Omaha daily bee., 1908-08-28

Nh I'M CIV NN ALLEa t
There are certain thines that come nat
urelly by descent. and reforms come BY
descent You cannot convey q reform by
VIII. The president has tried 10 be-
uucath certain reforms TO the republican
candidate. but ] am the next Of blood
in the reform business. and they come TO
me. In fact. I think I could make II
stronger than that. II a man dies and
leaves no children the property soes back
to his parents. and. go far as reforms ara
concerned. the republican party has died
without heirs. and the reforms so back
10 the one from whom the republican
party got the reforms.-From w. J.
Bryan's Address at Salem. III, August
rs. 1908.
Mr.. Bryan's determination to make
a fight for a share in the estate of a
man who is no kin to him naturally
recalls a somewhat celebrated case,
tried some years ago, in which MIR
Bryan made a fight to share in the
proceeds of an estate, although his
name was not mentioned inlthe will,
In that case Mr.. Bryan did not claim
to be an heir, except on the ground
that he had been promised something
and he was expectant enough to carry
his case into courts, where he. was
finally defeated.
The record in the Bennett will case
is complete. The will was drawn by
W. j. Bryan himself at Lincoln, Neb.,
where Mr.. Bennett, a resident OF
Connecticut, was his guest. To Mrs.
Bennett the will bequeathod $50, 900
for purposes set forth in a sealed let
ter which accompanied the Will The
letter bore this address:
Mrs. p. S. Bennett: To be read only by
Mrs. Bennett and by her alone, after my
death.-P. S. Bennett
1t was developed later in court that
the sealed letter directed Mrs. Ben
nett to give Mr.. Bryan 100000 after
Mr.. Benefits death, and she was
specifically enjoined to observe the
strictest secrecy about the transaction.
II has never been explained why Mr.
Bryan, in drawing the will, should
have omitted his own name or sur
rounded the deal with an air of
melodramatic secrecy. particularly as
he has always avowedly favored pub
licity in all money transactions. Per-
haps his native modesty led him to
seek to evade the advertisement that
would naturally follow his coming into
such a liberal share of a mere friends
estate. However, when it came to the
question of publicity or the loss of the
$4,000, Mr.. Bryan decided for pub
licity and carried the case into the
courts. After a lengthy hearing, the
court held that neither said envelope,
nor letter, nor said typewriter docu-
ment be approved or allowed as part
of said will" With an amount equal
to a years salary of the president of
the United States at stake, Mr.. Bryan
appealed the case to the higher courts,
only to be beaten at every stage of the
legal fight.
Mr.. Bryan is not easily dismayed by
defeats, either in the courts or in poll
tics, and so he is going to make an
other fight to break the Roosevelt will
for the purpose of sharing a political
estate in the accumulation of which he
has had no part, and even though his
name was not mentioned in the list of
requests. The estate, however, is an
exceedingly large one and Mr.. Bryan
Is socialistic enough to think he should
have his share of any good things in
sight. His claim will, of course, be-
contested, and he may as well prepare
to have it rejected by the court Of
public opinion which will pass on his
case on Tuesday, November 3, 1908.