The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-04
COL CANS AGED MOTHER OPPOSES
 SONS PETITION
Probate Court Finds William G.
 COlgan Is Now Sane.
Mother Convinced He's Too Old
 To Change His Ways-To Assume Charge of Estate Next Week.

assume O1lHFYO Ol EcedCO
 Next Week
 In the probate court yesterday Judge E. F. Ha1len decided after hearing lengthy testimony, to restore to his ca pacity and property rights William q. Colgan. a son of the late. Dennis Col gan, for many years tender of the ral4- road draw bridge. The act restoring C,oigan's rights automatically removes. his brother-in-laws pr. Joseph L. Egan, as his conseryator. The act Of reStor- ation becomes effective when the nral accounting of the conservator is ac- cepted by the probate court and all loutstanding bills against the estate have been adjusted.
 Judge Fillmore g. Banks of Fairfield and Judge Thomas c. Coughlln or Bridgeport appeared for Colgan. At torney John J. Cuiinan appeared for pr. Egan. the conservator.
 | Colgan claimed he had been com lnitted to a sanftarium at Greens Farms and later released. He said hhat one morning when he was living at the home of his mother q man ap- peared who said he was Alex Norris. sey, investigator Of the charities de- partment and informed him he had come to take him to. the Norwich in ] sane asylum and that he had better come quietly. Colgan said he went A.
 useless After he had been in the
 Nor rsvtch asylum one day he ddscov- cred he had been committed by order of the probate court and that con- servator had been appointed to ham 1 de his affairs At first he said he l tor was his sister wife Of pr. Egan. Later he found it was thS doctor hdrn- self.
 He claimed no notice of the inten- tion to commit him or to appoint the conservator was served on him and he was given no opportunity to be heard in court. He was in the Nor
 wich hospital one year and two days.
 He was released 20 months ago CoIgan owns the brick block at zs1 and 73s East Main street, where che East Side branch of the Bridgeport Public Market i located: he also owps the fo1r-tene1nent house at 65-67 CFes- cent place. He said that he was per- fectly able to manage his own prop= erty and that all his relatives except pr. Egan .manted him to have charge of it.
 Co1gan denied that he ever had ele- l lirium tremens. He said he had ire quent medical attention for pluersy. dyspepsia and indigestion He claim ed that in two years he had received $15, GOO and earned S1,14O per year. He said he had not found employment be- eatse he was working hard trying to. have his coE1servator reInoved- At previous hearings pr, ". J. 1 0s K1ara who married another sister of Colgan and with whom the latter now makes his home Dr. T. F. HeaIy and Patrick Cuddy all testified that they thought Co1gan capable of handling hds own affairs
 that Colgau's estate had not earned much money in the past two years ana that was due to the cost of neces-
 sary plunbing repairs, painting, etc The income from the estate had been
 trifie above the expense. He said
 he gave his time to the management
 because Of the interest he took In his broth er-in-Iaw.
 Dr. Egan admitted that he had COL lgan,s mother present a bill for $1 000 against her sons estate In order that she might keep the money for him for
 use in his old age in case he squan-
 dered all his property. pr Egan l claimed Colgan had lost two jobs with in a year because of intoxication- In deciding the case Judge Hanen lsaid in substances:
 There are some unpIeasant features lconnected with the decision Of this case and I had hoped that the rnat- lter might have been disposed of by the judge of fhis court who took my
 place during my recent absence lEzse E0d1Z6 LnEI LQGTG WILL De a. Q1LGF-
 encs of opinion as to the expediency of restoring William Colgan to the con- ltro1 of his property and there are those
 eaznestly interested In his welfare,
 who will honestly feel, perhsps. that he is very likely to return to the fa7o- 1ts which have. on several occasions. lcaused the court to appoint a conserve tor over him
 The expedfency of restoring him to his capacity is not, however, for this court to consider nor would che court lbe Justified in finding that because of | the evidence presented as to his long ] addiction to the iaord1na4a usesef lt- lquor he is now incapable Of eontrcl11ng his own property
 No medical evidence has been sub mitted that he is suffering from any 1 form of insanity and he has presented himself here for examin ation and ap- I pears to the court to be now coFnpe- tent and in addition several friends.
 who meet him frequently nave 6esti- lied that in their opinion he is com lpetent-
 If he is at the present time sane, it IS not for this court to undertake the management of his affairs, upon the theory that he might himself manage his property unwisely. The powers of this court are not for the asststanca iof those who ought to be able to man iage their affairs properly, but are ex-
 erted for those. who, in the conte1nraa- I ton of the law, are helpless to nid lthemselves
 1 Co4gan was committed to the Nor
 wich asylum upon the evidence of two lphysicians appointed by the court. who examined him and found him to be insane and at the same time a con IseFvator was appointed to care for his iproperty. I find that he is not now linsane and therefore this court, has no longer the right to retain the con- trol Of his affairs,
 The only evidence presented by the
 conseryator, Joseph L. Egan, was bis lown statement that in his opinion Wfi- liam Colgan still needed a conservator, as his property, as It exists today, was barely sufficient to sustain him and the testimony of his mother, Mrs Csth- Ierfne Colgan. who told the court that