Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-19
he old Instrument Was autouAue.
side the wife inheriting the property
Compromise Reached.

contest was set up by George IRA" =
.o-d for his minor children and & .
crawford and Lula Miller henenciaries
named i'm the Will. In 1910. after sensa-
tfonaI Iitiga ton in the courts coiii
,rron,Ise was reached whereby property
.stimated at between $4,000 and $500
yas carved out of the estate Tor thtss
ceptestants. this being the estimated
value az the Nancy T.. Crawford estate
that Rad descended to Joshua b: raw
ford anon his first wife S death. fSut ho,'C
NJ chat r,Toperty has yet come INT oths
acttIaI possession OF these heirs. as one
legal S;uestion after another mas peeh
naised to keep tn ecstate tied up IN lisa-
ton.
arotbers sisters. nephews and neices OF
Joshua and Nancy CraWford-JolhtS
brought suit TO set aside this settlement
L. 5. Crav ford being one of the numoe.,
rentending that the second wife had
.xerted an undue influence over Crawford
while he was I'm his dotage OF more imam
three score and ten years; that she prat-
tfCailv forced him into marrying her- ana
limiting at something mysterious In MS
death SO soon after that marriage les,
timony in that suit i now being hearu
before j. A. Anderson, acting as audltor
OF the estate for the court.
The thirteen coatesting heirs are NJ !.
H,rd. Mrs c T.. Cash, v A. Prater. e
Il Crawford. {. W. Walton. Mrs. H.
.tdaIInc Crawford. j. F. Cornett, Mrs
e. A. Thurmond. Mrs. Fanny tornett
Mrs. Mamie Moore. j. H. Harris: Iohn
Crawford. for his minor children. ana
Lula Miller are fighting this suit with the
second Mrs Crawford seeking TO sustain
the settlement previously agreed Upon
Life of Second Wife.
Mrs Mary Belle Crawford. the second
wife is a native of Pennsylvania She
was formerly Mrs. Mary Belle Savage
She lived al Cniontovn and later at Pitts
burgh. \ few years ago she came south.
going to ST. Augustine. where she opened
a boarding house for winter tourists and
health-seeking visitors to Florida Early
in 1909 Crawford. accompanied by his
niece Lula Miller. went to st. Augustine
for his health. They stopped at Mrs Saw
ages boarding house After rev weeks
i'm st Augustine they returned to Atlanta.
Then Crawford confided to j. J. Barge,
his attorney and named in his viii as eX
ector of his estate, that he was going 10
marry Mrs. Savage just as soon as she
could close out her business in st. Angus
tine.
The wedding took place few days lat
err Crawford's death followed about a
month later. taking place in Atlanta,
where the couple had been living since
the marriage. His body was taken to his
old home In Carroll county and buried be-
side that of his first wife. He had erect
ed a stone to mark both graves. marking
il with the names Of himself and his wife.
the dates OF birth and the date of his
wife's death. leaving only the date of his
own death to be added.
The contests over the estate soon fol-
lowed and have never ended. Throughout
this contest 1t has been limited time and
again that there was something mystic
rfous in the death of Crawford.
The prosecution will attack the validity
of the marriage of Mrs Crawford in the
criminal as well as in the civil litigation
II was alleged in the original bill to re-
move Mrs. Crawford as administrative OF
the estate of her husband that she had
not been properly divorced from her for
nrer husband when she married Crawford
This is one of the principal grounds upon
which the heirs will try to wrest the es-
tate from Mrs. Crawford.