'Cbe Conservative * n
not , it is to bo expended on flowers ,
which are to bo placed on the graves of
the goldfish after death. "
lu 1892 a French lady left ten thous
and francs to her cat. On its death the
money was to bo spent upon elementary
schools of the kindergarten order. The
death of the cat in 1897 this animal ,
like all pensioners , lived long caused
the money to roverfc to the district
governing body for educational pur
poses.
Poetical Disposition.
To dispose of one's property in poetry
is certainly unusual , if not incongruous.
Nevertheless , quite a number of rhymed
wills are in existence. An English
lawyer ( solicitor ) , who made his own
will , wrote : "As to all my worldly
goods , now or to bo in store , I give thorn
to my beloved wife , and hers for ever
more. I give all freely , I no limit fix :
This is my will , and she is executrix. "
An old bachelor , on dying , left the
whole of his estate to three ladies to
whom he had proposed , and who had re
fused him. The reason of this bequest
was that by their refusal , "to them I
owe all my earthly happiness. "
Odd Testaments.
One of the most curious wills of which
the writer has heard , was that of M.
Zalesky , a Polish land-owner , who died
, in 1889 , leaving property valued at a
hundred thousand roubles. His will
was enclosed in an envelope bearing the
following words : "To be opened after
my death. " Inside this was another
envelope , upon which was written , "To
be opened six weeks after my death. "
When this time had elapsed , the second
envelope was opened and a third un
covered. Upon it the following words
were found : "To be opened one year
'after my death. " At the end of the
year a fourth envelope was discovered ,
to be opened two years after the testa
tor's death ; and so the play proceeded
until 1894 , when the will was both un
covered and discovered. It was quite
as eccentric in its dispositions as in the
process of hiding its contents for a num
ber of years. The testator bequeathed
half his fortune to such of his heirs as
had the largest number of children ; the
rest of his property was to bo placed in
a bank , and a hundred years after his
death was to be divided , with the ac
cumulated interest , among the testator's
deoendants. Thus , by 1989 , at five per
cent , compound interest , the fifty thous
and roubles will have swelled into six
million roubles ; but the chances are that
the descendants will be so numerous
that each one will receive quite a small
amount.
It is not at all surprising that in for
mer days lawyers grew rich over will-dis
putes , when a gentleman bequeathed $3-
500 "to that amiable young lady , Miss
Blank , who smiles so sweetly in the
street when we meet. " In the Blank
family there were six sisters ; of course
they all claimed to be the "amiable
young lady , " but the case seems to have
been settled out of court. .
Difficult to Avoid Litigation.
' History shows that neither lawyers
nor laymen can be trusted to make their
own wills. While I do not recall any
eminent American lawyer concerning
whose will there was a law suit , I can
name three British judges lawyers of
quite the first rank whose wills gave
rise to any amount of litigation. Sir
Joseph Jekyll , who died in 1788 , with
out children , bequeathed 20,000 after
his wife's death to the commissioners of
the national debt , to be applied as a
sinking fund. A portion of this fund
was restored to the testator's residuary
legatees by an act of parliament passed
in 1747. At this period the British na
tional debt amounted to about eight
hundred million pounds , and Lord Mans
field is said to have remarked that Sir
Joseph "might as well have attempted
to stop the middle arch of Blackfrior's
Bridge with his full bottomed wig. "
The will was set aside on account of the
mental condition of the maker at the
time when it was drawnup.
Lord Mansfield made his own will ,
and although it turned out to bo valid ,
it was far from being in regular form.
Lord St. Leonards was one of the
most distinguished chancellors the
English bench has known. He made his
own will , and it was a source of long
and costly litigation. It cannot be said ,
however , that the testator was the sole
cause of this , for the document , which
had been signed some years before his
death , had mysteriously disappeared
when it was wanted for probate. The
resulting law-suit established the "acl-
missibility of secondary evidence of the
contents of a will in the absence of a
presumption that the testator had des
troyed it anime revocandi ,
It is undesirable , I think , to refer to
recent will-contests of which , in a num
ber of instances , the facts are well
known to the legal profession , if not to
the public. The cases already cited
probably exemplify extreme eccentricity
of a varied character. But between ec
centricity and legal insanity , there is , of
course , a wide dividing line , and the
display of the former by a testator is no
evidence whatever that he was mentally
unbalanced when his will was made.
MILLIONS IN PENSIONS TO THE OLD
SOLDIERS.
The commissioner of pensions states
the results' of the efforts of the bureau
for the eleven months of the fiscal year
ending May 81 , as follows :
Original pensions have been granted :
For account of war of 1812 , widows , 2 ;
for account of Indian wars , widows ,
112 ; survivors , 7 ; for account of Mexi-
can war , widows , 825 ; survivors , 14 ; for
account of service prior to 1861 , 6 ; mak
ing a total of 466 pensioned for account
of service prior to the civil war.
For the account of the civil war
there have been pensioned for disabilities
incurred in service : Invalids , 1,051 ;
for disabilities as provided by act of
1890 , invalids , 10,852 ; for widows under
old law , 2,901 ; for widows under act of
1890 , and amendments , 14,479 ; for
nurses , 25 ; making a total original is
sues , account of the civil war of 85-
808.
808.In
In addition to this number there have
been restored to the rolls , 4,100 names
that wore previously dropped or sus
pended for various causes.
There are now about 160,000 of those
drawing under the act of 1890 and
amendments that receive the maximum
rate of $12 per month.
There have boon 619 pensioned that
carried a total of $927,814 ( an average of
$1,614 each ) as first payment. A large
per cent of these cases are known as
"old minors" and only appear on the
rolls for the one payment.
For account of service in the war
with Spain there have been granted 2-
869 pensions to invalids and 1,156 pen
sions to widows and dependents.
The total number of claims filed for
account of this war to date has been
48,874.
Under the act of March 8 , 1901 , pro
viding for the re-pensioning of widows
who re-married and again became wid
ows , there have been 1,905 claims filed.
There will bo an increase in the num
ber of pensioners on the rolls at the close
of the present fiscal year , June 80 , 1901 ,
over the previous year.
The appropriations made by congress
for the fiscal year will bo sufflciontwith
the one exception , viz : That for medi
cal examinations. In this item there
will bo a deficiency. Congress appro
priated $700,000 , but the demand for
medical examinations during the fiscal
year has been so great that the appro
priation will not bo sufficient to meet
the requirements of the law under the
established practice.
In addition to the number of original
pensions granted as sot forth , for the *
eleven months there have boon issued
for increases , re-rating and accrued pen
sions , 50,680 certificates , or the bureau
has written for all classes 94,077 certifi
cates.
There have been 48,887 names added
to the rolls since July 1 , 1900 ,
July 1 , 1897 , the adjudication of origi
nal invalid pensions was from twenty to
thirty months in arrears in the respect
ive divisions. The commissioner pro-
diets that by the close of the present
fiscal year , Juno 80 , 1901 , the adjudica
tion of all original claims ( invalids ,
widows and dependents ) will bo current ,
to the end that just so soon as the evi
dence in a claim is complete , that claim
will go from the pending files for adju
dication.