Year: 1874

tant relative of the late Shelmire's wife, and
that he has the last will and testament of Mr..
Shelmire himself in his possession. He has
applied for probate upon it, and I have grant
ed him citation, returnable on the nineteenth
of the present month. There was only one
person to be cited, and she lives in this city,"


"Virginia Garvin p suggested.


eyes; that's the name."


This, of course, was all the information that
the proctor had to give.


I Iattended before the surrogate at the hour
named in the citation with my client. There
were also present Passmore, Bledsoe, and a
distinguished member of our bar, whom the
latter had obtained to assist him. The man
Bledsoe produced an instrument which pur-
ported to be, and which he declared was, the
last will and testament of Jacob Shelmire. 1t
was very brief, giving to Rufus Bledsoe all
the property, both real and personal, of which
he should die possessed. 1t was dated, OBJ
served, about year previous to the time that
Virginia had come to live with her grandtath-
er; it was signed with the full name, Jacob
Shelmire, written apparently in the same hand
with the body of the instrument (and the
handwriting ,uas marvellously like that of Ja-
cob himself, and it was witnessed, or purpor-
ted to be, by Thomas Drake and Peter Larn-
ed, both merchants of the city. And as he
read their names, happened to know that
both of them had been dead several years.


The will was proved by Bledsoe and Pass
more, both of them testifying to the genuine
ness of the signatures of both the testator and
witnesses. Aud Bledsoe, in addition, swore
that he had received the will from Jacob Shell
mire personally, upon the day after its date.


That the man had lied from beginning to
end 1 could not have the least doubt. | saw
deliberate, determined perjury in his snail KY
looking eye. For two hours did I cross.ex-
anime him, endeavoring to find weak spot in
his story but he had thoroughly fortified
himself and delivered his evidence with all
the GOODNESS and nonchalance of an expert.
AS for Passmore, he swore quite as plumply as
Bledsoe that he was we'll acquainted with the
writing Of all the parties whose names we're on
the will, and that they were all genuine sig
natures.


1 could make nothing more of them than
this; and the surrogate admitted the will to
probate, when the examination was fin
ished. From this decision took an appeal
to the highest court.


I entered the court on the morning Of the
trial with a strange feeling of hopelessness
Except the assertion of fraud and conspiracy
that I could make for my client, | knew moth
ing that promised to tell in her favor. Vir'
ginia took her seat at the counsel table by
me, and looked with interest and curiosity
upon the accustomed scene. She was looking
very handsome, Notwithstanding the anxiety
in her face and there were others present
besides Will Wayman who thought so too. l
had almost forgot to mention the deep interest
that Master Will had taken in the case since
its commencement. I wanted somebody to
whom T could talk in confidence about it, and
so he had become thoroughly posted in all its
details. I knew that he pondered over them
considerably; but was far from thinking
that he had worked out any thing that could
be of any practical use in the case. I under
stood him better before the day was over.


The case was called, and jury impan-
nelled. The respondents counsel opened the
case in an address of half an hour, giving all
the details, and telling minutely what he could
prove. Then followed the evidence of Bled-
soc and Passmore, given as audaciously and
completely as before the surrogate My coun-
sells cross examination failed to entrap either
of them into any inconsistency, or to shake
their wonderful selfpossession in the slightest


At the conclusion of the respondents case,
my counsel addressed the jury in behalf of
my client He roundly charged perjury and
frpo xpb haH
the witness-box all the morning, pointing out
the suspicious circumstance that both wit,
nesses to the pretended will were dead, and
the difficulty of finding any one who knew
their writing. He insisted that the pretended
will was base fabrication, and that the whole
story of these men was a lie coined and ut
tered for the purpose of defrauding poor
girl of her patrimony.


Virginia told her story in brief. She told
who she was, how long she had lived with Mr..
Shelmire, and what her relations with him
had been. The point of her evidence was,
that he had often declared that she should be
his heir; that he never mentioned the subject
of will to her, and that she never heard
him speak of Rufus Bledsoe.


The jury was evidently interested in the
girl, and, thought, sympathized with her |;
but we'll knew that this could not prevail
against the strong affirmative evidence of the
respondent.


Will Wayman had sat quietly by the table
taking minutes of the evidence He now
handed me scrap of paper, folded, torn and
soiled, with the following written upon it.:


"July the 9th, 1S-.


"MR. JOHN GREGG: Please send me two bar'ls
-four Barlow Mills. JACOB SHELMIRE."


The person to whom this was addressed had
long been large operator in flour, and sup
piled many of the dealers in the city. The
handwriting of this order seemed to me iden-
tical with that in which the will was written !;
and the date was the same year.


looked inquiringly at WILL


"Recall Dledsoe," he said, in whisper,
"and let our counsel ask him whose writing
that is"


1 did so. Bledsoe took the paper in his
hand, ran his eye keenly over it, and in an
swer to the question, said that this was un-
doubtedly Jacob Shelmire's handwriting.


Hooked again at my clerk.


ASK him." he whispered, eff he is as sure
Of it as he is that the writing in the will is
Mr.. Shelmire's."


l made our counsel ask the question, and
the lip of the witness curled under his nous.
tache. "Certainly he was" he replied, 'there
could be no doubt of either"


looked at Will again.


'Let him co." he whispered, "and 60
through the same with Passmore."


I did so; and Mr.. Passmore clinched the


r. II l. IL A..