Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-03-19
le. 81
Settling i Account !! = !.
Copyright. 1909, by American Press al


were in business together for IMAM
years. They made money, but whe,
John died Martin found great diff
Guilty in settling up the business
Johns oldest son Peter, fearing that
his uncle would absorb the dead part
ner's interest. bothered and delayed his
uncle in such fashion that, a financial
panic coming on, what was left Of the
firms assets was so entangled that it
could only be liquidated after patient
management. Martin Stokes, breaking
down in health, turned the whole mat
ter over to his nephew and left for
parts unknown.
Ten years later he reappeared, a
sickly looking old man, but with some
appearance of having prospered. Peter
Stokes had meanwhile saved some
$4,000 from the wreck, half of which,
Of course, belonged to his uncle But
Peter furnished accounts to show that
the firm had been insolvent His uncle
looked them over, studied them and
handed them back to his nephew with
the remark:
':1'm sorry, Peter, that you got moth
ing out Of it. But, after all, / may not
have been away so long for nothing l
have no children to enjoy what l have
accumulated and have determined to
leave it to you and your sisters. will!
place it in a safety deposit company's
vault and tell you where keep the
key. After my death you can unlock
the box containing the securities and
they will be yours without any will
and testament on my part. All ask
from you is bare pittance so long as
l live, which will be at most but few
years.
He took long, fat envelope from
his pocket sealed with his own sea-!
and wrote on it, 81 give this property
to my nephew, Peter Stokes, and his
sisters, Lydia and Grace Stokes" The
words bore that days date and was
signed by the donor.
This plan" he said, ''leayes at my
death nothing to be settled. By !, will
an estate must be Hquidated the same
as a business. And you know that IN
winding up a business there is a lot
Of shrinkage. You have done. ali the
work in settling the affairs Of John
6 Martin Stokes with no pay. What
ever there. may be between us Of q
business nature connected with these
affairs is settled now by this transac-
tion. The envelope goes into a box OF
the Fidelity Trust company, and here
is the key on my ring
The nepheWs and nieces accepted
the gift and the conditions with alac-
rity. The envelope was fat enough to
contain some twenty or thirty bonds
or if the property was in stocks there
might be twice as many certificates.
Those to whom the gift was made
desired their uncle to come and live
with them. This he declined to do.
He rented a little cottage, where he
kept house by himself. He said moth
ing to his nephew or nieces about the
payment Of the rent, but it was paid
by them. He said nothing about sup
plies, but they opened accounts for
him at provision stores, though they
secretly instructed the tradesmen to
keep them posted as to the amount
the old man was being credited with.
At the end Of the first year Peter
Stokes figured up the amount expend-
ed at about 5000. But the owners of
the estate, which could not be used till
after the donors death, fearing that If
they appeared niggardly the donor
might take back his gift, expended for
him an additional $500, making to-
tai of $1,000. This they considered
keeping within bounds.
The old man remained for time
very delicate Indeed, the doctors bills
amounted to several hundred dollars.
His loving nephew and nieces begged
him to come and live with them, that
they might the better administer to bis
comfort. But he said he didn't wish
to be burden on any one, assuring
them that they would not be the loser
by a cent for what money they ex-
pended upon him.. After the first five
years his health became very good
and remained so for three years, when
he died rather suddenly. Before the
old man breathed his last Peter Stokes
figured up that the amount expended
upon him had amounted to exactly
$3.50. But there were funeral ex=
penses to e..paid amounting to about
$3.50. However, since his uncle was
dead, there would be no need to DC
extravagant in this respect, and he re
solved to cut the amount down to SIS
The first thing Peter did when bis
uncle was pronounced dead was to
take his key ring from his pocket
and, detaching the safety deposit key
start for the trust company. His sis
tiers exaeted a promise that he would
not open the envelope till the day after
the funeral, the same as in case OF
wills. Bringing the packet home, he
locked it in his desk and waited.
The morning after the funeral the
family gathered in the library, locked
the door, took out the envelope and
tore it open. Within were folded
pieces CT blank parchment, on one Of