Year: 1878

stage by the unexpected announcement Of
the counsel for the contest that they will
offer no further testimony. The Surrogate
and the public are at last in possession Of
all that was to be sworn to against the char
acter of the late Commodore Vanderbilt and
his capacity to make will. 1t is not the
province of the press to Judge Of the value
of this evidence, that being the duty Of the
Surrogate after lie shall have listened
tradicted or extenuated. Nor is it the
province Of the press at this stage OF the
proceedings to declare the sentiments OF
the community on this most astounding at
tempt 10 strip the body and the mind of
parent and expose all the diseases Of the
one and oil the infirmities of the other.
When the whole ease shall have been closed
and the decision rendered it will be the
! right and the duty of society TO express its
moral estimate Of the filal or unfilIal quail
ties which can deal in this manner with
the memory Of a deceased parent


s.and drag his frailtes from their dread
abode" II it shall appear in the final re-





sary for obtaining the ends of justice, If the
judicial decision in which all these un-
savory proceedings are 10 terminate shall
establish the incompetcncy of Commodore
Vanderbilt to make valid will, the COM
munity, without condemning the contest
ant will regret that her legal rights could
not have been maintained without SO stu
81 Il
duty. But if, on the other hand, the will
is sustained against these remarkable as
saults society will undoubtedly pronounce
it's verdict on the motives of SO extraordi-
nary warfare on the good repute Of the
testator.


Never before did this community witness
so extraordinary spectacle as has been ex-
hibited for nearly year in the Surrogate's
Court. Commodore Vanderbilt up TO the
time Of his decease was regarded by this
community, which supposed that it had
sufficient grounds for nm opinion, as man
of fair average morals and of unmatched
sense, sagacity and business judgment


Nobody deemed him q saint, but every
body thought he had one Of the
clearest, soundest and coolest heads
that ever guided and controlled vast
business operations in q community re-
markable for first rate business talents.


1t was a surprise rs sudden and violent as
an electric shock to find his mental sanity
impugned by persons who seemed bound
by obligations of flial duty to reverence
his character and protect his memory. The
Surrogate has been listening for the greater
part of year to testimony offered to prove
the singular thesis that the most successful
business man this country has ever seen
was superstitious imbecile, whose bodily
diseases and mental alterations untitled him
for SO simple and ordinary a function as
that of devising his property by will. If
| the evidence establishes this strange thesis
| the public will have to accept ii rs a fact,
but suspension of judgment is necessary
| until the rebutting testimony has been
given and judgment has been rendered by
the Surrogate. 1t is relief to know that
the worst and utmost that can be testified
against the character of the late Commodore
has been exhausted, and that the evidence
of the proponent, which is now to be pre-
sented, will tend TO rehabilitate the char
acter of the testator and reinstate him in
the good opinion Of the community
which observed his outgoings and
incomings for the long space of forty
years, and regarded him rs a citizen of
average morals and unequalled soundness
of head and business capacity. The public
has rs yet seen the testimony on only one
side, and it may be safely assumed that the
rebutting testimony will materially alter
the present complexion of the case.


We do not avail ourselves CT the
transition from attacking to justifying tes-
timony for expressing IN opinion on the
merits Of the controversy, which must
be judicially decided by due course Of
law, but to call attention to the
necessity of thorough revision Of
the law of the State relating to last wills
and testaments. There could not be more
overwhelming proof Of the expediency of
change Of the statutes relating to this sub
ject than is furnished by the proceedings


to contest Commodore vanderbilts will.
We assume that this case will be decided in
strict accordance with law. We do not dis
pute nor question that the calumnious testi-
mony by which the deceased Commodore's 's
reputation has been so traduced and black
ened has been justifably offered by the con-
testant and properly admitted by the Sur
rogate. 1t strengthens the view which
we desire to PROFOUND to concede the per-
iect legality of these proceedings, which
have so shocked the moral sense of the
with filial duty and reverence. 1t is rather
the law which permits these shocking pro-
ceedings that is blameworthy than the
attempt Of natural heirs to recover what they
deem their just rights of inheritance.


The objections to the law relating to wills