The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-12-29
SOME QUEER LEGAcIEs.
Strange Reqdests Made to Expectant
Relatives by Americans, -,

Relatives by Americans. !
New, York SUM-: When they opened
the will of Miss Mathilda ,Tommet in
Milwaukee the other day. they found
that one Of her requests was a pair of
old shoestrings given to q, woman rel
alive with whom she had been on.
friendly terms for many years. There.
did not appear to be any. sarcasm or.
i'll feeling connected with the legacy,
and Judged by the common sense. way
in which the remainder Of her proper;
ty was bestowed there did not seem to,
be ground for the suspicion that the
decedent was not in her right mind.
The cases are numberlesS in which
odd things have been bequeathed and
countless have been the contests to
break Wills that contain provisions
along lines similar to that Of Miss
Tommet's will. In New Orleans there
died not long ago a wealthy old man
noted for his shrewdness in business
deals. One of the bequests of his very
long will was q hair brush that he had
used for many years.
This brush he gave to a. nephew,
Samuel Thompson Ffnnerty-wfho had
been named after the old man-with
the proviso, however, that the brush
should be kept, in the Finnerty family
vault one month out of twelve, and in
a mahogany box containing an cleo
CIS Z AAA IluS uCtCuOAII Ad FWNH IL
for years. The acceptance of the
brush. conditional on carrying out the
old mans wishes, meant that the
nephew was to inherit and enjoy two
thirds OF the estate. The rest of the
will was sound and tight in every re-
spect, according to the lawyers.
Margaret Ann Epping Of San Fran
cisco left $4,000 each to ten of her
nephews about six years ago. but this
was the condition: Her tombstone
was to be replaced every two yearts
with a new one on which each nephew
in turn should cause to be chiselled
an appropriate verse setting forth his
love n affection. AS the bequests
were in the shape of annuities from a
bulk fund, the nepaews in order to
draw upon the fund for their income
had to comply with the demands of
the 3decedent. One nephew Sued and
was beaten Although under the terms
Of the will he was to forfeit his share
for contesting, the will was so con-
received his annuity, but subject to
the new tombstone conditions.
Jabez HOLSTER of Montreal left his
two: sons the use OF a. corn razor that
he-a cutler-had specially ground
and fixed up for c~hiropedic use. "For
the sake Of their health and the risk
they ran from blood poisoning If 9TH
er corn cutters were used" the sons
were admonished to us no other cut
fer and a cash amount was to DE
forfeited If they disobeyed. One son,
after he had recovered from the shock
of his fathers death, ~Iaughingly told
the lawyers that he had never had, a
corn in his life. But the lawyers in
sisted that his father was likely tu
| have known whether he had or not
AsLouisville widow found that when
her husbands will was opened he
had ~hequeathed her his bath robe.
And these were the words that wen,
with the bequest: 'Inasmuch as she
has deprived me SO often Of the com
fort and convenience Of. the garment
that was bought for my w personal
use, by wearing the aforesaid bath
robe at times when I desired and
needed 1t most, / bequeath it to her
with all my love. and hope she will
ever find it the same, tried and faith
full servitor even though Providence
should bless her with another hus-
band, who may have a bath robe to
spare" The decedent was called the
Mark Twain Of his neighborhood iu
Louisville. I: "
There is one actual case on record
of q bequest Of artificial teeth. But
as it was SO long ago the legal cl1ron-
iclers think the decedent had in MIND
the sale Of the teeth to-! the dentists
realized. Many cases are narrated OF
women '~bequeathing their hair to their
heirs to be converted into money.