The evening world., 1908-11-16
In 1t She Left All Her PropertY
to Her Second
Husband.
CHILDREN CUT OFF.
Stepfather Uncle Had Them
Committed to Charitable
Institution.

The three little children of Mrs.
Sarah r. Bartnett will not have to 20
Surrogate Thomas to-day rejected the
death-bed will under which they got
nothing and their step-father all her
estate and consigned the three little
girls to the Charity DEPARTMENT.
Jennie. Anna and Regina Bartnett.
seven, five and four years old, sweet.
sad faced little girls under the protect
ing care of their big brother, Peary
Bartnett. sat in Surrogate Thomas's
Court while Edward j. Tinsdale,
their special guardian ana attorney,
fought against the probate OF will to
which their mother signed her name on
April II, while propped up In bed and
kept alive by stimulants, practically on
her death-bed.
That will beaueathed all her estate
20 her second husband, uncle and step
father TO the four children, Frank K.
BARNETT. although that estate, consist
ing of their home in Westminster ave-
nue., Westchester village, in the north
Bronx, and other properties aggregatinS
$4,000 in value. came TO her by bsduest
of her first husband, the father OF their
little ones.
Mrs. Bartneti died on May 3. and
within two weeks Mr.. BARNETT sold of
all the personal property and leased the
house to tenant
Committed as Paupers.
The children were taken by their step
father to the Department of Charities
and they were received as paupers and
committed to St. AIMS Home In Peeks-
kill. ,
Their grandfather. Patrick Mullen, of
city TO get his dead daughters children
and take them 10 his farm. discovered
this amazing situation and learned mat
their stePfather h had s mos'g ia Contest
the will of his daughter in oehah OF her
children. .,-
The will was drawn by Timothy,
Power, n Middleton lawyer, and he and
Dr. William Pound and trained nurse,
Elvira MCConihee, signed 1t as VIII
nesses.
Timothy Power testified that he drew
Mrs. Bartnetts VIII ana 9 9eiIeteu u "a
drawing the will. He drew the VIII as
she directed and the nurse held her up
in bed when she signed the paper
Dying When She Signed.
Or. Pound testified thai. Mrs; Bart
nett was the worst case OF septicaemia
he had ever attended.
The Doctor described the scene When
the will was made-how the nurse heio
her up in bed TO sign the document.
We'll. wasn't this most brutal
performance, Doctor? ~
DR. Pound hesitated. Iheh ne All
euore1 tho Surrogate.
-, was the worst case OF the kind
I ever saw
Il want you TO tell me whether you
think that Mrs Bartnett was OF suf-
ficiently sound and normal mind 10 com
prehend the extent of her estate and
appreciate the obligations she owed 10
her husband and 10 her children' was
she OF sound mind?'
II don't think she was OF sound mind,
but she knew right from wrong,
Did Not Think Her Rational.
Elvira McComher. the trained nurse,
WHO attended Mrs. Bartnett in her last
illness. and who held her up, in bed 10
sign the will testified that she did not
think her patient was rational at that
time, or knew what she was doing.
David y. Carvalho. handwriting ex-
pert gave II as his opinion that the
signature TO the will was forgery put
there by tracing from check; that a
carbon tracing plainly showed on the
will,
LAWYER ROescr, attorney for the step
father. explained that he had sent a
clerk to the Surrogates office to make
tracing on carbon paper Of Mrs.
Bartuett signature to the viii to take
To the savings banks in search for
any savings bank account she might
have had.
Surrogate Thomas said:
THE burden of proof is upon the pro-
poneuts of a viii They must prove
their case. Here We have doubt and
-uSpiCiOn thrown upon YOUR case by
your own witnesses, and YOU answer by
an act of supreme folly and ignorance,
by YOU. explanation Of the tracing OF
that signature.
There is an astounding resemblance
in the signature tn the Will 10 the sig
nature on the check ConcededlY drawn
by her few weeks earlier and from
which Alr Carvalho says the signature
was traced on carbon paper.
II will not admit this paper 10 pro-
bate on The ground alone that Mrs
Barnctt was NOT in tit mental or physi-
cal condition to sign it,