The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-09-30


between me and her image, thrust
ing 1t aside with an iron and unswerv-
ing hand.
1t was a murky, drizzling morning
In December, upon the eve OF the
Christmas holidays. / had not the
pleasing qualification OF even seeing
my bed upon the preceding night. as
| was compelled to read up case In
volving a series of the most i'm
portant issues, and my nights rest
went down before the interest OF my
clients
1t was disputed will case, and
had been retained Tor the defendants.
Miss Isabelle Van Zandt died on
, the preceding August, bequeathing
the bulk OF her vast property to her
nephew and niece, the children of
deceased sister, and comparatively
small residue to sole surviving
brother, who now disputed the will
on the grounds Of undue influence and
the mental incapacity of the testatrix.
On our side 1t was alleged that the
| testatrix was of sound mind at the
time Of her demise, and that the be-
quests were the result of natural
affection, and that she was further
influenced by the fact that the plain
tiff was extremely wealthy and un-
married.
There were two weak places in our
armory The first, that Miss Van
Zandt had been estranged from her
nephew up to within few days of her
death; the second, that Miss Van
Zandt was generally considered some
what eccentric. Her nephew, Mr.. Ed
ward Appleton, had married "a pen
nlless lass wi lang pedigree" con-
trary to the expressed wishes Of his
aunt; and it was solely owing to the
influence of his sister Mabel that he
was, at the eleventh hour, restored
to the good graces of his offended rel
ative.
1t was late when I arrived at court,
and, In addition to my brief, / was
incumbered with CHASTITY headache,
which, at every throb, led me to i'm
agine that my skull was in imminent
danger of exploding as though
through the agency of -glycerine.
The plaintiff had cloud of wit
nesses in attendance, and the case,
from the magnitude OF the property
at stake, excited very considerable
interest.
The plaintiffs case was ably, elo-
quently and argumentatively stated
by his counsel, and about twenty per-
sons who had been on terms of al
legged intimacy with the deceased
were examined as to her eccentrici-
ties, and also with regard to her vlsl-
bly, decaying mental powers, antece-
dent to her demise.
My associate cross-eXamined such
of those witnesses as he deemed
shaky, and, by dint of a series Of art
full and elaborate queries, totally ir-
relevant to the question at issue, sue
ceeded in driving number of these
witnesses into state OF mental irri-
tation bordering upon frenzy, and the
remainder into a condition of hapless
and irrevocable bewilderment.
When he had duly impressed the
jury with the conviction that the in
dividuals who had appeared before
lem were each and all possessed of a
natural taste for perjury, he proceed
ed to state the case for the defense,
and in a brief but incisive statement
painted the conduct of the plaintiff in
such hideous colors as to justify the
refusal of the tears of solitary angel
to wipe the record out.
If our case was indented with weak
points, it likewise bristled with strong
ones, and one upon which we placed
an unlimited confidence was the fact
of the deceased lady's having tele-
graped to her nephew, few days
prior to her death, to come and re-
ceive her unqualified forgiveness. The
substance of the dispatch was written
by herself, copied by her niece and
transmitted by the latter to Mr.. Ed
ward Appleton, who acted upon it i'm
mediately.
The existence of this dispatch was
questioned. BY piece of extraor-
binary good luck the original, in the
handwriting of Miss Van Zandt, had
been procured, and, with cool, self
satisfied demeanor, my associate rose
and said:
"We propose to place Miss Apple
ton on the stand now;" and, turning
to me, half-whispered: you take
reserve"
Up to this particular moment l had
preserved mastery inactivity; my
head was splitting, and my ideas were
deranged by the tortures of physical
anguish. l would willingly have
given a hundred, two hundred, yea,
five hundred dollars for respite, but
the chance was too good to throw
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. HT<n~