The Monmouth inquirer., 1906-10-18

surprise of everybody III tHe SOuAt
room. the suit instituted by Mrs Jones
Wister to have declared invalid the
will of William Weightman, million
aire chemist. who left an estate valued
Mt 100000 to his daughter, Mrs.
Anne Weightman Walker, was sudden
ly halted.
The legal fight was abruptly halted
by the production of a small white
piece of notepaper that had turned vel
low with age What the piece OF pa
per contains was not made public, and
less than dozen persons who nave
seen it have pledged themselves never
to reveal its contents.
Contents Not Disclosed.
There are many surmses as to the
nature of the contents of the paper,
but none of them can be confirmed
When Mr.. Johnson, counsel for Mrs.
Walker, was asked what it contained
he said:
II will not tell. 1t is beyond human
possibility for that paper to be made
public"
Richard w. Meirs, son-in-law of Mrs.
Wister and nephew of Mrs. Walker,
who is siding with his aunt, said he
hoped it would never see the light of
day. II would rather have my tongue
cut out than reveal what was in that
paper" he said.
Mrs. Wister declared that despite the
projection of the mysterious paper,
| while, is believed to contain a denun-
/ citation of her by the dead millionaire,
+ she viii continue the suit.
Neither Will Nor codicil.
( The lawyers for Mrs Wister posi-
lively declined to discuss the case, and
all that the attorneys for Mrs. Walker
4 will say is that the paper was neither
a will nor a codicil
William Weightman in 1884 made a
will leaving his vast estate equally be-
tween Mrs. Anne Weightman Walker,
his daughter, and two sons, William
and John Ten years later he made a
new will leaving his entire estate to
the daughter, the two sons having died,
leaving eight children. The widow of
William Weightman, the mother of five
and when Mr.. Weightman, her father
in-law, died she contested the will on
behalf Of her minor daughter, Martin,
on the ground that he left a codicil. in
which he provided for the grandchil-
dren. Mrs Walker, the sole heir to
the fortune, denied that her father had
made a codicil The contest was begun
nearly two years ago.
If the viii is broken five grand
daughters and a grandson of Mr..
Weightman will be benefited The
case has attracted considerable atten-
lion because of the social prominence
IF those concerned.
Mrs. Walker on Stand.
The case was called for trial before
Judge Ashman in the orphans court
with a great array of counsel on each
side. The morning session was taken
ND with the examination of three wit
nesses. one of whom was Mrs. Walker
who plainly showed her bitterness
against Mrs. Wister. One of the Other
two witnesses was Edward L. Davis
for many years private secretary tt
Mr.. Weightman and who was wit
ness to the signing of the last will
Counsel for Mrs. Wister asked him il
he remembered Mr.. Weightman subse
quent to drawing uEe his will having
written something ON a piece of note
paper and then place it in his desk. HI
said he had, but did not know wha
Mr.. Weightman had written. Thereup
on Alexander Simpson, Jr., of counse
for Mrs. Wister demanded the produc
ton of the paper, and after Attorne.
General Carson of Pennsylvania ant
John G. Johnson of counsel for Mrs
Walker had fumbled through thei
documents they produced it. The pape
was carefully read by Mrs. Wister
attorneys and then handed to the wit
ness. who said it looked like the pane
he had seen Mr. Weightman write.
was then marked for Identification an
returned to Mr. Carson. The examine
ton of Mrs. Walker, who is one of tn
richest women in America then TO
lowed, no further attention being pal
to the piece of paper. Only few III
important questions were asked her
before the morning session closed.
Old Employee Got 100000
The first witness called by the col
testant was A. w. Hopes, seventy-si
years old, who was manager OF a.
counts and credits for Powers
Weightman, of which concern Nj
Weightman was sole member. d
testified with reluctance that MI
Walker presented more than $1o0,0'
to him.
Having established the fact that
had received gifts from Mrs. Wake
the lawyers examined the witness T
garding the circumstances of the sig
ing of the last will of Mr.. Weightms
on Aug. /, 1895. He had witnessed Il
signing of two other papers prior to Il
signing of the last will. These he b
lieyed were will and codicil, but
was not sure.
None of the attorneys would give
reason for the postponement. Final