BRIDE AS A LEGACY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12931, 29 July 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRIDE AS A LEGACY.

A STRANGE WILL AND A QUEST . . FOR A WIFE. • .f. ; When Fawner John Wren lay dying at ~ Coolcar, County Longford, lie bequeathed his comfortable farm, in an unusual man-' : ner. He was childless, and lie willed that J on his widow's death the farm should go to Patrick MacCarthy " under the condition (he wrote) that within one year after my . ! death he contract marriage, and come to f live in my house at Coolcar, with Rose Anne Reilly, daughter of Philip Reilly,- of ■ "i Toneygarden." ' " ? _ Wren and his wife died within a- short time of each other last year, and Patrick ■ MacCarthy proceeded to carry out the- trust reposed in him. There were difficulties in the way, for Miss Reilly had gone to ; - America. Three times Patrick MacCarthy voyaged across the Atlantic to ask her to marry him j ; !| and so fulfil the terms of their benefactor's' ' will. But each time Miss Reilly declined, ! and Patrick had finally to return to the home at Coolcar without a wife. . The question of the ownership of the' ' , ' farm now arose, as old Wren laid it down that it should go to Miss Reilly's brother, if the marriage did not take; place. The;::W ; Irish Master of the Rolls, however, has T'' laid it down that, as Patrick MacCarthy ws|| did all in his power to fulfil the conditions - S of the will by going to America after the bride named for him, he was not to blame ■ because the marriage did not take place. £ .I| The interesting legal decision then is that the farm remains the property of Mac-;! < m Carthy, and he can now instal a bride of -cHifl. his own choice in Coolcar. r