New-York tribune., 1911-02-18
WAVES $4,000 TO TESTIFY
William H. ECkert Witness Tor
Contestant in Will Case.
WILLING TO LOSE LEGACY
TELLS of Domination by Younger
Son, and Declares General
Was Too Feeble to Resist.

v-uiiap, II Tckert was the principal WIZ
,ese YESTERDAY at the trial of the contest
,ver the will of his brother. General Thoin-
,s T rckert. in the Surrogates court
sbs rotber was a legatee TO the amount
=, e; nn in the generals will. and 10 'eS-
NV IN favor of James Clendenin EcKer''
,hc elder son. who is contestng' ne khe"
might cause him 10 lose that legacy
When Surrogate Cohalan told the witness
,b., be ,yould have TO waive his legacy
n he wanted TO tell of conversations WIN
bis brother. Eckcrt said: Yes. am "iilihE
10 waive. SO that a square deal may be nao
IN this case" He was the second menper
NJ the family 10 take that step. Mrs Ahce
y Hanlin. niece Of Genera! Eckert' nav
Ing testified on Thursday for the contestant
dnder the same circumstances.
counsel for the contestant tried TO bring
,u, i'm tue examination Of Mr.. Eckert the
,reat influence that General Eckert
,orrrer son and chief legatce, Thomas J.
Eckcrt. ir. had over his father. which is
ono of the grounds for the contest ana
ROW The general weakly submitted 10 the
alleged upcovernable temper of his son.
Sht Witness described two such occasions
~ which h was present ana AT "uicn
Thomas r. Eckert. jr.. used some Vloleht
tn6 lrofane language.
General Didn't Recognize Him.
William II. Eckert is seventy-tNo years
rid. tall. straight and of distinguished aP
rearance. one thing that may prove o.
inonortancs i'm the determination or the cas-"
egs the statement Of the witness that MS
brother did not recognize him Wheh ne
rallied tc see him four days before the gen.
erals death. n October. 1910. at Eloeroh'
X a.. Richard g. Page. jr., who was zen
ersl Tckert's secretary, and IS mehtiohed
as one OF those who used undue lniluenOe
on the general, had testified that two DAY 5
before the generals death the latter toid
him that lie wanted his secretary TO turn
byer 10 Miss Minnie Egan. the EcKert
toLsekeeper. who subsequently marrled
nhcmas r. Eckert. jr., all of MS oeau
ejfe's ievelry. valued al So!Op. Another
witness said that the general wanted the
oewelry To- 20 to his granddaughter MISS
UoaIna Eckert. daughter OF the elder son.
james Clendenin Eckert
Nh. Eckert told Of one Of the outbursts
ay the younger son that occurred i'll the
home Of General Eckcrt. in ssth street. The
witness was there at dinner, and rev
br. Mcmahon was also present. Mr.. Eek
srt said that his nephew declared:
i've got a knife upstairs that | am
going TO use to cut the heart out OF Father
lAvele. and l have got it in for that ----
Bishop Farley"
What caused this outbreak did not de-
Nelop. The witness said that General
A,ckert stopped further remarks by his
son. At another time, said the witness
lThomas r. Eckert. jr., refused 10 eat sup
per with his father. saying that the meal
WAS Damned slopf The general said
weakly. "Oh dear"
Henry VI. Earle, counsel for the con-
testant. explained that he brought this out
10 show that General Eckerts will grew
weaker as he grew Older. Mr.. Eckert told
Of a conversation which he had with Page.
in which the secretary said that General
Tckert had made a will, or was making
will. and that when the general died there
would be merry hell' between the two
brothers.
Brothers Attacks Cost Him Job.
The witness said he had been in the tele-
phone business from 1873 10 1856 with the
Bell interests. Then came the fight be-
tween the Western Union Telegraph Com
many. of which General Eckert was the
srresident, and the Metropolitan Telephone
fCompany. and, the witness said, then he
,lost his lob because Of his brothers. attacks
ion the telephone company. The witness
said one day when he called at the home Of
1he general he encountered Thomas T., jr..
nhom he asked about his father, the son
Jeplyng: He is in the library talking TO
an adventzlress" adding: II am going 10
she courts 10 ask them TO appoint COM
I,nittee OF the person and the property of
father He is losing his mind. He won't
tell me his business and am going to find
out about it,
II told him.! the witness continued, "he
,had better see Clendenin before he did any,
thing. and he replied. You leave it TO your
l1ncle Dudley
Mr.. Ecke-t said that the incident i'm
ypressed him SO nrich that he made a
memorandum OF il, which he had in court
.yesteTday.
The witness said that the horse Dichtmas
belonged TO the general, and that he was
half brother TO Irish Lad. the famous thor
,oughbred which the general said he also
,owned. although Mr.. Eckert declared that
i1is brother never did own Irish Lad.
II mad been brought out that William H.
,Ickert had received money from his
Sbrother at different times. and Delaney
tNicoll counsel for Thomas 7. Eckert jr,
asked him whether lse believed that his
brother owed him a maintenance. The wit
mess replied: Not at all; felt that he
had been responsible for my losing my place
u could go to him for money
Found General Very Feeble.
Henry D. Estabrook. of counsel for the
Western Union Telegraph Company. who
was another witness yesterday, said that
The had known General Eckert for twenty
years and last saw him at his Elberon
home in July. 1910. three months before his
idesth. The witness said:
I'VE talked about horses and the suit
against the estate Of Jay Gould. lie seemed
very much interested in that case. lie
spoke slowly. Every time saw him I'm the
last two years ne talked about the same
suit For several hours prior 10 his death
The had very hesitatipg way Of speaking
and his legs and knees were weak. i used
10 help him arise
Mr. Estabrook said that the general ex-
pressed himself proud and happy be-
cause James Clendenin had repaid an
amount Of money that he had borrowed,
with interest The general said that the
elder son the contestant, had made good"
The amount as Mr.. Estabrook recalled 1t,