The herald., 1911-04-20
A SINGULAR
WILL CASE
By ARTHUR W. BREUSTER
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

tCN W ItSullS.
One day. happening in at my law
yers office, he said 10 me:
by the bye, we have a big lot o
papers In your case against Bunsby
1t has all been settled up, and | woul,
like to turn them over to you. We ar,
overburdened here with dead docu
ments."
He called an office boy and sent fol
the papers. They came to me in on,
large bundle, which ] tucked under my
arm, walked home with it, and threw
1t, without opening it, into an iroI
box kept for family records.
Ten years passed, during which pc
riod ! went on an average to the boz
once or twice a year TO toss into il
some document that would probably
never be needed again. | had no oc
casion to look into the box during al
this period. but the time came when
found it necessary to overhaul it In
a search for missing paper. By the
time | found MY paper every separate
bunch had been unrolled and their con.
tents were all in confusion. Picking
up paper marked Last will and tesla
ment Of James Chieningsby," | was
somewhat surprised to find such a
document.
/ opened and ran my eye over its
contents. There was nothing to indi.
cate the value of the estate, nor were
the names Of any of the legatees ia
miliar to me. There were few small
requests to different persons. and the
residue was to be given to a minor.
How the paper got into my box was a
mystery. / was not interested in the
will, but l was deeply interested In
how 1t came to be where | found it.
1t must have been there a long while.
but not more than twenty years. for
the date it was executed was no fur.
Their back than that. But II might
have been put in my box much more
lately than that.
I should have attached more impor-
lance to 1t If persons could not make
more than one legal will. 1t struck
me that this might be an old one
which had been voided by a later one
and had got mixed with old out Of
date papers. But that did not explain
how 1t came to be in my possession,
for It was not a paper in which / or
any Of my family, so far as l knew.
had any interest. looked it over
carefully to see If there was any clew
by which l could discover who were
the legatees, but there was nothing to
give me the slightest information con-
corning it. took 1t to my desk In a
room l occupied for smoking and
placed 1t in pigeonhole, intending to
advertise it. But time passed, and I
took no action.
Some time after this I married my
stenographer and typewriter. She was
very poor. and 1 was not rich. 1 was
making a bare living and until our
first child was born she retained her
position in my service. Indeed, 1t was
essential that she should, and when
children came and I was deprived Of
her assistance in spite Of all my eff
forts / was losing my grip and could
not afford to hire another stenogra-
pher.
One morning while looking over my
my eye drifted to real es-
tate items. One Of them mentioned
the sale Of piece Of property belong
ing to the Chieningsby estate. The
name was an odd one. but It seemed
to me that had seen it somewhere
before.
my DEAR" said to my wife. did
you ever hear Of the name Chienings-
byT
II had an uncle by that name.
though I never saw him. He disap-
peared when he was a boy and was
never heard from. All I know Of him
Is that l heard my mother speak Of
him before she died"
I kept thinking Of the name till sud
denly 1t flashed upon me that I had
seen 1t in the will found in my iron
box. / went to my desk. took out the
document and read the name of the
Chieningsby. I call
I'd my wife and read the will to her.
When l came to the name Of the heir
70 the residue Of the estate l stopped.
wonder stricken. 1t was her maiden
name.
She was as much mystified as I. All |
he knew Of the name Of Chieningsby |
vas what she had told me. But we |
we're both in a fiutter Of excitement. |
What did 1t mean? Then remember |
d that a man may make will every |
lay If he likes and only the last one
S Of any value. Nevertheless l was
reused. l rushed out to my attor-
ley, or the one who had once had my
aw business, showed him the docu-
nent and was about to ask him to
make an investigation for me when he
xclaimed
by thunder
Explain I cried impatiently.
Instead Of answering me he called
ut to his partners. Here's a will for
he Chieningsby estate"
For heavens sake tell mew
"Where did you get thisT
Found 1t In box Of mine where
! has probably been for years."
'Tt represents an estate that has
ever been settled since no one has
cen found near enough Of kin to claim
!. If this is genuine all but these
ew requests goes to Miss Katherine
filler. whoever she may be-"
"She,s nv wife"