The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1911-03-24
A SINGULAR
WILL CASE
BY ARTHUR w. BREUSTER
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

have ever heard none IL stranger than
one happening In my own life, and 1t
led to important results.
One day. happening in at my law
yer's office, he said to me:
by the bye, we have Il big lot OF
papers In your case against Bunsby
1t has all been settled up, and would
like to turn them over to you. We are
overburdened here with dead docu-
ments."
He called an office boy and sent for
the papers. They came to me in one
large bundle. which tucked under my
arm, walked home with 1t, and threw
1t, without opening it, into an~iron
box kept for family records.
Ten years passed. during which pc
Rod went on an average to tie box
once or twice year to toss into IL
some document that would probably
never be needed again. | had no oc-
casion to look into the box during all
this period. but the time came when
/ found 1t necessary to overhaul it in
q 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 a paper marked Last will and tesla
ment of James Chieningsby,' ! was
somewhat surprised to find such a
document.
I opened and ran my eye over its
contents. There was nothing to lndi-
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 he given to a minor
How the paper got into my box was
mystery. | was not interested in the
will, but was deeply interested in
how it came to be where | found it.
1t must have been there long while,
but not more than twenty years. for
the date it was executed was no fur
Their back than that. But it might
have been put in my box much more
lately than that.
I should have attached more impor-
lance to it 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 later one
and had got mixed with old out Of
date papers. But that did not explain
how it came to be in my possession,
for 1t was not paper in which l or
any of my family. so far as knew,
had any interest. | looked it over
carefully to see if there was any clew
by which could discover who were
the legatees, but there was nothing to
give me the slightest information con-
corning it. took it to my desk in a
room occupied for smoking and
placed it in pigeonhole. intending to
advertise it. But time passed, and !
took no action.
Some time after this l married my
stenographer and typewriter. She was
very poor, and | was not rich. | was
making bare living and until our
first child was born she retained her
position in my service. Indeed. it was
essential that she should. and when
children came and | 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
newspaper 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 l had seen it somewhere
before.
my dear" said to my wife. did
you ever hear Of the name Chienings-
by"
81 had an uncle by that name,
though l never saw him. He disap-
peared when he was n boy and was
never heard from. All know of him
is that | heard my mother speak of
him before she died"
kept thinking of the name till sud
denly it flashed upon me that had
seen it in the will found in my iron
box. / went to my desk. took out the
document and read the name of the
testator-James Chieningsby. call
ed my wife and read the will to her.
When I came to the name of the heir
to the residue of the estate ! stopped.
wonder stricken. 1t was her maiden
name.
She was as much mystified as I. All
she knew of the name of Chieningsby
was what she had told me. But we
were both in a futter of excitement.
What did it mean? Then remember
ed that man may make will every
day if he likes and only the last one
is OF any value Nevertheless was
aroused. | rushed out to my attor-
ney, or the one who had once had my
law business, showed him the docu-
ment and was about to ask him to
make an investigation for me when he
exclaimed:
"By thunder"
"EXplain" | cried impatiently.
'Instead of answering me he called
out to his partners, Here's a will for
the Chieningsby estate"
"For heavens sake tell me"
"Where did you get thisT'
Found in a box of mine wher-
it has probably been for years."
at represents an estate that has
never been settled since no one haR
been found near enough of kin to claim
1t. If this is genuine all but these
few requests goes to Miss KatheriDs
Miller, whoever she may be-"
"She's my wife,"
We were rich. The will had been
left by the testator with my attorneys.
had got mixed with the bundle of pa
psrs given to me and had come to
light when most needed.