The sun., 1910-04-10
WON BY mrs. RALPH VIVIAN
DISPUTE BETWEEN MARSHALL
%. ROBERTSS ENECUTORS.

Appellate ne, Gsion HelSis That the Roberts
wul Guarantees Mer Against being
Put 60 Any Exp~nse sG Taking care
% the Property IDrGt Tor Her life Ise.
A dispute between the executors of the
estate OF Marshall o. Roberts. who died
In IssO' leaving property now worth nearly
tAooo.OoO. was decited yesterday 10y the
Appellate Division of the supreme Court
after Il had dragged through the lower
courts for Ave years. The majority opinion
reverses the lower court and favors the
contention OF Mr.. Roberta's widow. who
10 nov the wife OF Col. Ralph Vivian and
lives in England. Mrs. vivian's COCK
ecutor In John p. Paterson, who insti-
tuted the action and whose contentious
were upheld by the lower court and 10y
two Justices % the Appellate Division.
Mrs. Vivian was susan Endicott Of
SaleTn. Mass. and was descendant
Of the Mayfower Endicotts. She was
a young woman when she met Mr.. Rob-
erts while crossing the Atlantic in Is7i.
at which time he was Rs much a. IS years
old. She became his third wife the next
year. At the time Of his third marriage
Mr.. Roberts had one son. Isaac p. Rob
erts and Mrs. Caroline Van Wart. Another
son. Marshall D. Roberts. was born of
his third marriage. These children and
hts granddaughter. Evelyn Van Wart.
survived him. since that time the elder
sou and his daughter. Mrs. Van wart.
have died The son Marshall has heen
living in England with his mother since
her marriage TO Col. Vivian in 1892
a. - h.
art patrons in the city and some years
before his death bought the ho'Is- adj
joining his own at los Fifth avenue to make
room for the many valuable paintings
he had purchased. Among these was
the famous painting Napoleon az Fon-
tainebleau." by Della roche. which. Il was
said. the third Napoleon tried 20 buy
from Mr. Roberts for S7S OO0. The entire
collection OF pictures was worth over
ssOo. .OOO at the time 81 his death. and in
addition the two houses were filed with
gold and silver plate. bronzes, antique
furniture and other works Of art.
IN his will Mr. Roberts left these two
houses and all their contents for the use
of his wife for life and stipulated that
all expenses in taking care Of the real and
personal property involved. including
taxes. should he paid out of the general
estate in order that his wife should
not he put to any expense. He also
directed that she should have ssOOoo
a year, and he divided the income of the
residuary estate among his children
IN equal shares. At present the sur
Viving son and daughter and tho grand
each receive one-third II the :
income.
The widow and Mr.. Patterson were in |
harmony a. to Affairs of the estate up IN Z
we're approved by the court. In 1897 !
loweveT. Mrs Vivian had decided that .
As she intended To make her home IN .
England she had no further use for most
II the contents of the houses IN Fifth /
venue having already selected about !
hirty of the most valuable paintings .
and taken thsm TO England At Mrs
Vivian = request the contents Of the houses .
we're sold and brought t57.7O OF tbs .
AMOUNT Mr.. Patterson invested SIS. .0O0
n a mortgage on the houses AZ S8i and .
,ss West End avenue. Mrs Vivian de-
,lared that she didn't authorize the IN
veafment and wasn't consulted about lt, n
Mr.. Patterson testified that she
~anted 70 get as much income AZ possible
,ut Of the SIS on AMI insisted thst Il he
invested AZ Per cent. II
The West End avenue property was II
Iwnei by Moses and Sarah Grove. and Il
Mr. Patterson was confident AZ the time
hat tiss mort gage was good The Crowe~
iefaulted on the mortgage m 1881 AMI u
vas foreclosed The property W. hld
n nv the executors AZ So 80 which left
deficiency judgment 81 Sli 10 The
lo,Ise At 3si West End avenue was vacant
or six years because th@ executors would
Tot rent II for lees than they thought
Z vas worth. In the ak yefrs prior To
0os the executors had mTde various
,ayments out of the general fund of the
state and Mr. Patterson and the daughter
nd granddaughter insisted that the IN
ONE fund out of which Mrs Vivian WIS
,aid should stani - proportionate share.
,ut Mrs. Vivian declared that she wasn't
espOnsible for the mortgage IN the first
,lace and ought not TO suffer through
& She also insisted that her neon"
und should be credited with any en-
lhncement of the value Of IN" West
Ind avenue property. A. a result she
eceived no income whichever FROM the
81 7Ot realized from the sale of the house
lold articles up 10 the commrn cement
4 the present action IN 1875.