Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-04-16
A SINGULAR
WILL CASE
By ARTHUR w. BREUSTER
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

OF all the strange condolences 1
have ever heard none is stranger than
one happening IN my own life, and it
led to important results.
One day, happening in at my law
yer's office, lie said to me:
by the bye, we have 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 l tucked under my
arm, walked home with it, and threw
it, without opening it. into an iron
box kept for family records
Ten years passed, during which pc
riod went on an average to the box
once or twice year to toss into it
some document that would probably
never be needed again. l had no oce
casion to look into the box during all
this period, but the time came when
l found it necessary to overhaul 1t in
a search for missing paper By the
time | found my paper every separate
bunch had been unrOled and their con-
tents were all in confusion. Picking
up a paper marked Last will and tesla
ment of james Cheningsby," | was
somewhat surprised to find such
document.
l 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 a 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 ! was deeply interested in
how it came to be where | found 1t.
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.
l 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and had got mixed with old out of
date papers But that did not explain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 it was not a paper in which L 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 | 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 l occupied for smoking and
placed it in a pigeonhole. intending to
advertise it. But time passed, and l
took no action.
Some time after this l married my
stenographer and typewriter. She was
very poor, and l 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 l 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 a piece Of property belong
ing to the Chieningsby estate. The
name was an odd one. but 1t seemed
to me that l had seen it somewhere
before.
"My dear" l 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 boy and was
never heard from. All know of him
is that l heard my mother speak of
him before she died"
I kept thinking of the name till sud
denly it flashed upon me that l had
seen it in the will found in my iron
box. l went to my desk, took out the
document and read the name Of Sae
testator-James Chieningsby. l 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 l stopped,
wonder stricken. 1t was her maiden
name.
She was as much mystified as l. All
she knew of the name of Chieningsby
was what she had told me. But we
were both in a f1utter Of excitement.
What did 1t mean? Then remember
ed that a man may make a will every
day If he likes and only the last one
is of any value. Nevertheless | was
aroused l rushed out to my attor-
ney. or the one who had once had nay
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 impatiendy.
INSTEAD of answering me he called
out to his partners. "Heres will for
the Chieningsby estate"
'FOr heavens sake tell me"
"Where did you get this?
"Found 1t In q box of mine where
it has probably been for years"
at represents an estate that has
never been settled since no one has
been found near enough Of kin to claim
it. If this is genuine all but these
few requests goes to Miss Katherine
Miller, whoever she may be-
"She's my wife"
We were rich. The will had been