Smyrna times., 1906-08-08
WILL CONTEST
The SAGE WILL
Blunder Discovered That May Tie
Up Estate Indefinitely.
THE DATE HAD BEEN CHANGED

New 1Ork, Aug. S.-Inree SIrOkeS VI ,
q scrivener's pen may tie up the estate
Of Russell Sage in so many years of
litigation that the principal heneti-
ciary, Mrs. Russell Sage, and the exec
utors, who are to receive between
$4,000 and $1,OO0.0OO each, will be
dead and buried before the final settle
ment.
1t was discovered in Saratoga that
in the clause to which the testator at
tached his signature there is an era
sure of a date, which apparently had
escaped the scrutiny of any of the
rs-at-law--satisfied or dissatisfied
with the $25 1000 bequest--and to which
the attorney for the executors, or the
attorneys for the estate, or the widow,
have not seen fit to call attention.
The imperfection in the will, which
was presumed to be letter-perfect from
beginning to end, was not known to
A. Welles Stump, legal adviser of Mrs.
Elizabeth Gear, of Manhattan. niece OF
Russell Sage, who has combined with
James H. Sage, a nephew, of Troy, to
break the will. Nor was it known to
Senator Bracket, who has been re
tanned by the Troy nephew to fight
for a more generous distribution of
the Sage millions. That the scriven-
er's carelessness in framing a tesla
ment disposing of an estate valued at
500, 900 900 will give an additional peg |
on which to hang a contest is beyond |
any question in the opinion of lawyers |
competent to pass judgment.
Russell Sages last will and tesla |
ment is dated February IL, 1901. The |
witnesses to his signature are Edward |
| Townsend, of 130 West 121st street |
and R. w Friedman, of 80 West 123d
street. The final clause, which pre-
cedes the declaration of the witnesses
that they saw the will signed, in the
presence of each other, and in the
presence of the testator, is in the usual
legal form.
In the fourth line of the paragraph
| over the testator's signature is the OBJ
liberation or erasure, on which may
depend the validity of the document,
and on which the legatees who have
taken the first step in the contest will
|
pressed themselves as satisfied.
The para graph begins, In witness
whereof | have herewith subscribed
my name and affixed my seal, at 2Wall
street, New York city, in the borough
of Manhattan" and then follows, this
eleventh day of February. 1901 Q900
with three pen strokes through the
| ~ he nf dxuo rd
Townsend and Richard w. Friedman,
whom | have requested to become at.
testing witnesses hereto-RUSSELL
SAGE"
1t does not require the eye Of a
handwriting expert to tell that the
fourth line, beginning, this eleventh"
was filled in after three lines pre-
ceding it. and the three lines following
1t, were written. The wide spacing be.
tween eleventh" and day shows
that room had been left to fill in a
hyphenated numeral like twenty
first" or ''twenty-third." The evidence
is clear that the third line, ending with
: borough of Manhattan" was crowded
= to make room for this fourth line
which looks as if it had been left blank
: originally, with the exception of the
year "1900," subsequently expunget
? with three lateral strokes. Nor doe:
it call for the judgment of handwrit
!. ing expert to discover that the writing
in 1901" and the crossed out "1900
= are not the work of the same hand
The 1901 is clear and firm and the loo
: of the 80" and the loop of the So" ar
). perfect, showing no jointure. The 80
n :, and the two "0's" in 1900 show a clea
~ break easily discernible with the make
eye.
The lawyer who framed the will
~ dead. The scrivener who wrote it /
" = the old-fashioned clerkly hand is nc
- known. The witnesses who saw NJ
- Sage attach his signature decline
: :" recall the circumstances which brougl
them in.