Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-06-08
Mrs. Johnson Relates
Pitiful Story Of
Neglect.
TELLS VICE-CHANCELLOR
SHE HAD Sc PER WEEK
Man Declares His Mother Is AT.
flicted With Gambling
= Spirit.

Mother appeared against only son
and his wife before Vice-Chancellor
Stevens today, where Mrs. Caroline M.
Johnson bent and gray, and crippled
by rheumatism and advancing years,
told a story of apparent Indifference on
the part of William F. johnson and
his better half, Emma j., of IL Cot
tage street.
The mother, who has been an inmate
of the Home for Incurables and now
lives at 10 Court street, wants her
business interests settled in an equit-
able way on the ground that her son
for the past six or seven years had
been collecting about 5000 worth of
rents year for which he had failed
TO give an accounting, and that all she
ever got out of him was Sc week
with which to pay her board.
The son and his wife live in IL Cot
tage street. and he claims that the
property was decided to him by his
mother November 15 1904 who claims
n life interest in it. Besides that, so
the mothers story runs, two other prop
critics are involved. the three valued
other in Spruce street The latter was
recently sold for $1,000, and there is a
dispute over a $4,000 mortgage on it.
Says Old Lady VIII Gamble.
On the other hand, the. son claims
that his mother has the gambling in
stinct and that he took charge of the
, property to save it fl - syetting lost
because of her speculs a -oclivities.
He made an affida' -aat effect
during the earlier efEtF of the pro-
ceedings on an app.4cation for re-
ceiver fo- tie rents. -s.-as,.
When has your son been to see GU
last?" asked William H. Osborne,
counsel for the aged mother
"He has not been to see me since the
conveyances were made" she an
sWered. and 1 haven't seen my
daughter-in-law since last year"
Did you ever make a deed to your
son for the Cottage street property"
she was asked.
No, sir
do you know there was deed on
1ecord to your SOM"
no, sir.
When asked when she first learned
about the deed she said recently" and
explained that she started the proceed
ings as soon as she realized that she
wasn't the owner
The bill alleges" suggested the
lawyer, ''that your son transferred
life-ilterest back to you.
Il don't remember that he did," wit
ness answered
Then the mother was asked how long
she had been living in the Cottage
4
August Is, 1906. i was in November,
1904, that her health began to fail and
she practically became an invalid
Witness Raps Legislature.
In the course of the cross -examina-
tion the witness wandered from the
subject at hand far enough to say:
IF we get a better Legislature, and
more honorable lawyers, we would
have our rights
Then she denied, on the cross-exami-
nation by Frank e. Bradner. that she
had a bargain with George Stanford
who worked on the case, that he was
TO get anything in case she gets the
property back After that she adj
mitted that she had sent Mr.. Stan
ford to her son to demand an account
ing
SIS got lnlo ulIlCuillbSt SAploiliSh
the son, meaning his mother. land of
fered me the Cottage street house. /
offered to give her SIS a month, and
have done so to this day. She was
mortgaging the properties unbeknown
to me, and never received any benefit
from them.
Mortgages TO Protect Her.
"The conveyances were made" the
son explained further, ito protect her
property as she was making unfor
tunate speculations.'
He said that his mother cace loanel
her sister $4,000.
"But the affidavit says" insisted Mr.
Osborne, that your mother has the
gambling instinct and cannot resist tho
opportunity to speculate. Did yoV refec |
to the loanp' Y
mo, sir
$1,000 in wildcat Scheme.
Pressed to explain some more on this
point, Mr.. Johnson said that once, in
1874, his mother invested $1,000 in a
wildcat scheme, and added:
The only satisfaction we had was
in putting a cousin in prison who was
i'm the scheme. / never said that my
mother was a gambler, but | do say
she has the gambling instinct"
The daughter-in-law testified that
when the older Mrs. Johnson, who con-
fessed to 10 years, came to-s4ive with
her she didn't have cent.
After the counsel in the case had
summed up this afternoon the vice
chancellor reserved decision, saying
that the only testimony he wanted
transcribed was that covering the
older Mrs. Johnsons story