The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-12-09
N. D. WOMAN
in BIG Will
TEST CASE
-rr-w
Mrs. Helen E. Arnold Of Hat
ton a Plaintiff
In Effort to Break 81, 1000, 900
Estate VIII
VIII Was Drawn by Late
Catherine M. TuttIe

Columbus, O., Dec. 9.-Only two
statutory time in which the provisions
of will may be contested, Mrs. Helen
e. Arnold of Hatton, N. D., second
cousin of the late Miss Catherine M.
Tuttle, together with Ave other second
cousins and nine third cousins, in
stituted a suit in the common pleas
court through Attys. Charles A. Lyche
of Hatton and Dewitt c. Badger of
Columbus to break the TuttIe will,
by which an estate estimated at more
than $1,oOO,0oO was bequeathed almost
entirely to friends. servants and
charitable institutions.
AS the statute does not require that
any particular ground be named in the
petition for breaking a will, other than
the allegation that it is not the last
will and testament of the deceased,
none other was named in the petition
which was filed.
Claim Mental Incompetence.
Judge Badger stated, however, that
contention would be made that Miss
Tuttle was not mentally able to exc
cute a will at the time of her death
and that, she was influenced in making
bequeSts. .. d sH
Most of the estate is said to be in
the hands of the executors, Herbert j.
Pease, Albert d. Heffner and Mariail S.
Wright, and consists mainly of stocks
ndTbonds and money. A local bank
is said to hold $130,000 in money. The
biggest holding of real estate is said to
be the Tuttle homestead at the north
west corner of Broad street and Cleve-
land avenue. z" 9
Most of the Tuttle estate is said to
have been inherited from the Sylvester
Medberry estate, which amounted to
several millions, according to attor
neys, Miss Tuttle and her sister. Mrs
Lucy w. Steadman, were the sole
beneficiaries, and, after the death of
Tuttle, Instead of the estate growing,
1t dwindled until now it is said 20
amount to something more than s1,-
100000. . Rl s.5
q Requests Ra1sllssl. .a
Ten bequests or sic, geo each were
made by Miss Tuttle to individuals nd
twenty $4,000 gifts were made likewise
The remainder of the estate was to be
pooled and divided into ten equal
shares. One-half share was to go to
each of the following institutions:
Columbus Art School, for scholarships;
Women's Educational and Industrial
Home, Day Nursery and Kindergarten,
Humane Society of Columbus, Home
for Friendless, Hannah Neil Mission,
Children's Hospital and Old Ladies'
Home; one share to the Protestant
Hospital association and Berea Col
lege, KY, for scholarships; one and a
half shares to each of the executors.
The inventory of the estate, as filed
in the probate court by the executors
amounts to $797,222.63 and is made up
as follows: Notes, $126,225; bonds,
1885 stocks, $345,420; money, $2S,
5l7.6S; accounts. no value; real estate,
S106,500.
The executors, the benevolent asso-
Citations and institutions and the thirty
individual beneficiaries are named de-
PENDANTS in the petition. The plaintiffs
are Helen E. Arnold, Airline Brady,
Maria Skinner, Mary Peck, Gilmore c..
Kline, Mary e. Delameter, Will r.
Gordon, Clara Gordon. Montrose Nor
gan. Ella e. Knapp, Matte E. Abrams,
Susie Thompson, Charles "A. Flam-
ming. Hattie " Fleming, William j..
Fleming and Orissa Fischer.
The first six are second cousins and
the rest third cousins. They live in
widely scattered places over the coun-
try. None of the plaintiffs inherited
any of Miss ,Tuttle's estate.
Accompanying Attorney Lyche was
II III. Arnold of Mayville, N. D., son
of Mrs. Helen e. Arnold, one of the
plaintiffs.