The daily Alaskan., 1912-09-10
AN OLD WO- MANS WILL
8. NJ ouAp
copytisht. in2. ty Associated Lis-
 erafy Press.

She was q widow when she came there, and she was q widow when she died. ten years later,
 The arrival of a stranger in village of i.2o0 inhabitants. and that stranger a woman and q widow. Is bound to stir up things She bought house of Deacon Craft Tor soO0. and when ask cd where she came from her prompt re ply was:
 None O ysJir darued busiuessr'
 She bought new furniture aud moved in. and that was the becinning of rather strange life. Word went around the town that the newcomer was "techy," and it did not prove nis- take She carred grnu h on either shoulder. She was judged to Ite sixty years old. but she was as sI,ry as . girl os sixteen. SlR paid cash for what she bought. but whether siie had plenty or little could only be guessed at. Any queries thrown out on this subject were met by:
 You mind your business and I'll mind miner
 Several ladies' called on Mrs. Craig in a neighborly way They wanted to let her know that. although she was stranger within their gates. she could at once begin to lend and borrow tea, sugar and coffee the same as an old resident None of them got into the house At the front door they were asked their business and told they were not wanted.
 Elder Hazlett was her neighbor on the right He kept chickens the same as all other residents. Among them was a Shanghai rooster. who could crow like two-year-old bull. His growing didn't seem to annoy anybody but the widow. She jumped on the elder with a suit for damages. and she scared him into paying her sic and wringinE the roosters neck with such wiring that he never crowed again.
 The rooster incident was the begin ming of a dozen lawsuits. The woman reveled in them She brought suits against men and women and the vil- lage. She had the money to pay her lawyers and the costs. She had the spunk to appeal when beaten. For i've years she kept the town In turmoil. and finally 1t was decided that she must be crazy. and an order was pro cured from the court to have her sanity inquired into. Six medical men did the business that Is, they came out of 1t with features dragging.
 It was shortly after this that Mrs. Craig was found dead in her bed. She had said that she had no relatives, and the courts took charge. A will was found. and when in due time It was opened 1t knocled the breath out of many villagers. There were 149 be- quests. and only samples of them can be given here. One of her first be- quests to the village was:
 q hereby beqneath the sum of s2ooo to the village of Rowland for the pur pose of buying fire engine and erect. ing house for the same"
 There was a hum of approval as that paragraph was read. but 1t died sud den death.
 Provided that" 1t continued. "old Squar Billings rolls the length Of the mudhole on Main street three times day for ten successive days.
 TO Elder Hanlett, who called me a crank. the sum of Sl,O00, provided he will ride his old spotted COW four times around the Methodist meeting house on the first Sunday of each month for a year.
 "To Mrs. Henry Rayburn the sum Of S1.O10 to buy herself a new nose. never liked the one she has, It has always poked into other peoples af- fairs"
 Mrs. Rayburn had helped to prepare the old woman for burial, and at the reading of the paragraph she was heard to murmur that she wished the body had been thrown into the river.
 "To the county of Dwight the sum of s2O.oOO. to erect a new jail, provid- cd that Mir. James, Mrs. White and Mrs. Graham are the first three prison CTS in it and serve not less than sixty days as cure for their gossipy tongues"
 Dwight county didn't get the money and the jail
 'sTo the village of Rowland the sum of So GOO for the grading and paving or its main street and putting in sewers, provided Deacon Darius Black of the Methodist church stands on his head In front of the postofTice for five mir utes on five consecutive days
 The deacon was told he would bc considered the meanest man ever if he beat the town out of that bequest. but he got mad about 1t and offered to lick any man that would step outdoors with hlm.
 "To Mrs. James French the sum of sl 600 to spend In soap and towels to keep her ehildren's faces clean and the hooks and eyes sewed on her dresses" (No provlso, but t was not claimed)
 "Tho sum of si.ooo to Mrs. Caleb Jackson and Mrs. Charles Tinker, pro vided they quit lying about their neigh. bors for the spaee of one year and day"