The Washington times., 1922-05-02
BY HAYDEN TALBOT.


Copyright. 1922. by Universal servies)
LONDON, May 2.-Only
one of his children will be
found to benefit by the will
of Richard Croker. That one
will be the daughter who is
now living in England.
/ / am able to state this with
certainty because my init
macy with the boss, begun in
the early years of the GEN.
tury and renewed at Stillor-
gan this spring, caused my
being taken into his conf
dence on many matters.
Three Excluded.
His two sons and the daughter
now in America are excluded
from all legacies as a consequence
of their attitude in litigation of
the past two years.
Retained Resentment.
AS a consequence of this Itiga-
ton Croker retained his resentment
against his children to the end of
his days and made no secret of the
fact that he considered that the
only one OF his children who had
treated him fairly was his English
daughter.
Resented Opposition.
He carried his resentment toward
the others to the extent of enjoin-
ing his wife not to send any an
nouncement of his death to his chill
dren In America.
l am also able to state positively
that no faction or leader in Ireland
will benefit under the Croker will.
All of my information in this con-
nection was obtained by me on a
visit to the Croker home several
months ago, Immediately after the
widespread rumors that Mr.. Croker
was dying.
1t was then that he evinced his
.unshaksble belief in his own peculiar
philosophy, to which he had clung
for years.
what childish thing it is to try
to beat the Almighty" he said to
<Niu OCNf Il IOuiu dlilOuk
my old-time friends of New York
dozens who went to their death
struggle protesting and actually
thinking they had something to say
about IL.
ITO my way of thinking, 1t is
about the same as admitting you are
afraid to answer the greatest call a
man ever gets-and when God is
good as He has been TO me. / cannot
see any reason not to welcome the
summons.
Given Last Rites.
Boss Croker was then abed in his
palatial mansion, "Glencairn." Two
nights previously the last rites of
the church had been administered
him, and his physician, DR.. Lennon,
of Dublin, had diagnosed his condi.
ton as hopeless and declared that
death would be but a matter of a
few hours.
But when / was ushered into his
bedroom, the octogenerisn was
propped up with pillows and literally
buried under Sunday newspapers
one of which he held in his hard.
The old gleam was in his eye as
he cordially welcomed me. with the
caution:
Don't say that 1 am looking bet
ter"
AS he thus addressed mo he
winked at his solicitous wife, stand
ing at the foot of his bed, and aided:
Our maid told me that last night.
and the poor thing hasn't had the
courage to look at me since.
"As a matter of fact, l guess l
look pretty bad. Most any man
would after three weeks in red. and
suppose the doctor is right when
he says l can't last much longer"
His bright eyes caught the sudden
tears that started streaming down
the face of the woman who had
nursed him day and night and with
whom (so Croker later told Ele) he
had known the greatest happiness
and contentment OF his whole life.
Quickly he turned TO her and asked
gently:
why the tears?"
He stopped for a moment and then
continued, addressing her:
Don't we agree about death7"
Then the woman who had been
born a Cherokee Indian princess
smiled bravely.
That's better" said the old Boss
as he turned back to me and said:
This is the strangest part OF this
whole business of dying. My wife.
all the servants on the place, the
doctor and even the good priest who
comes here and holds services in
our chapel-all OF them when die
will be so overcome that everything
will be at skies and sevens.
II realized this just night before
last when the sacrament was ad-
ministered-so l had to grit my
teeth and pull myself together long
enough to get things Strengthened
out and arranged for the good OF all
concerned.
I'm the first place i realized that
never having said anything about II
before, nobody would know my
wishes about my place of burial.
had had visions OF being carted
across the Atlanticy, maybe down to