A Sensational Will Case.

Hastings Standard, Issue 146, 15 October 1896, Page 4

A Sensational Will Case.

(' AliOl'S. ) Seldom has tle-iv been a more startlinir close to it trial than the </. a-'ih nt of the Harrison will case before i!if (" 11ii-f Ju-tic-. For the past (lav or two thi - suspicion iva> irrow in;; that the will was not authentic, tint although sever;! 1 witnesses swore that the signature of one tu the persons pur[Kirtiii.',' to utte-t the v. i! 1 was unlike his ha nd wriniiLr. si ill uc tliin%' definite came out apart from statements mail" l>y two -'(>h<-iior s clerks, whom the ( "ni"l •' notice <l<■ - scribed as most unsatisfactory witnesses. Oil the morning of September 1 ;s, however, Mr Leon, counsel for the caveatrix. Mrs 1 Jolt. a yranddaiKjhier of the alleged testator, sonu if,' a mine upon the propounded of the will. A witness named Cameron was in the box, and was busily ilenyin;,' the statement-- ma.de to die effect that lie had approached di tie rent persons with instructions to fonjre a, will for him, when Mr Leon bewail his cross-exami-nation. Mr L'.>.; had the ace of trumps in bis hand in the person of the individual who actually wrote out the alleged will to Cameron's order, and >vas paid i'l Is for his work. After some tin« ssjti<r and Ie idiny the smaller cards. Mr Lt'on suddenly produced his winning trump, and the <rame was up. Cameron admitted that lie <,'ot- a man named Leonard Erick, at I'rahran in May last, to write out the document purporting to be the will drawn by Samuel Harrison m January, lfsDl. The Chief Justice committed Cameron for trial for perjury, and also, together with Thomas Cracknel!, another witness, for conspiracy to utter a forced will.

The circumstances of the ease are thus sketched: —The forged will, winch it was sought to propound, was that nf a retired farmer in the Rutherglen district. naiue-1 Samuel Harrison, who died in April last, Intestate as far as is known. There were children living, and numerous grandchildren, among whom the property (amounting to a little under t:-iOOO) would in duo course of law he apportioned. The absence of a will doubtless caused disappointment among those of the family with whom the deceased had been most closely associated, and it appears to have been a matter of concern, not to them alone,hut to agents in Melbourne, who were set actively to work in some mysterious manner. The man Cracknel!, one of the prisoners committed for trial by the Chief Justice, is married to a granddaughter of the deceased; and, according to the evidence, he is found communicating with his friend Cameron upon the subject of the will which ought to exist but does not. To follow the story as presented by the prisoners, Cameron was struck by the r< collection that be bad seven years !>• fore, conjointly with a dead man name! Carter, witnessed the will of one Harrison, whom he met casually in Melbourne. Inspired by this ni: mory Cameron is next seen instituting in Melbourne -i most extraordinary "search" for the missing i document. Evidence was given by a solicitor's clerk—Harry R. Grave—that in April last Cameron called upon him and endeavored to induce him to draw up a will ; dated years back, at a time when the supposed testator was known to be in town. A law clerk named Grant testified to similar overtures the tvidence being in one case denied by Cameron. However, a </<■»* <x ~'ti'hhift was at work. In May last about a month after the death of Harrison, his son-in-law, .James llossack, a farmer near Rutherglen, made a providential discovery. Stowed away in a tin of seed in an outhouse he came across the mis-sing will, and. fortunately enough, it bequeathed the property for the most part to Harriet Hossack, wife of the lucky finder, and to Samuel Hossack, the testator's grandson. It- is this document which, under stringent cross, examination. Cameron admitted in the box Mas written to his order in May last by a young man named Frick. whom he remunerated with a guinea for the job, and whose bona fide was not attacked in court.

Nor df) the peculiar feature.*! of the ca end li-i'. l . Hii' John Madden was pointed in his retketions upon other witnesses, and upon what seem just grounds, To sav the 'e ist- of it, a ::ingular want of a!.. I'tiic-s in fully appreciating and taking t-ho proper steps to expose the criminal nature of the Fchome afoot was displayed by several persons called on behalf of the eaveatrix. One witness stated that he was asked by Cameron point blank to draw the, will of a dead man who was a " marksman " —/.«•., an illiterate person whose signature would he affixed by a cross. Another was approached and requested to make a search for the missing will in due form, but was afterwards told that would he paid for its discoverv, and no less than £75 when the simple matter of proving it when found was accomplished. Bo extraordinary a bargain mi slit well excite suspicion in the dullest mind, and to do these witnesses justice the overtures were indignantly rejected in each case. That it should have been dee'jled safe under such circumstances 'o proceed with this precious scheme is evidence that both daring and stupiditv were combined in the minds of the conspirators-—whoever they may be proved to be.