Winch had died
leaving little property, the will would not
have been lost and Mr.. Winch would not
n
there have been undue influence brought to
bear. All these attorneys or contestants
are after is the property of Mr.. Winch.
They have. got to win before they can get
the money. Some people viii do anything
Tor money. The lips of Mr., Winch are
closed forever. He cannot come before you
here and contradict any statements that
may be made by his traducers.
Thomas should Clear Himself.
1T would seem to me that Mr.. Thomas
should clear his own skirts of the sus-
pcious circumstances attending the lost
WILL before throwing mud into the faces of
others. You have all read the story OF
stop thief, and you have all observed
take it, It has been so apparent, the
energy and persistence with which that cry
has been kept up in this case, and by the
party in whose possession the will was last
seen and the party who is to be the bene-
ficiary in case that will is set aside
Now gentlemen. take this case and do
justly, and l trust you will not place a
premium upon the destruction of evidence
by rewarding the party in whose hands it
was last seen, by giving them verdict,
because we cannot produce the evidence
which was last seen in, their hands and
which has vanished. Why did he make the
copy? Why did Norman make the copy,
and why do they now claim 1t lost?
Brought to Wappich's Office by Norman,
next seen in the grand jury room in the
possession iOfi tTSh omas.. thsn in Thomas Of
flee and then disappeared, and now Thomas
claims It never existed then claims Winch
was insane and not competent to make a
will, and then tries to prove that he made
other wills later than the one in contro-
versy."
John @. WhnrtOn's Address. ...
John c. Wharton, one of the attorneys
for the contestees said briefly that the
attorneys had shown that other Wills were
made. II think it will strike you as fail
proposition that IL they honestly and sin
cerely believed that c. l.. Winch was in
capable of making a will in 1891, Their,
would be no need of showing that othel
wills have been made" said Mr.. Wharton
II take it that 1t is not a ground Of in
will. Then why go to that straight? II h
was insane when the first one was mad
= 1t is suficient to prove that. l trust tina
these gentlemen will not be able to prov
10 you that he was insane. They want L
befog your minds and draw you away fror
the real issue. What next? When the
get hold of the will they lose It. Yes the
lost it. A will is supposed to be a sacre
document. 1t is supposed to be guarde
with jealous care A win is solemn decla
ration OF the man before he dies as to hoy
he wants his property disposed f. Thi
woman, Mrs. Halves. knew there was
\ will. but they say she is poor washer
woman. Is she any the less woman be
cause she is poor and has to work Tor
living?"
Mr.. Nolan-You will admit that her opir
ion would not be as good as yours on III
willP
Mr. Wharton-I will admit that a poe
washer-womRn can tell the truth just q
well as the immaculate Mr.. Nolan and pei
haps better. OF the two, II there should I
. conflict. would take the washer woman
word. Nolan and Thomas had the will.
Mr.. Nolan-There Is no evidence that
ever saw the will.
Very well, your partner had It," sal
Mr.. Wharton. lie then read from form
petition filed in the district court by Thom'
and Nolan setting forth that Mr.. Wine
was very bad character. This petite
was introduced by contestants.