Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-03-28
ECCENTRIC WILLS.
List Is Long of Queer TeStaments
That Have Been Made.
ONE HITS "WiLES OF WOMEN"
That Document Bears Name of Robert
G. Dryenforth, Former Commissioner
of Patents In Washington -. Brief
Wills of Several Famous Men.

G. Dryenforth, Former Commissioner
of Patents In Washington - Brief
Wills of Several Famous Men.
Queer wills range all the way from
documents making good sized printed
pamphlets to few words scrawled on
q bit of soiled paper or even the IA
nous will tattooed on a mans back
The will of Marshall Field of Chi
cago, who died in 1906, is an example,
for instance, Of how vast fortune
may be successfully tied up, says the
Philadelphia Ledger. The residuary
legatees are Mr.. Fields two grandsons,
Marshall Field Sd, now a youth of six
teen, and Henry Field, who is four
teen. They are to have the fortune
finally distributed to them when they
are fifty years old, but at twenty-five,
thirty, thirty-five and forty the elder
will receive S4J0,000, the younger $780,
900 on each of those birthdays. The
value of their shares was recently
placed at $54.000000. 1t is estimated
that when the lads are fifty they
should divide $200,000,000.
To plan the life of Il twelve-year-old
boy for sixteen years as a condition to
his inheritance was the object of Rob
ert G.. Dryenforth of Washington in
one of the most peculiar of recent
wills. Mr.. Dryenforth was a patent
attorney in Washington and a former
commissioner of patents. When he
died his estate was valued at $780,
600. His grandson, Robert st. George
Drydenforth, is to receive the property
when twenty-eight years old if he COM
plies with all his grandfather's unique
conditions. Here are the things that
Dryenforth, now boy of twelve, must
do in the next sixteen years:
Be ready to enter high school at four"
teen and Harvard at eighteen, there 10
take special course, fitting him for OK
ford university.
Spend successive vacations in France,
Spain, Italy, Greece. Germany, Denmark
and Russia in the order named.
He must become proficient in manual
training dancing and music.
AS soon as he graduates from Oxford
he must go to West Point, finish the
course there, resign, then be thoroughly
educated in law and begin to practice
Among the things he must not do
are: To associate with his GRANDPA
theirs wife and daughter, separated
from the testator. He is especially
warned against the "wiles of women"
II particularly request my eXecu-
tors" wrote Mr.. Dryenforth, "to thor
oughly and we'll guard my beloved son
from women and sensibly-that is,
gradually, through no cratic extreme
to let him be informed and know the
artful and parasitical nature of most
of the unfortunate sex and to take
care that he does not marry beneath
him"
One may read between the lines Of
hundreds of wills the desire of the tes-
tator to hold his property together for
generation after generation, substitute
ing some sort of trusteeship for the
entail which is forbidden in the Unit
ed States.
One Of the most curious of these eff
forts is found in the will of the late
Mrs. Anna Il. r. Woods of Providence,
X. I. She makes an heirloom of her
diamond necklace by leaving it to her
son in trust for the use Of her eldest
granddaughter during her lifetime, and
of the latter's daughters after that,
with q remainder" to other grand
daughters, possession to be ruled by
priority of birth. She also provides
that while none of the diamonds may
be sold, the settings Of the necklace
may be altered at any time at the re-
quest of the holders.
There is a legal tradition that the
shorter the will the harder it Is to
break. This may have been in the
minds of some of the men who have re-
Gently passed their fortunes in a few
words, but more probably they sought
to prevent their personal affairs being
aired in public. OF such testaments
was that of the late e. II. Hartman.
1t required less than 10G words to give
his fortune of upward of $75,00O,OO0 to
his wife absolutely. Russell Sage did
the same with his S64 100000, it being
said at the time that Mrs. Sage had
clear understanding Of how he wished
the money to be spent. Perhaps this
form Of bequeSt may be traced back to
the will of A. r. Stewart. When he
left his fortune to Mrs. Stewart In
simple will he is said to have written
a letter with it requesting his widow to
make provision for some of his pro-
posed charities.