The San Francisco call., 1909-01-07
BabyIOnian Tablets and Worlds
Literature Quoted TO Sustain
Novel Argument
Fraud, Forgery and Conspiracy
Charges Involved in Revival
of Contest

f0rnia court decisions OF recent GATE,
figure as eXemplars in an argument by
Attorney Horace ". Philbrook before
Judge harrington in the United States
circuit court The argument in qUes-
zion is being made in answer to the
demurrers Of the defendants, filed IN
Connection with the latest twist OF the
noted Jacob Z. Davis viii contest.
Philbrook who appears as counsel
Tor the eastern contestants, CONTENDS
that the Davis viii admitted to pro-
bate more than u years ago was no
viii at all In support of this asser-
tion he does not depend solely on the
CLARKE that the document was for
gerry. but declares that even If II was
an authentic document it was lacking
in the qua alificatiOns necessary TO con-
stitute an Geographic viii.
PROVISION OF CODE INVOLVED
The California code declares that such
= will must be entirely written, dated
and signed" by its author. Philbrook
urges that the viii was not dated 4
casual inspection of the document in
question, which has kicked up this j
years Of legal shindy, would not seem
TO bear Philbrook out, for thus reads
october /. 1895.
"L Jacob T. Davis. viii and be-
queath everything have in this world
TO my beloved nieces, Lizzie Muir and
Belle Curtis. JACOB 4. DAVIS"
To the layman the first line looks
suspfciously like a date, but there the
Joker. PhilbrOOk declares that date,
10 comply strictly with the law, must
contain both the elements Of time and
place. He admits that the point is
new one and that il has never been
w-restled with by a federal court.
Therefore. with no legal precedent TO
rely upon. the court must study the
question from the standpoint Of usage.
STONE AGE CONTRACTS QUOTED
1t is the question Of usage that has
taken the argument back into the stone
age. PhilbrOok's brief Of points and
authorities in this connection covers
more than 100 typewritten pages OF
foolscap and is one OF the most extra
ordinary documents ever filed in the
California jurisdiction.
Philbrook's research has taken him
through all ages Of history and ntera-
ture. He quotes definitions by the
score from dictionaries. and where they
are adverse TO his point he shows their
weaknesses. he states that the in
scriptions recently deciphered from the
basaIt tablets OF ancient Babylon are
contracts. in which the date in every
instance sets forth the place where the
contract was drawn. The derivation
Of the word date he finds in the Latin
word data" TO give. He conJugates
this verb and points out that the dates
OF all Latin documents begin with
data" their translation being. Given
at such and such a place on such and
such a date.
ANCIENT WRITERS CITED
To illustrate his meaning he quotes
from hundreds Of sources, including the
Babvlonian tablets, the Letters of
cicero" CampbelTs "Epistle From Al
sfers" Irving's ''Knickerbocker His
tory the "MedftatiOns of Marcus At
relfus." the Magma Charta, Napoleon's
,vfll tho last treaty with Spain, the
letters Of Erasmus. the writings Of Co
lunlbus and Lord Chesterfield, the plays
of Shakespeare and scores of others as
widely diversified.
The climax Of these eXemplars is
taken from the very judgment of the
probate court, which the effort is now
being made TO set aside. There the
r,rincfple Of date is recognized, says
pbilbrook. for the order OF court reads.
Done in open court. this 18th day of
August, A. ID. 1891.
The question of the date. however, is
hut one OF the two main points on
which Philbroolk bases his contention
that the order Of probate was null and
void.
FRAUD AND FORGERY CHARGED
The second point is that proper notice
Of probate was not given, and that
thus the decree in favor of the de-
PENDANTS IN the present case was OBJ
tafned by fraud. The fight is being
made at this stage on these particular
grounds. leaving out the forgery ques-
ton. for the reason that unless the
order of probate can be shown to be
IL affa rol h ~
to any reopening of the case
The Davis will contest case has been
famous in the local courts for more
than a decade. as It Involves many in
terests and relates TO an estate val
ued at more than $3.00O,0 900. .
Jacob L. Davis died in 1896, leaving
his affairs in the hands OF his copart-
ner. Alexander Boyd. whose own death
followed soon after. Shortly thereafter
10 the two nieces was produced. 1t
was alleged that the legatees were not
Davis nieces, but were nieces of Mrs.
Jean McGregor Boyd, widow OF Davis
former partner, and that Mrs. Boyd and
The two nieces formed a conspiracy and
presented the forged viii.
MANY PERSONS INVOLVED
Davis nearest relatives were the
children of a dead sister, and all were
old people living in the east. They
contested the viii before it was ad-
initted TO probate, and lost, the de-
cision Of the probate court being af-
armed by the supreme court of the
state A settlement was then made.
the eastern claimants being paid $780,
600 and giving in return quitclaim
deeds disavowing all claims of interest
in the estate. Now the case has been
taken into the federal courts in an
effort to have these deeds set aside as
having been procured by fraud, to have
the order OF probate declared null and
void and TO have the property turned
over TO the claimants.
Much OF the property has been decided
and transferred, and in this way STAN
ford university, the University Of Cali
f0rnia and a number of large San
Francisco concerns have become in
volved as defendants in the present
action. John S. Partridge appears as
attorney for Mrs. Jean McGregor Boyd
and her heirs, and Joseph c. Campbell
for the legatees under the viii. The
other interests also are represented.
fTa-arhef1 made the onnnfnn arcnu1enf