Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11

Joseph Hollis will, which naturally would take
precedence.
The document bequeathed the estate to Lizzie
Hynes, a cousin of Hollis first wife, and to
josephine Holt Throckmorton, his godchild, in
equal shares. Luke Devlin, clerk in the
War Department. was named executor, and as
witnesses the document bore the names of
U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman and Ellen B. E.
Sherman-President Grant, Gen. Sherman and
his wife,
These three were dead; Devln and the two
benefciaries said the will was complete sur
prise but Devlin sought to have it admitted
to probate, and when the other group Of Holt
heirs were advised of the new turn of affairs,
the battle was on. Lizzie Hynes dropped out
early, under a compromise, but Miss Throck-
morton stayed in the fight.
Attacking the will, the Holt relatives con-
tended that it was forgery: that If it was
not. undue influence had been brought to bear
on Holt, and that, further, the condition of the
document showed that an attempt had been
made to destroy it, the inference being that
Holt himself had crumpled it up and tossed
it into the fire from where it had been rescued
by some one. They also attacked the validity Of
the signatures of the witnesses.
Associates of Holt, Grant and the Shermans
who might have been expected to be acquainted
WIFI Cnelr udnuWTlIHlS SpIlC OH Tie SuUJeCC Ol
the integrity of the document from that stand
point but members of the Grant and Sherman
families declared the signatures at least were
genuine.
As trump card, the Holt group then brought
in David N. Carvalho, handwriting expert Of
international renown, who went step further
and insisted that not only was the signature on
the will not that of Joseph Holt, but that who
ever wrote the will also signed Mrs Sherman's
name.
There was wealth of other argument intro
duce6, reported estrangement between Holt
and members of his family who were Southern
sympathizers in the Civil War being cited as
one reason why he would not leave them his
money.
Finally, the will was denied probate in the
lower court; this decision was upheld in the
Court of Appeals, and then the Supreme Court
overturned the verdict and remanded the case
for retrial, holding improper evidence had been
admitted. The case was compromised, however,
without going into court again, but the mystery
of the Holt will has never been solved
IRON historic standpoint the will of Wood
row Wilson is another of interest. Written
by the War President on the typewriter which
was his constant companion, the document
might be termed typographical gem, every
letter apparently imprinted with just the same
amount of pressure and spacings and margin
just So the whole being almost like a copper
plate. '..
1t took only five paragraphs for Wilson to
dispose of his estate in the will which was made
just after war was declared in 1917 and desig-
mated Mrs Wilson as the principal beneficiary.
Another presidential will here, or rather a
copy, is that of John Quincy Adams, who with
most meticulous care made about two score
requests, covering certainly everything which
he could recall, down to the family pew in st.
Johns Church.
Adams made his will in his New England
home, but because of the local holdings copy
was filed here for probate. To his wife he left
my dwelling house and lot No. %, Square 49,"
which is part of the site now occupied by the
Daughters Of the American Revolution with
Memorial Continental Hall, and he also gave
her land situated on F Htreet in the City of
Washington being the one in which we reside
and the adjoining one occupied by Albion K.