Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-10-20
Questions Of Counsel for Con-
testant Indicate Line Of. At
tack That viii Be Made on
Validity Of Will
DEAD MANS ROOMMATE
INTERESTING WITNESS
Annotated Copy Of Compiled
avs of State Plays Con-
SpicuouS Part at Morning.
Session Of Court,

That attorneys for Arthur Staab,
who is contesting the will of his
hrnther The late Julius Staab. will
rely, in part at least, upon the evil
dence Of the servants of the CONNER
cial club. where Judge Staab at one
lime made his home, to show that the
latter was insane at the time the Will
was made was clearly indicated in the
trial of the case yesterday.
The housekecpcr of the club, re-
ferred TO by counsel and witnesses as
sophie" ana three of the club SER
wants, were present throughout the
trial Yesterday. 1t WAS While Ernest
lAndoifi. who for more than a year
was Judge Staab's roommate at the
Commercial club, was on the stand
that the line of attack which will be
made on the validity Of the will be-
came apparent.
Attorney Neil r. Field, representing
Arthur Staab. had Mr. Landolfi iden-
ufy the housekeeper and the three
servants, ana then asked the witness
whether or NOT he had ever told so
phic" or any Of the other employees of
The club thar Judge Staab had
wheels or was bug house Mr..
Landolfi with an emphasis that
amounted TO vchemcncc denied that
he had ever made such statement.
AnnotatiOns as Evidence.
The general line of the evidence
Yesterday was the same as that on
Saturday. Personal friends of Judge
Str,l and men who had been thrown
closely with him in Il professional and
official capacity without exception
testified to his great ability as law
yer and stated that in their opinion,
during the period just preceding and
just following the execution OF The
will Judge Staabs mind was sound
and clear.
4 copy Of the Compiled Laws Of
1897 which was used by Judge Staab
in his work as a commissioner to re-
wise the statutes of the state, figured
conspicuously In the crosse Namina-
ton of witnesses by Nell b. Field
during the morning session. The book
in squestion isscopiously annotated in
ink, the margins of many of the pages
being literally covered with memoran-
da and citations OF authorities APP
parently it is the intention of Mr..
Field to use this volume as evidence
that judge Staab was mentally I'M
sound at the time the annotaticns
were made.
Sheriff Jesus Romero and Attorneys
A. A. Sedillo, Modesto c. ortiz and }.
A. Miller were the witnesses at the
morning session. Each of them told
of more or less intimate dealings
with Judge Staab, and each gave it as
his opinion that he was of sound
mind.
The first witness in the afternoon
was County Clerk Marcelino ortiz, of
santa Fe, who told Of his acquaint-
ance with Judge staab and of his
dealings with him in an official ca
pacity on the occasion of the probate
Of the viii of the late Abraham Staab,
father of the testator in the present
case Mr. Ortiz stated that he had
never had occasion to call in uues-
ton the sanity of Judge Staab.
Though nervous and excltable. Judge
Staab had no marked peculiarities or
idiosyncracies that the witness had
ever observed.
Ernest f. Landolfi who for more
than year was Judge Staabs room
mate at the Commercial club, proved
most interesting witness.
IT dDDttItu llOln Nj i+Hii'V't' -
testimony that his relations with
Judge Staab were not as close and in
Innate as might be inferred from the
fact that they occupied the same
room This, it was explained, was be-
cause the witness was out late almost
every night, coming in after Judge
Stab had retired, while the latter IN
variably got up in the morning before
Mr.. Landolfi. During the day they
saw little OF each other except when
Judge Staab came into the bank
where the witness was teller. Never
theless Mr.. Landolfi frequently saw
Judge Staab at social affairs ana
around the club. played cards ana
tennis with him occasionally and once
or twice had discussed with MN
books in Judge Staab's library
The last time the witness clearly
remembered having seen Judge Staab
was on March 10, 1913, which by
coincidence happened to be the date
Of the execution of the VIII that ~
now being contested. 1t was also MI
Landolfi's birthday, and the wlthess
stated that it was his custom always
to celebrate his birthday either with
a stag" or dinner at the AlVafado.
On this occasion it was stag, ana
he had invited Judge Staab to DC MS
guest, but the latter had declined Oh
account Of another engagement
whether of Il business or social ma
ture Mr.. Landolfi could not recall.
Previously to this, it appeared the