The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-11-14
CORYDON LfFTFORTUNf
Aocd Banker Leaves $l65,OW tor
Public Improvements, City Park
and an Orphans Home.

Corydon, lswa, Nov. s.-Special:
Carrying his long known hostility to
schools, colleges and libraies with
him almost to the grave, A. Walden,
aged 81 years, brother of Madison
| Walden a former lieutenant COVER
nor OF Iowa, died here yesterday,
| leaving his estate OF S165, 900 to the
city OF Corydon for the sewer, water
and light plants, public parks and
non-sectarian orphans home.
The will was probated yesterday
and hardly had it been spread unon
| the records before it was announced
that the only two surviving relatives
of the deceased, a brother and sis
ter. would bring suit to defeat the
! terms of the will. which left them
without a penny. The brother,
James Walden, is said to be seri-
ously i'll in Chicago sanitarium.
while the sister, Mrs. Anna Fisher.
is living at Queen City, Mo.
Walden was for years president Of
the Farmers and Merchants bank,
one of the strongest institutions in
the county. and his estate consists
for the main part of bank stocks. He
! was a lumberclan here for years and
| was bachelor.
! Il made my money in Corydon
and it is my intention to leave it
here,' said Walden in his will.
The will provides that 100000
Of this sum be expended in the
water. sewer and lighting systems,
that $35, 800 be used for the pur-
chase and equipment of public
park and that $4,000 be expended
on home for the orphans of the
state.
There was no crying need of i'm
provements in the public service
plants Of the city, for Corydon
boasts of having the best water,
light and sewerage systems of any
city its size in the state. Neyerthe-
less the money so generously donat-
ed by the towns benefactor will be
expended for the purposes specified
in his last will. unless, of course,
| the courts should decide that the
two relatives receive first considera-
ton. %
The unusual gift came so suddenly
that the city has had little time to
but, pending the rImored cour.
, things will be considered by the city
fathers in the belief that the terms.
of the. document will stand the test
cf the court fight which may BE, long.
amt bitter, despite the advanced age
OF the two survivors of the family.
Mr.. Walden's chief eccentricity, If
it may be called that, was the exact
. ,iess with which he conducted his
business dealings. If you owed
him cent he would get it. and ii
he owed you a cent you would have
to take it, was the way citizens
spoke of it today after the filing Of
the will had became known.
The deceased saw little of the
good in colleges, libraries and
schools, and he carried this hatred
and distrust with him all through
the later years of his life. When he
drew up his last testament in June,
1911, it was specified in the clear
est terms, so that there might be no
opportunity to break the document
in the courts after his death, that
the money he had accumulated dur
ing the forty years spent here
should 60 back to the city from
which he had gathered the fortune.
1t is further said that the reason
his brother and sister were cut of
in the will was because of this great
antipathy to the three public insti-
tutjons mentioned above, fearing
that on their death schools and
libraries might in some way receive
benefits from his estate
Death has removed the last mem
ber of the Walden family living in
Iowa The family was for years
prominent in southern Iowa, and in
1868 Madison Walden, brother of
the deceased, was elected lieutenant
governor from Apranoose county.
He served until 1871. when he re-
signed. and Henry Bulls was ap-
pointed to fill the vacancy.