SARDONIC WILLS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 9 April 1927, Page 11

SARDONIC WILLS

AGAIN the desire of dying men to wreak vengeance on the living, and so to prol vide themselves with a grim death-bed jest, has been instanced by the strange will of a Londoner, who recently died leaving a fortune of several thousands, not a penny of which benefited any of his relatives. The strange bitterness which often attends the death-beds of lonely men can be felt in every line of the following caustic paragraph in the dead man’s will: — “To my relatives, who have been so assiduous in their inquiries after my ‘health’ recently, although they have hardly been able to cloak their impatience at my long-drawn-out end, I give and bequeath my heartfelt thankfulness to be rid of them, and their solicitude.” It is hard to say Avhether such bitterness had any foundation, in fact, or whether it Avas merely the result of a mind groAvn Avarped by loneliness, and the thought, real or imagined, that its oAvner Avas neglected, and his end Avished for. Many famous people have sought vengeance in thqir dying testaments. One of the most amazing Avills was that of the great film star, famous for his wonderful portrayal of “Sheik” parts, Rudolph Valentino. Although the beloved idol of tie film fans left £IOO,OOO, neither of the lavo lovely Avomen Avho had been his first and second wives received any of his fortune at his death. His first Avife, beautiful Jean Acker, the film actress, Avas not even mentioned in Valentino’s will, an omission Avhich caused much gossiping speculation. To his second Avife, Miss Winifred Hudnut, better knoAvn by her screen name of Mddle. Nataeha RamboA r a. he bequeatehd just one dollar. Nothing is really knoAvn of the true reasons for such an apparently unkind and strange bequest, although Nataeha claims to have had the true reasons explained to her by Valentino himself, in “spirit messages” from the other Avorld. Another famous screen and stage faourite Avho Avas the object of a vengeful Avill is Paul-

BITTERNESS IN DEATH

SOME STRANGE TESTAMENTS

ine Frederick, tvho was cut oft' without a penny by her father, Richard Libby, of Connecticut. Not only did he leave her nothing:, but, in a paragraph, of dry bitterness, he pointed out that was no doubt about his intentions: “I give and bequeath to my daughter, Pauline Beatrice Rutherford” (Miss Frederick in private life is Mrs Charles Rutherford) “nothing. I mention this omission to show that same is intentional, and not a mistake.” One will, left by a city man, Mr. Carl Ilogenhagen, raised a storm of controversy in the newspapers, as to whether it was a good thing for fathers who had themselves piled up money in business through hard work, to ensure, as Mr. Rogenhagen had done, that their sons should not squander the fortunes so hardly won. No bequest to his sons was found in Mr Rogenhagen J s will, but there was this explanation why he left them nothing: “Having provided my sons with a sound education, I feel they should continue the tradition for our family; that sons should fend for themselves, and have every incentive to make their way in life.” Howj the events of the times occasionally come to be mirrored in the wills of well-known people is shown by the bitter references in the will of Olivia Charlotte, Lady Ardilaun, to Englishmen during the time of the Sinn Fein trouble in Ireland. In leaving various articles of furniture to her cousin and god-daughter, Kathleen Olive Everett, Lady Ardilaun in her will stated that: “These articles were rescued from Macroon Castle before it was burnt by Irish Republicans, on the order, it is stated, of an Englishman, Erskine Childers by name.” The result of the burning of her home led to the direction in Lady Ardilaun’s will that “No Englishman be appointed as rector” of All Saints’, Raheny, which she left under the charge of her nephew, Bishop Plunket. In her case bitterness against one Englishman had led to a resentment of his countrymen in general.