The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1920-03-05

VII iAiS 'uNtI cAcept lie Last w Ill
| and Testament of Genl George Wash
ington."
Washington began his will thus:
I'm the name of God. Amen! !,
George Washington of Mount Vernon.
Il citizen OF the United States and
lately president of the same do make,
"rdain and declare this nstrumen,
which IS written with my own hand
and every page thereof ub-scribe,l
with my name to be my last Will 4
Testament. revoking all others
just the same, lie omitted his sig
nature from the bottom of page 23.
which goes to show that even the
model of all the ages was human.
Martha WaShington'S will is dated
March i, 1902. and was admitted to
probate by the county court at Fair
fax June u, 1902 1t remained in the
old courthouse until the Civil war.
| Union forces occupied Fairfax in 1862
and the will disappeared. For more
than 80 years the Fairfax county al-
thoritieS could find no trace of it.
gan in 1913 it became known that
the missing will was one OF the most
priced articles of his great collection
of historic documents. Fairfax county
thereupon undertook to regain posses
sion of it.
J. Pierp"nt Morgan. Jr declined to
give up the will. He offered however.
to let Fairfax have Il Photographic
reproduction, provided. Fairfax would
let him have similar reproductio,,
of George WaShington's will.
This offer was declined The Nir-
ginia legislature was then appealed to-
with the result that an act was passed
directing the attorney general of the
state to bring suit to recover the orig
inal document. The bill was filed in
the Supreme court
IN the meantime. in correspondence
with the Virginia state authorities, Mr..
! Morgan first objected to the manner
in which lie had been approached. then
"f1ered I" return the will provided II
was placed at Mount Vernon instead
anu IN vault to be constructed by
him. This and all other conditions
were refused. Finally, in 1918, when
the case was about to come to trial
Mr.. Morgan capitulated and handed
over the will to the Fairfax county
authorities.
Ihereupon the secret of the diSup-
pearance and Whereabouts of the will
was cleared up. For. pasted on the
f1y-leaf OF the handsome folder which
the elder Morgan had used to protect
the will, was found the following sign.
ed statement by the woman from
whom he had purchased the document
in 1903:
Lieut.. Col. David Thomson, COM
manding the Eighty-second regiment.
Ohio Volunteer infantry. was, during
the spring or autumn of 1862, sta.
toned ut Fairfax courthouse. Va. His
headquarters We're in the courthouse
building. The safes had previous to
this been broken open by the Blenk-
ers. a command Of men noted for their
reckless vandalism. The papers were
on the floor aud had been DESTROYED
in large quantities (and) used to kin
die fires. My father. going into the
office, found his men shoveling the
material from the floor for this use
called them to stop. and. looking over
them. found the document in question.
Just preceding his death. in 1892. he
gave the document to me To he done
with as thought proper.
"(SignedD MARY ESPY THOMSON.
"2655 Irving avenue. South, Minneapo-
lis, MIMI
Martha Washington's will is n long
one. Is written on pages of foolscap
and is remarkably we'll preserved.
Any one who doubts that Martha
Washington was good business wom-
an should read the WILL
Also, the will has n postscript.
which shows that the wife of the
Father Of this country was also
human.