The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-22
MRS. COPELAND
 UNABLE TO GET
 HER MONEY BACK
U. s. District Court Refuses to Break Trust and Says Some Jarring Things Plaintiff Daughter of Ex-Mayor
 Zones F. T. Staples of This City To Remain Trustee-She Feared Her Husband

Judge James F.. Platt in the circuit court of the United States at Hart | ford yesterday dismissed the bill in
 Copeland, fashion editor of a Philadel- phia newspaper, against Frank T. Sta
 pies of this city, as trustee. and her
 brother, Dr. Alfred C. Zones, also of this city, Joined with Mrs Copeland was William s. Raudenbush of Phil adelphia, as guardian of Mrs. Cope
 lands daughter, Erma Tones Cope
 lard, IA years old
 When Mrs. Copeland's father, the
 late Dr. Civilion Fones, former
 Mayor, died intestate on September 20,
 1907, he was possessed of considerable
 estate. Mrs. Copeland and her broth
 CT Alfred were the only heirs and next
 of kin, and the estate was divided
 equally between them. Mrs. Copeland
 and her husband had not lived hap
 oily together. They had been separ-
 ated several times and were living
 apart at the time Mrs Copeland came
 into possession of her share of her fa-
 ther's estate. That her husband might
 not share in her estate at her decease,
 she made an agreement of trust of
 her estate to MT. Staples. She, in her
 will, asked that the trust agreement
 be set aside on the ground that, when she executed the trust she acted un-
 der a mistake as to its effect, and she alleged that the mistake was made because of false representations of her brother. and his agents. She also al- legged that she was under duress at the time of the execution.
 Judge Platt, in his opinion, says that there was nothing offered before him to support the allegation of duress, ar ho fo ho q on which it was alleged that the false representations were made. As to the first point, he says that the testimony not only fails to sustain the allegation, but it shows that Mrs. Copeland was truthfully and properly advised that the only absolutely sure way to pro- tect the property from her worthless was to execute the agreement of trust.
 The second ground, which charged that, Lawyer Charles s, Garfield false ly represented in August, 1908, that, undsr the trust agreement, Mrs. Cope land "could withdraw and use the principal of the securities which they to her she was conveying in trust in such a way as to enable her to withdraw such principal as she desired the same" Judge Platt finds is not true, and as to this claim, the judge takes occasion to say:
 .'The trouble with this case is that I am unable to believe her (Mrs. Cope land) when she says so. She is an intelligent woman. This whole case turns out whether, under section of the trust agreement, Mrs. Copeland understood that she was to be the judge of whether, at any time, it was necessary to dip into the pr1n- cipal, and whether she was brought to that understanding by the false of pr. Zones or MT. Garfield. MT. Staples is, I under stand, exonerated by her counsel. The language of paragraph is so plain that it is impossible for Mrs. Cope land to have had the slightest doubt about what it meant. It is a matter of mystery how any lay person, of either sex, and especially one with sufficient command of English to be getting on the Philadelphia newspaper, can bring oneself to say that it was and needed a lawyer to l explain it. It is true that, in refer 1 ring to it, MT. Garfield did not discuss the point as to who should decide the | question of necessity, but it would | seem a waste of words to have done So | with such positive language in the | 
 Later in the opinion Judge Platt l says:
 "The very object and purpose of the | rust would have been defeated if the | agreement had meant what she pro- ,esses to say she thought it meant Her husband had beguiled her before, md was evidently capable of doing so again. She was protecting herself and ;hild from his attacks, and she de- iberately took the only safe way to To so.''
 n concluding the opinion Judge o1att writes:
 Tt all comes down to this: If she ,ould have her own way about the principal, or have revoked the trust whenever the wllim to do sos seized fer, the act into which she entered | 'n August IA, 1908, the agreement) liter nearly a years deliberation, would have been as unstable as the hifting sands. It's polemnity would lave been a mockery and a travesty, md the child would have been in con- tant danger of never enjoying the comfort which it was the fond hope If the grandfather to provide for. It s an abnormal situation that this anne child should now be urged by the ,uardian to take a step, which, if it ucceeded, would in all human prob bility put the trust fund forever be-
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