The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-01-29
Judge Frazier Says Marie Carran
Is an Impostor.
FAMOUS ESTATE CASE IS SETTLED
Fight for Dead Mans Wealth Been
in the Courts for Many
Years.


oral will by which Marie Carrau, the
ex-fiancee of the late pioneer, John
Sullivan, laid claim to the $500, 900 es-
tate left by MIN has been declared by
Superior Judge Frazer to be a fraud
conceived by some criminal legal
mind for the purpose of stealing the
estate He denounced in strong Ian
guage, without charging any person
with being the originator of the fraud
what he considered a criminal con-
spiracy in which Marie Carrau was a
prime mover to unlawfully obtain the
property.
AS a consequence of this finding,
Judge Frater refused to admit the oral
Ivan had never uttered the words that
Marie Carrau and her witnesses said
he did. Their statements Judge Fra
ter branded as perjury The court
also found that not only were the
words not uttered, but that they were
not written down at the time Marie
Carrau says she wrote them.
Had No Thought of Death.
Judge Frater further found from the
evidence that at the time Marie Car
rau and her witnesses swear Sullivan
uttered the words that are said to
constitute a will he did not know that
the illness would end in death. At
that time, Judge Frater found from
the evidence, Sullivan had no appre-
hension of approaching death.
AS to whether an oral will would
convey real property under the laws
Of this state, Judge Frater did not
consider as material in the light of his
finding there had been no oral will
made by Sullivan. The decision of the
court reviewed the testimony of the
many witnesses al great length and
he commented at length on the mo-
tives that actuated the witnesses.
That some lawyer had been instru-
mental in leading Marie Carrau to en-
ter the conspiracy to get Sullivan's
property and had himself rehearsed
to her the words that she should
tated the written statement that pur-
ports to be a copy of the oral will,
Judge Frater found TO be a fact from
the evidence.
Had No Education.
He declared that it was nonsensical
to believe that man of so little ed
ucation as john Sullivan could have
been capable of uttering the words
Judge Frater remarked that if a law
yer was convinced he was dying and
would not have time to make a writ
ten will he would not be able to utter
words that would make up such a
perfect oral will under the statute.
He declared that after Sullivan's
death someone with a good legal mind
dictated the words that Marie Carrau
swore Sullivan uttered. All of the
testimony of Marie Carrau and her
witnesses, in the opinion of the court,
were only steps to steal the estate.
The court was not called upon in
deciding upon the inadmissibility of
the alleged oral will to probate to pass
upon the claims of the Irish heirs to
the estate, but if the will is not ad-
mitted to probate they will, upon
proving their alleged relationship to
Sullivan, obtain the estate. An appeal
will be taken by Marie Carrau to the
supreme court in an effort to reverse
the decision rendered by Judge Frater
this afternoon.
The fight for Sullivan's wealth has
been in both state and federal courts
for years. Judge Tallman, shortly
after Sullivans death, admitted the
oral will to probate that Judge Frater
declared was fraudulent this after
noon. The action of Judge Tallman
was set aside by the supreme court,
because of irregularities in the pre-
liminary proceedings