The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-07
WILL OF COLONEL JOHN JACOB ASTOR
 IS MADE PUBLIC Vincent Astor, When He Becomes of Age, Prin-
 cipal Beneficiary
FIVE MILLION TRUST
 FUND FOR WIDOW
But She Must Not Remarry or Fund Reverts to Vincent-No Pro- vision Made for His
 Former Wife

vision Made for His
 Former Wife
 New York, May 6--Counsel for the family made public tonight the will of John Jacob Astor. as drawn in this city in September last, only a few days after his marriage to Miss Madeline Talmage Force and approximately seven months before he perished with the sinking of the Titanic 1 Vincent Astor, son. who will come ], to age within the year, Is made the principal beneficiary and residuary leg atee. No hint as to the value of the great estate Is given and by the crea- ton of trust funds the testator has followed, as far as possible, the cus- toms of his forebears in keeping the vast Astor real estate holdings intact. valuations of the estate run anywhere from s7O, 900 to sf50.0oo,O0O. A close friend of the family said tonight the smaller figure. in his opinion, is near CT the correct estimate.
 Few Unconditional Requests
 Aside from provisions for Vincent As- l tor the will provides for unconditional beduests of only s276,OOO. Among these there Is but one of a charitable nature This Is $30,000 to St. Paul's school at Concord. N. II. The remainder of the legacies are to relatives. friends and faithful servants. Nearly all other pro- visions of the will, as made public, raT ttffl, there are three-$5, 900, ,000 for the young widow, s5,00o,0OO for the colonels young daughter Muriel the child of his for mer wife. and $s,O00,O0o for the ex- pected posthumous child of the present widow. His latter clause provides for leach. ehud which shall suryfpe the ltestator other than his son, William Vincent. and his daughter. Ava Alice Muriel."
 No provision is made for the wife who divorced him, and if the young widow dies or marries again the S5,- 100000 trust fund, together with tho town house and other property left to her. reverts to Vincent Astor. She re- ceived, however, s1OO.OoO outright, without further stipulation; and until the income from the trust fund shall become available the trustees are dl- rected to pay her an income of $20o,- 000 a year. There was an ante-nuptial settlement which she accepted in lieu of her dover rights. The amount of this never has been made public. Ru- mors have placed 1t at $5,000,000.
 Minute Directions Given
 The colonel gives the trustees minute directions concerning making investments, following almost word for word instrue- tions of similar nature left by his father, William Astor. All bequests are made tax free, the taxes to be paid out of the residuary estate As to proper in- vestments he cites, among other things, real estate. railroad securities and the public debts of the United States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
 Nicholas Riddle of Philadelphia. who went to Halifax, with Vincent Astor to claim Colonel Astor's body receives a legacy of $20,000; Robert 1T. M. Ferguson, a close friend. and q trustee of his fathers estate, and now living in Silver City, N. M.. gets $100O0; Douglas Robin son, a brother-in-law of Theodore Roose- tet, is beaNeathed s2O,OO0. and similar sum goes to the etestator's brother-in- law, James Roosevelt Roosevelt of this city. James s. Armstrong of Rhinebeck N. r., cousin, is bequeathed s3o,00o. sum which Colonel Astor's father also left him. Other bequests are $25,000 to his secretary. William A Dobbin of this city, in recognition of faithful services s1O,- Ooo to his steward, Thomas Hadea, and s1o00O to Herbert A. Pinkham, superin- tendent of his country place at Rhine- beck.
 Maintains Astor Cup
 The executors are directed to pay the New York Yacht club $500 a year until Vincent Astor shall become of age, this sum to be used by the club for the pur- chase of two souvenir cups to be sailed for by the yachts of the New York Yacht club at Newport during the annual cruise. It is suggested Aurther that Vincent As- tor, having arrived of age shall continue to offer these prizes, thus perpetuating the famous Astor cup.
 Named as executors are James Roose- welt Roosevelt. Douglas Robinson. Nich- olas Riddle and Vincent Astor. upon the latter attaing the age of 21. These same are also appointed trustees of the sew eral trusts created by the will. The will was executed in New York September 1S 1ol1 It will be filed for probate in a few days.
 There was no reading of the will to assembled relatives. As soon as Colonel Astor's death became known to a cer- tainty they were informed of the provi- sions of the document