CURIOSITIES IN WILLS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 21 July 1925, Page 5

CURIOSITIES IN WILLS

MEN WHO HATED THEIR WIVES

SONS CUT OFF

THREEPENCE FOR A HALTER

“My estate would have been considerably larger if it had not been for rhy unfortunate marriage with the cleverest known legal daylight robber. My association with this perambulating ‘ human vinegar cruet I consider to have cost most considerably over £400.” Extract from a railwavmen’s will. ' :

In the thousands of wills which go through the Probate Office there is a curious play of emotions. The sorrows and joys of a lifetime are often epitomised in a man’s will. Hate so deep that one recoils from contemplation of it, and sublime love go down together into the musty vaults where'last testaments find their last resting-place. fake, as a pleasing contrast to the will of the railwayman mentioned, that of a justice of the Supreme Court. Fearing that, after his death, his wife might not spend on herself as much money as he would wish, he directed his executors either to see that she used a specified amount, or to spend it on her. There is a touch of humour about the self-confessed bigamist who asked his two “wives” to agree “amicably” upon a fair distribution of his estate between themselves. And the man who bequeathed to friends any money lie might win in a current ticket in a racing consultation, if not a humorist, is regarded as one by the probate officers. “THE POOR ORPHAN”

A desire to improve the culture of the nation is evident in the will of Air Gilles, late of Belmont Avenue, Kew. He directed that the income from part of his estate should be, used to encourage school, village and family ortihestras, the art of reading aloud, and the study of nature. Somewhat similar was the will of Peter Mitchell, who offered prizes for perfect types, physical and mental, of Australian womanhood, Patrick Leonard, a Mvrtleford farmer, left his entire estate of nearly £3OOO Jo charities.

A retired civil servant, living in the west of England, bequeatilled to two nephews “one shillingswovth of. farthings I>etween Ahem.” To a person named “the poor orphan boy whom 1 was generous enough to take and .educate, receiving a very poor return for my good intentions,” he left a shillingsworth of smallest postage stamps. The bulk of his property, he directed, should go to a niece, on condition thatshe never, “by word, act or deed,” had anything to da with a certain man. Another Englishman left lijis wife one farthing, directing that it should be sent to her by post- in an unstamped envelope, as she had called him an old pig and many other names. Of similar mind was the man who bequeathed to his wife a shilling, on the stipulation that she should pay, out of her own pocket, any expense she might be put to in connection with his estate. Devilish irony was expressed in the will of a man who left Iris property to his daughter, and added: "She is to. spend 3gd on a. cord or halter for the use of my dear wife, which I trust she may make use of without delay.” Another husband who had attempted, unsuccessfully, to divorce his wife, left her a shilling out of an estate of £72,000.

A ROOM FOR HIS SON Wives ‘are' not the only persons thus treated. Recently a Victorian grazier cut off one of his sons with 5/- a week and -another gave to his son as his share of the estate, “the use of a back room, provided he does not make a nuisance of himself.” If the son became a nuisance the executors were to eject him. A wealthy hanker .stated: “I have not given my son any interest in my residuary estate, as I am satisfied that it is useless to give him property, for he would waste it in attracting around . him companions of whom I should not approve. I am satisfied that he is irresponsible, and that his wife, as long as she lives with him, will allow Him to have what is necessary,” G. M. Pullman, the American -railway millionaire, restricted certain of his sons to £6OO a year, as they had not “developed such a sense of responsibility as is requisite.”

SAILORS’ WILLS Two women appear in the probate books as the beneficiaries of “sixpence to buy treatise on truth, honesty and morality.” But perhaps the most interesting exhibit of the vaults is the enamelled lid of a glove box. A sailor did the enamelling, and then scratched his will on the lid with a nail. Another sailor scrawled his last wishes on part of the ship’s manifest. The ship was wrecked, but the will, tattered and seastained, was washed ashore. .Missing and home-made wills have caused a great deal of difficulty. That of Arthur Aspsey, a New South Wales man, was found in his pyjama coat pocket, after the body had been disinterred. A Carlton woman wrote that, as she had already provided for one of her daughters, she was net included her in the will. But she left 'her residuary estate to “all my children.” Consequently the Court decided that the daughter must again take a share. Another home-made testament says:

“I, the undersigned, bequest £IOO of my insurance money to my mother, Mary Donovan.” What was to become of the rest of his property he did not say. A will executed under difficulties was made in a country hospital. Witnesses climbed through a window, while relatives stood sentry at the door to prevent anyone seeing the testator. The shortest will on record states: “I leave all to my wife.” The longest contains 9585 words.