The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-19
BROTHERS THINK
WILL FRAUDULENT
Legal Steps Taken to Protect
Their Interest in Mich
olas Estate.
MYSTERY STILL UNsoLvED
St. Louis Woman Claims Prop
erty of Farmer Who
Was Murdered.
MYSTERY STILL uNsoLyED

tiarrlsonburg. Va. January 1S.--The
four brothers of George NJ. Nicholas. the
wealthy East Rockingham farmer, who
was mysteriously poisoned in August,
1912. have taken legal steps TO prove
that the alleged will of the eccentric
hermit Is fraud and forgery. The
alleged Will, which did not turn up
until q year after the death OF Nicholas.
leaves over 100000 Of the Rocking
ham estate to Miss Ella McClendon. Of
81. Louis, Mo-, who claims to be q for
mer sweetheart of the old hermit, and
who. as she says. cared for him and
nursed him back to health and strength
after q street car accident in ST. Louis
several years ago.
Judge Haas, in the Circuit SQUIRT here,
has issued an injunction Temporal r.ly
restraining the st. Louis wOman's law
years from removing the alleged will
from the Jurisdiction of the Rocking
ham court The Missouri lawyers will
have to show cause OH Friday why tho
paper should not be filed here In court,
and why II should not be examined by
the four brothers, whom the court had
declared the rightful heirs OF the es-
tate, before the strange Will. written
on piece OF paper, was received by
Commemorative Attorney Harrison
from an unknown source.
Tho Nicholas brothers say they are
anxious TO hurry matters. as the pres
ence of the alleged will has raised a
cloud over the title of the land and So
riously affected the market value
thereof. They say that their brother
never was in St. Louis. probably never
heard OF the woman. and they claim
that the will Is fraud
The Nicholas brothers take hope from
the fact that Miss McClendon Is under
a Federal indictment on the charge Of
trying to secure money fraudulcntlv
asst "a 10 nf In,
THIS matter, which has no connection
with the Nicholas affair, will come up
for trial in the Federal Court at Cape
Girardeau. Mo. In April.
The Nicholas poison mystery. with
the subsequent developments has be-
come a celebrated case Nicholas who
was one-legged Confederate soldier
lived alone with his aged housekeeper,
In the great hfteen-room mansion on
the Shenandoah River. He owned much
land. and kept his money In dozen
banks. On August 8 his broth er
Charles, with number of farm hands.
went to the place to harvest the crops
After breakfast five persons. who drank
coffee. were taken desperately i'll
Physicians with stomach pumps hurried
TO tho scene. ALI got we'll except Mich
olas. who died In great agony before
night, Chemist Taylor. OF Richmond.
analyzcd the stomach finding arsenic
broken package of arsenic found in
the Nicholas hallway showed that
somebody had put poison in the coffee.
Many stories OF Nicholass eccentrici-
ties are told His cattle and horses
died from idlencss and old age because
he could not get his price for them.
/ Ills farming machinery and outhouses
fell to pieces He once wrote a big
check on scrap OF paper torn from
the margin of n newspaper. Rooms In
the big house remained closed for
years.
Governor Mann and also the local
authorities have offered rewards for
the capture of Nicholas's murderer, but
the mystery is still unsolved.