Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-12-23

Capt. Friedman specifically declared
that he had no living heirs. Before his
funeral was over. purported heirs liv-
int in every part of the civilized
Ncrld began to appear as claimants to
tie estate. Then began one of the
most famous will contests in the hf;-
tory of probate matters in California.
Since Its inception, twelve years ago.
1t has been kept constantly alive until
yesterday. -
Trial Lasted Four Years.
During the actual trial of the con-
test, which began four years ago, md
which continued without interruption
for two years and four months, over
5000, 900 wordf of testimony went into
the transcript OF the proceedings.
Murder was brought into the rec
ords by the charge of certain of the
p:,rported heirs that Friedman had
not died natural death, but had been
murdered by people who would benett
under the will. .t<,s-- "a: 49,. E..
AT. least one of tho heirs was exam.
ined as to bis sanity on two occasions
dtrrinr the proceedings, and several
others were in contempt of court be-
cause rumors had gained circulation
that they had made alleged threats to
revenge themselves on the judges con
pected with the case who had decided
sdversally in thir claims.
Several of the attorneys connected
with the case had all their expenses
maid on ground the9sRofid"= jaunts
gathering evidence. Others have peen
receiving fat retainer fees for the
,,ast twelve years, and in spite OF all
this. the estate which was valued at
$3.50 900 at the time of Friedman
6esth has a total value OF almost a
million dollars now.
Many Friends Benefited >.s..
BY the provisions of Friedman 8
will $50, 1000 was bequeathed In small
amounts to many friends. These have
, all been paid. To many small cnar.
titles was bequeather a total sum OF
100000, which has also been paid: TO
his natal home at Mitau, Russia, ne
iibequeathed $4,000 to be held in trust
! to establish fund for the aged poor.
This also was paid many years ago
by agreement of all contestants. The
remainder of the estate was be-
iqueathed to the Hebrew Home for the
1 Disabled.
1t was over the residuary portion
that the contest was waged. The many
heirs contended that as the law pro-
lhibits the bequeathing of more than
.one-third of an estate to charity when
there are living heirs, this part of the
will was invalid In his will Fried
imam says: Il am the youngest son OF
the late Burgher Solomon Elias Fried
man of the city of Mitau and l am
mot aware of any kin who may have
A., legal right to claim portion OF my
estate by right of representation OF
Inheritance" .'..'
Weeded Out Claimants IT,
| OF the IL original claimants, Judge
Graham weeded them out from time
ito time until the actual trial began
four years ago, when but thirty-four
remained. As a matter of convenience
they were separated into five groups,
designated respectively as the Grun'
waldt claimants, the Bernstein claim
ants, the Kagan claimants, the Liebe
Friedman claimants and the Jacobson
lclaimants OF the merit OF these va
rious claimants Judge Graham's opin-
ion says:
| "a careful reading OF the testimony
discloses many contradictions and in
constituencies in the cases of the de-
PENDANTS. the purported heirs. No two
of the cases made by the respective
claimants can stand together II the