Denton Examiner, Audenshaw, Hooley Hill and Dukinfield Advertiser. — 1877-06-09 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

EXTRAORDINARY WILL CASE. An extraordinary will case has been heard in Dublin, before Judge Warren and a special jury. The suit was brought to establish the wit of the late Mr. Charles Frederick Ker, son of Mr. W. H. Ker, ex-M.P. for Downpatrick. The testator, by a will made on the 30th of June, 1876, bequeathed his intereet in £5OOO charged on the estate of his father to Mrs. Georgina Baker, the plaintiff Us the suit. The will was disputed by a brother of the testator, and by Miss Pers., who were named as legatees in an earlier will, on the grounds of undue influence, fraud, and want of testamentary capacity. It appeared that the testator, a young man of 28 years of nee at the time of his death, which oreirred in September last, was addicted to intemperate habits; that during the last two years of his life he had eight distinct attacks of delirium tremens; and that on the 13th of September, two months and a half after he had executed the will now -sought to be proved, he committed suicide by cutting his throat while labouring under one of these attacks. Mrs. Baker, the plaintiff, is a young widow of independent means, and according to the statement of counsel, and from her own evidence in the witness box, Mr. Ker had repeatedly asked her to marry him. He professed to have a strong affection for her,.and frequently visited at her house, while he himself had, from the death of his stepmother in 1875, taken up his residence in the house of Mr. Harper, an uncle of the plaintiff, and residing near her. On the 27th of June, 1876, the testator, in company with, among others. Miss Julia Marks (a young lady friend of Mrs. Baker, and who resided with her), went to Balbriggan, a bathing placetwenty miles from Dublin. Before leaving for home, the same evening he complained of being ill, and while on the beach asked for paper, and even began to cry for it, that he might make a will. He attributed his illness to having bathed while an attack of gout was coming on. The same night Miss Marks had to get up repeatedly to give him small quantities of whisky. On the night of the 29th, or rather at two o'clock on the morning of the 30th, a will in • the following words was taken down by Miss Marks fros, i his dictation, and was duly executed. The will, -whit h was written in pencil, was .as follows: "There is ..91‘0,000 wherewithal Mrs. Ker's (his stepmother's) -debts to be pail. There is £5OOO belongiag to -Chailt is Frederick Her (the testator). There is .also .1 '4OO 0 belonging to Charles Frederick Her, which ~he sannot receive till his father's demise. -Of thin mei icy some of it is obtainable yearly; some 'of it cam sot I 'be obtained without a law plea; but at the name Mail it is mine lawful property; and I request it, and leave it to my dear friend Georgina Baker, and I Mosel., 3 make Miss Harriet Baker (daughter of Mrs. &ler) my residuary legatee." It was proved by one of the defendant's witnesses that on the Ist of J0r,,,, h, met the testator walking with Mrs. Baker, that she implored of him 'to give up drinking, and that he sal dhe would take the pledge, and would not dri ak snore than two or three bottles of wine a d goSt It further appeared that the night before the 11; was made he was labouring under a delusion that tb e TOM was full ef people. In September followin ehe had an attack of delirium tremens. The do cto r was called in and directed that he should be card] writelsed, and all dangerous weapons removed fro CC within his reach, but on the following day Ile CUt this threat, inflicting a morte: wound. The jury, af .bee nearly two hours' deliberaVon, were unable bat Teel° 0 verdict, and were die.  THE PROVINCIAL M n" . convened by the Archbishop of Ctshel to protest against the oppression of the Pope by, ti t ,Isan Goverament,,,t.nd assure him of the devotiot I,of , Irish Catholics, as well as to demand of the Goren unent a religious system of education, was held in the Cori: Catholic Cetbedvd. Archbishop Croke presided, 'uPPe'ted br*-6 Bishops of Cork, Cirque, 1,,,,ri0k: Waterford, ;Ear Rillaloe. Sir Joseph WEeni IrSt sk.Otawning, M.P., Mr. Eugene Collins, M. P. 44. t r. Nigh olas Dan P __„,„ Murphy, M ~ the High SI of qv city and county, and the Mayor of Cork, "" WWI', w well as the bishops, in official robes. rhe atWnern, !WA was very large. Strong resolutions in ful'iheren, , 4,4 Hie objects of the meeting were pass, ' with ace Ic,, 'l46w' the aggressive attitude of the lb 'l4" 'Or met rame,ak being vehemently denounced. A DESTRECTIVE FMK is reports d we taken place at Walkerton, near Ontario, 4 ei boguess places and dwellings hews been consume.