STRANGE WILL SUIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

STRANGE WILL SUIT.

"THE LADY OP LEBANON." NEW ZEALAND PARTIES INTERESTED. [FEOK OTFR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, November 23. A Strang!: "will suit came to an abrupt termination on Wednesday before Mr. Justice Barnes, in the Royal Courts of Justice.The case had reference to the will of. Mrs. ■ Catherine?? Worsley, ;arHeccentric lady of upwards of 80 years of age/ who had , a mission, lived oh;■:■ the, sides of, Mount Lebanon. : She died on February 11, '• 1899. The plaintiffs ' were ' Mr. Charles ; reaves Vincent and Mr.; Charles Worsley Vincent; the executors of the last will : of the deceased, dated-October., 22, 1897. v: The "defendants were Mr. W. Roberts Worsley, the next of kin; the Rev. C. N. Gray, of Helmsley, 'Yorkshire; . Mrs. Agnes / Elizabeth Swiriey, wife of Colqnel C. :, Swin&y, Devonport; Mrs. Blanche Henrietta Vyvyan; Mrs. Florence Frere, wife of the Rev.; H. C. Frere,i of Devizes, and other relatives; and, moreover, Richard Webb, of the Home, "Ain Aroub," Mount Lebanon. 1 % I may say, by the . way, that ■■ the ; Rev. Hugh Corriej Frere, just mentioned, .was Ciirate-in-Charge.of the Waitaki Mission District, New Zealand, in 1888; incumbent of St. ■ John's, Waikouaiti, from ; 1888-1890; vicar of the' Waitaki Mission District from 1891 to 1895;; and vicar of Waitotaray'lß96-; 1897 ; .: and; in the . latter year he left New Zealand j; for-Syria, becoming" chaplain/; at Bey rout. On Friday last the case opened,; and Mr. 1 Deane, : one of ;■-.the counsel engaged,>'ex-; plained % that the property disposed of amounted to about £39,000,' a considerable part of it being real estate on the mountain-; side. Mrs. Worsley, continued : counsel, died in 1899. '.- Her husband died the year previous. ■ '. :-'/•-.■'■'- - , Before 1884 the couple lived at Bromley College, an institution; for the orphans of the clergy, at which Mr. Worsley was chaplain. aln 18841 they left for a warmer climate, and set sail for Syria, accompanied by Richard Webb, their coachman, and his wife and child. . This coachman ; was a very prominent figure in the rest of the story, as told by Mr. Deane. ' . The Worsleys took a travelling van with them to the Holy Land, but they did : not find much use for this. ;■: They immediately determined :to settle down on; Mount Lebanon. For this purpose they ultimately took a house on the mountain,", which was called Mispak, and not the Cedars. _ Round about Mount Lebanon : Mrs.; Worsley, who was a lady of considerable religious bent, found several American schools. This led her to establish a school of her own. She called a meeting of the ; neighbouring sheikhs, ! and persuaded them to. giv« her a grant of land for .that purpose. , .lis the meantime Richard Webb, the coachman, became a good ; Arabic scholar/ and. was of the greatest assistance to his mistress. Mr. Worsley became chaplain of the school. At the school ; there was a Greek woman, named : Hassan. 'J; When Webb's wife died Mrs. ; Worsley ■ was, anxious that he should marry one of her English servants, but Webb said he had promised his wife to ; marry this woman Hassan. There was consequently temporary trouble between mistress and coachman, and as he persisted in his matrimonial views he was dismissed. \. -v ' " J ' ; ,

He went to Jerusalem and started as a driver ; but one day, continued Mr. Deane, as he was conveying his stock-in-trade from Jaffa to' Jerusalem, he fell among thieves, who beat him and left him unconscious by the wayside, ' having taken all his property. When Mrs. Worsley heard of this she ; took "a religious view of it," and said that "the Almighty had punished him." Ultimately, however, she became reconciled with Webb and his wife. " ; ;

Mrs. Worsley, wishing to ensure that the school should be properly ■ carried; on' after her death, had availed herself of a certain Turkish legal formality,-by which you can convey property on trust. . V She conveyed the school to ; the Bishop of Jerusalem, but found out afterwards that he regard'ed*> " the deed of - trust" as a.' sale. ;; To add ito her difficulties one of her nephews,;; Mr. Gray/; a clergyman, came out to Syria, and drew up a -■'■ memorandum of certain proposals about the school, ■ which ■ she ; signed.; This memorandum, without her knowledge, Mr.' Gray got made into a formal document by getting the signatures of ;■ the English Consul and the Bishop of Jerusalem;put \ to it.f Mr. Gray also mentioned the matter of making a will to i Mrs. Worsley and her husband, and; the latter was so angry that he hit his brother clergyman with a stick. v; In a letter to a niece, read by; Mr. Deane, Mrs. Wdrsley described / Mr. ;/ Gray,; as i a " roaring Ritualist."/. She also said that the raid he had made on Mount Lebanon was worse than Jameson's. ' r : i Ultimately an Arabic; will ~ was made in 1897. ;An English translation of it /.was produced in Court. . "'! After Mr. Worsley. died, it further appeared from counsel's statement, Mrs. Worsley made;another : will of an extraordinary character. She devoted a certain part fof her fortune to the support of the . Mount Lebanon School, making a Mr.', Vincent, a solicitor, trustee, and directing him to pay the income accruing to Mr. Webb,. who was to manage the school./; : . Leaving her nephews and nieces, the sons and daughters of her sisters, out of the will, she left the residue of her property " to my faithful helper, Richard - " This ; will is now being contested by" the relatives iiiterested, who allege that Mrs. Worsley was of unsound mind when she made the will, and that it was obtained by undue influence. Mr. Deane concluded his case by saying that the evidence in support of? the willwould be a number of letters and documents showing Mrs. Worsley to be of sound mind. These were " put in." ' *~_ ; Mr. Inderwick, in- opening his case "for the relatives, said Mrs. Worsley -had a peculiar idea about the relations between herself and Webb. She thought there was a special point of " spiritual contact" between them, and that they had been appointed by Providence >to preside together over the people who dwelt on Mount Lebanon. This, she thought, was proved by ; a rainbow which stretched across herself and Webb as : they were travelling * together one day.: L ; When the. Court rose , on Friday the case stood adjourned 'until Wednesday, on which latter day two hours were spent between counsel and the 'parties in an ; endeavour to come to an agreement, the judge and a crowded Court looking on-meanwhile.; After two hours or so had elapsed Mr. Justice -; Barnes- ; rapped his desk , with \ his pencil, and said: Don't you think you can finish" this?"- A few; minutes later he .was asked to meet all the parties in his private/room: Ilf, acquiesced, and all then adjourned to his own, apartment. Half '. an hour afterward Mr. Justice Barnes returned to open Court and adjourned the Court until the following day, this being understood that the case had been settled on terms not to be divulged. /