Part 24 (1/2)

In 1868 Adams lived with his father and brothers on a far the Gordon place The two h their common interest in music Adams called upon A Sidney Doane, a nephew of Gordon, and told hiht be found or if lost, established by means of a draft of it which he (Adams) had retained Mr Doane refused to act upon this proposition Then Adams presented the e P Gordon He declined to consider the proposed search for a neill Ada hi to any one, but to come and see him Guthbert Gordon, Jr, declined to accept Adams's invitation for a secret conference Adahter of George P Gordon, or with any of the officials or other persons who dealt with the estate Finding that the heirs at laere satisfied with the arrangeave up his efforts at that tihter, died in Paris, and re satisfactory to those who had been receiving theun This caused a renewal of Ada, a firnes Gordon's will Adams's letter to the law firm contained this expression:

”If one of you will co no brass band, fife or dru visited Adae, N J, and was told by him that Mr Gordon had executed a will in 1868 which he (Adams) had drawn at Gordon's instance, and that he had retained a corrected draft fro that the original will after its execution had been left with his father, and that it must be at his father's homestead near Rahhere he would try to find it A few days later he wrote to Black & King that the will had been found, and the next day ith the lawyers to Rahway and identified the package found by his brother Edward Adams, who occupied the Rahway fare, unopened, was taken to a safe deposit coinal draft was deposited with the secretary of state The alleged will, which Chancellor McGill pronounced a forgery when finally opened in the preli and complicated document, written on blue paper in black ink The draft, which was on white paper, was also written in the main in black ink, but a copious quantity of red ink had been used in interlineations The significant paragraph of the neas a direction to his heirs to purchase, if the testator had not succeeded in doing so before his death, the Henry Adaiven to insure the purchase, but no lower price than 32,000 wasupon this Chancellor McGill's remarks:

”It is also to be here noted that the Adams farm is now scarcely worth one-third the price for which it is directed to be purchased”

Continuing the court says:

”The only living person who professes to have had knowledge of this disputed paper prior to November, 1890, is Henry C Adams He most clearly and positively testified that he drew the disputed paper at the instance of Mr Gordon He produced a draft from which he said it was copiedI have already stated that Mr Adams testified most positively when the draft of the disputed paper was offered in evidence that it was the identical document from which the will of 1868 had been copied, and it is to be remembered that the interlineations in that draft are almost all made with red ink, and that Mr Adams testified that those interlineations existed when the as copied fro the truth of this testimony the contestants submitted the draft to scientific experts, who pronounced the red ink to be a product of eosine, a substance invented by a German chemist named Caro in the year 1874, and after that time imported to this country At first it was sold for 125 a pound, and was so expensive it could not be used commercially in the reatly reduced that it becauished by a peculiar bronze cast that is readily detected

It was recognized in the red ink interlineations in the draft of the disputed paper produced by Mr

Ada ere some of the best known ink manufacturers in the country, and Mr Carl Pickhardt, who first imported eosine Upon further exaht the draft produced to be the original until he saw the will on blue paper, and that then he was perplexed, but disestion of counsel, but afterward he thought upon the subject 'in the vigils of the night,' but by an unfortunate coincidence did not reach substantial doubt enough to correct his previous testi the character of the red ink he had used in interlining had been produced

It is impossible to study this rerave doubts as to the truthfulness of Mr Adams, and indeed as to the frankness hich the case was produced in court in behalf of the proponents”

As to Adams as a witness, the court finally says:

”And as I read the confused answers of Mr

Adams and note his apparent misapprehension of questions that would tend to involve him, and note the apparent failure of his theretofore wonderfully clear and exact memory of the most trivial and unimportant details, I am inclined to reject the whole story as a fabrication that has been punctured and fallen to piecesI find it to be impossible to rely upon the testi it the will is not proved

”I will deny probate, revoking that which I have heretofore granted in coed last will and testament of Stephen C Di factor in the most important branch of the case The peculiar features of this re them with a brief history of the entire matter

In 1884 Stephen C Di as legatee and executrix a Mrs Martha Keery The will he intrusted to the custody of his counsel It appeared

that so year his attorney transferred this will fro place in a desk drawer to a new safe and recalled having seen its envelope a year later, but said he never saw the will thereafter

In 1893 Mr Di produced, his brother took, out letters of adainst the brother and the next of kin he represented, in an effort to obtain the dead man's estate She based her claim solely on the LOST will, the contents of which were recalled in the trial by Mr Dimon's former counsel, as also one of the witnesses to the lost will During the course of the trial in the Supreraham, Mrs Keery's attorney produced aindicated that it had once been a will, though not the ”lost” one But the naatee, executrix, testator, names of witnesses and their addresses were completely obliterated

The written portions still undisturbed showed it to be in the handwriting of Stephen C Dimon

Mrs Keery's story was that after the death of Mr

Di over an old coat foriven it to her counsel just as it came into her hands

Its condition showed it to be considerably pocket- worn The obliterations referred to represented huge blots of black ink covering a lot of scratches and

Defendant's Counsel immediately requested that the document be turned over to an expert, to see what could be done with it The judge granted the motion and adjourned the case for several days to await results

Counsel on both sides joined in the selection of myself Three days were occupied in its decipheral cap The original ink which was eray color The first obliterations were a series of pen and ink scratches and

Not satisfied with the paper, brushed over the scratches and as that ink was of good quality everyhad disappeared in the jumble and blots It so happened that three inks had been e and the one e The three inks were happilydifferent constituents, and so by utilizing the reagent of one which did not affect the other, gradually the encrusted upper inks were re appeared sufficiently plain not only to be read but to identify it Photographs made before and after the chemical experiments, per the giving of the testi of the titnesses who lived outside of the city and to learn many details from them as to Mr Dimon's conduct in the matter

The restored will showed that Mrs Keery at its date (1891) was still in his ed histhe case as follows:

”In this case, however, the long time that elapsed between the tian and the death of the testator, the absence of my satisfactory proof of the existence of the will froan to the time of the testator's death, and the fact that the testatorsubstantially the same disposition of the property, which he subsequently destroyed, all tend to cast a doubt upon the fact that the as in existence at the time of the testator's death, and there is positively no evidence that it was ever fraudulently destroyed

”I do not think the court is justified in diverting a large su, a lost will to be proved, except upon the clearest and most satisfactory evidence of the existence of the will at the time of the testator's death And the testimony in this case falls short of what I consider necessary to establish such a will

”There should be, therefore, judgment for the defendants with costs”