The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-04
HEIRS OF MRS. LESLIE
MAY CONTEST WILL
Beoupst Of Bulk of Estate to
Mrs. Gait for Suffrage Like
~ to BE Fought.

That the heirs OF Mrs Frank Leslie,
who died September Is, are preparing TO
contest the VIII by which the residue OF
her estate was left 10 the cause OF SUI
frage was intimated strongly yesterday.
The will has not been filed for probate
and until 1t is, which will probably he
this week. nothing In detail can be SAID
of steps to invaldate II.
BY this unusual document Mrs Carrie
Chapman Gait the suffrage leader, Is
made the sole residuary legatee. III its
provisions are carried out she will possess
in her own absolute right property which
may he very largo or which may be
considerably less than the value placed
by popular belief on the Leslie estate
Mrs Gait said yesterday that she had
seen the will She explained that, al
though the resduary estate was left TO
the suffrage cause. the will had been so
drawn that it gave her the suffrage legacy
outright TO suend for the cause as she
saw Mt Her obligation, she added, was
q moral one only.
The suffrage leader had heard of the
probable efforts TO contest Mrs. Leslie's
will and expressed no surprise She made
the remark that a testator leaving large
properties Is very generally considered TO
have been incompetent II the requests are
out of tho direct line.
"Of course / shall oppose any action
10 break the will" said Mrs. Gait.
Wouldn't you? II Is the natural thing 10
do. Mrs. Leslie told me several times
that she intended to leave some of her
property for the benefit OF the suffrage
movement She had not contributed
largely during her life--we have no large
contrbutors-but she had always been
moro than interested The only surprise
to mo was that the property was given
outright in my name. j had no thought
OF anything like that.
The will was made last May. Mrs.
Leslie was In good health and was at
tending to her business interests as usual
! Very soon after she went abroad and
every one of her friends called her COM
/ pctent then"
Mrs Gait would not divulge the items
/ Of Mrs. Lesles will making specific he
/ quests to relatives and friends. 1t is gem
orally understood. however that the
! amounts bequeathed Ia her nearest rela-
[ tives, although they amount to a good
many thousands of dollars equal in the
aggregate only n fourth OF the total es-
tate The three fourths share bequeathed
/ to Mrs. Gait Is estimated nj sl,S0OOO0
Among the nearest relatives are Mrs
T A. Wrcnn. "A niece Of Mrs Leslie, and
wife OF Produce Exchange member
Mrs. Wrcnn's three sons Charles. Thomas
and Allen Stewart Wrcnn. are mentioned
in the will. There is a nephew living in
Charleston, S G., and other more distant
relatives in Louisiana The Wrenns are
the most direct heirs. and are thought &c
be made the recipients OF the larger share
Of the one fourth, Mrs. T, a. Wrenr
lives at So Pierrepont street, Brooklyn
and her sons live in Manhattan, Crawford
y. j.. and brooklyn.
William Nelson Cromwell. the lawyer
IL named ms executor by the will, He said
yesterday that whatever would be said
about II or any action would he said wher
the will was offered for probate, which
might he this week. T. A. Wrenn, as wei
as his three sons. refused to comment.
When Frank Leslie, the publisher, Mrs
Leslies husband, died in 1880 he left hsi
! n 100000 debt. Mrs Leslie took over
the sixteen publications owned by the es
tate and ran them herself She success
fully contended lawsuits and built then
up 30 strongly that when they were solo
IN 1902 she was reported 10 have re-
ceived large price, but the figures were
not given out