Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-07-26
WHIMSICAL WILLS.

moral ideals.-New York World.
WHIMSICAL WILLS.
Human Mature as Shown in Queer
Requests and Boqussts.
The remarkable will Of q man who
died not long ago directing the under
taker to stab him through the heart
after he had been pronounced dead by
his physicians Is not unique one. The
fear Of being buried alive has driven
many man to stipulate In his will
that extraordinary steps be taken to
make sure Of death.
Thus, for instance, a magnate Of
Plymouth, England, decreed by his
will that his wife should cut of one Of
his toes or fingers to make cure he was
dead, adding that he made the request
80 that "as she had been troubled with
one old fool she will not think of mar
rying second"
The will of Lord Lytton contained
special directions as to the examination
Of his body in order to provide against
the possibility Of his being buried while
In trance, which appeared to be an
apprehension of his.
A farmer Of Hertfordshire, England.
who died In 1920, was 80 certain that
his lethal slumber was to be not really
death, that he inserted In his will his
written wish that, "as he was about
to take thirty years nap, his coffin
might be suspended from beam in his
barn and by no means nailed down."
He however, permitted 1t to be locked.
provided q hole were made in the side.
through which the key might be push
ed, 30 that he might let himself out
when he awoke. HIS nephew, who in
herited the property, obeyed his whim
and did not bury the coffin till 1851,
allowing him an extra year Of grace.
The Sieur Boy, who died In 1845 at
the age Of ninety-six, said In his will:
Eight and forty hours after my de-
cease. desire that a post morten e3-
animation be made, that my heart be
taken out and placed In an urn, which
shall be intrusted to Mr.. Baudoin (the
undertaker). In conformity with an
arrangement between him and myself
my heart is to be conveyed to q maui
soleum in the department Of La
Maoenne and there to be deposited. as
agreed"
Robert, the famous Earl Of Mellent
and Leicester, one Of the early crusa-
ders in the holy land, died In 1118 In
the abbey Of Preaux, where his body
was buried. but his heart was conveyed
to the hospital at Brackley, there to
be preserved in salt. Isabella, daugh-
ter of the Earl Of Pembroke, who died
in 1899, ordered her heart to be sent In
silver cup to her brother, then abbot
Of Tewkesbury, to be buried there be-
fore the high altar. The heart Of John
Baliol, lord of Barnard castle, who died
in 1869, was by his widows desire in
closed in an ivory casl1et richly enam-
eled with silver.
But all these examples, strange as
they may be, are not especially re-
markable among the countless num-
bers Of curious wills which are record
ed through many generations.
There is, for example. the will Of a
rich old bachelor, who. incensed at
what he considered the attempts Of his
family to put him under the yoke of
matrimony, vented his spite on the
whole sex OF. women by saying In his
will: Il beg that my executors will
see that am buried where there is no
woman inferred, either to the right or
to the left Of me. Should this not be
practicable in the ordinary course Of
things / direct that they purchase
three graves and bury me in the mid
die one of the three, leaving the two
others unoccupied.
John Reed, gaslighter Of the Walnut
Street theater, Philadelphia, filled that
post for forty-four years. There is
not on record a single performance at
the theater at which he was not pres
ent. He never aspired to appear on
the stage in his lifetime. but he was
not without his mute ambitions and
before he died he contrived ingeniously
to make sure Of assuming a Shake
spearan role after his death. A clause
in his will read:
my head is to be separted from my
body Immediately after my death, the
latter to be buried in q grave, the for
mer, duly macerated and prepared to
be brought to the theater, where have
served all my life, and to be employed
to represent the skull Of Yorick, and to
this end I bequeath my head to the
properties."-New York Sun.