Evening star., 1948-11-11

]
The Most Unforgettable Character
! Have Ever Met and trunkful OF
possessions of the late c. B. Porter
former Times Herald treasurer, flg-
ured today in the Eleanor Patterson
will case, as counsel prepared to dig
deeper tomorrow in questioning the
collector for the Porter estate.
/ This was the first public dis
closure, although still fragmentary,
Of the varied contents of locker
trunk Mr.. Porter put in storage here
about six weeks before he plunged
to his death from q Clarksburg
wv. Va) hotel window September IA.
Testimony concerning those pos
sessions and the manner in which
Mr.. Porter's three suitcases were
flown to Washington from Clarks-
burg by a Times Herald reporter on
September Is came to light in de-
positions of three Witnesses ex-
amined by counsel for Mrs. Felicia
Gizycka, daughter of Mrs. Patter-
son, former Times Herald publisher,
( WIZ ulSO July 81.
Undue Influence Charged
! Mrs. Gizycka seeks to break Mrs
Patterson's will on the charge that
her mother was of unsound mind
and the victim of undue influence In
making the will which left an estate
estimated at s16,500. 900. Shortly after
Mr.. Porter's death, Mrs. GiZycka
told District Court she believed Mr..
Porter had highly important writ
ten evidence" bearing on the issues
she raised in the Patterson will
suit.
The depositions were disclosed
last night by Louis G. Caldwell, an
attorney for the Patterson estate.
Counsel for Mrs. Gizycka voiced
surprise at the action.
The three witnesses who testified
at a six-hour session last Tuesday
in the ONCE of William A. Roberts.
counsel for Mrs. Gizycka, were c. F.
r. Ogilby, the attorney appointed
collector for the Porter estate; Sid
ney Epstein. Times Herald reporter
who few to Clarksburg the night
of Mr.. Porter's death and brought
the luggage back to Washington,
and John T. Barber. Times-Herald
treasurer, who also went to Clarks-
burg.
Found No Evidence. !
Mr.. Barber and Mr.. Epstein tes +
fed their trip had no sinister inn l.
cations. They declared they lw
nothing in the Porter luggage I tat
had any bearing on the Patte' on
case. They said they found no
manuscript relating to Mrs. Pa ter
son and had not been instructed by
Times s-Herald executives or ary one
else to look for such materia,.
Counsel for Mrs. Gizycka, who
have indicated many other deposi-
tions will be taken in advance Of the
trial, said they did not know about
disclosure Of the deposition tran
scripts until several hours after Mr..
Caldwell made the material avail
able for publication.
IF Mr.. Caldwell saw At to release
the testimony before receipt of the
official transcript. that is his privi-
lege." Mr.. Roberts commented. But
we are not trying this case in the
newspapers"
Counsel on both sides said the
dispositions have not yet been filed
in court. Mr.. Caldwell explained
that the 258-page text he gave out
was recorded by private stenog-
rapher, whereas the copy for M.
Roberts was made by an official
court stenographer.
Mr. Ogilby testified the Porter
trunk was moved from the Smith
Transfer and Storage Co. to
Mr.. Porters Kennedy Warren
apartment on September 30 at the
request of Mrs. Sibilla Campbell
A former housekeeper for Mrs.
Patterson at Is Dupont Circle. Mrs.
Campbell was named executrix in q
will left by Mr.. Porter in the Clarks-
burg hotel room. The will, however,
had no witness signatures and has
no standing in the District, attor-
neyS have said.
While Mr.. Ogilbys description of
the contents of the trunk did not
go into details in many instances, it
disclosed that one Of the principal
items was the handwritten manu-
script called The Most Unforqet-
table Character I Have Ever Met"
"1s that related to Mrs. Patter-
SOM" Mr.. Roberts asked.
That will have to speak for
itself, sir" Mr. Ogilby replied.
Most of the writings. pictuers and
newspaper clippings were in folders
with titles or on tablet paper, Mr.
Ogilby said. For the most part, they
were scattered loosely over the tor