WHO DIED FIRST?

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 9

WHO DIED FIRST?

VICTIMS IN ACCIDENT.

DISPOSAL OF ESTATES.

PROBLEM . FOR LAWYERS.

'After a big railway disaster various domestic questions relating to the disposal of the' properly of the killed Iftive' to be investigated and "settled, but ■ not- often does such a complication arise as in the case of the disaster at Diggle, Yorkshire, a few ; weeks ago. , . A man and a woman passenger, as well as two -railwaymen, were killed; and in regard to the disposal "of the man's property the lawyers engaged in the case have set a-most' interesting point to -argue. ■ . ■:■■• <■■ ■ ' \'■ ".'■'.. It:is the question: '.' Who died first?" — the man or the v«6man upon the answer to' the riddle depends a good deal for the families of; the persons concerned. The man killed was Joseph Harris Kyezor, aged 64, a commercial traveller, who, during 'the last 45 years had been soliciting orders -m the area between Hull, York, Liverpool, and Birmingham on behalf of Messrs. : Ford, Shapland and' Co., printers. '■:'■'". . *"• ' The -woman who was killed travelled with Kyezor, and represented the Robbins Perfumery Stores, Nottingham.. ■ Mainly owing to the fact that on the man's body were found two railway tic kets from Leeds to Stoke, : and that the woman was. travelling in the same compartment, 'it was assumed that the woman was. Kyezor's wife.. ' •' . Much 1 surprise was caused at'the inquest when a. lady, appeared and claimed that' she was Kyezor s. widow, but had lived apart from him , during the past "23' years. She' <is Mrs.' Ma til Jane Kyezor, of Guildford, Surrey. .■ ■ :.■' According to other (evidence at ■• t'he inquest, the. dead man and woman hail been married in Birmingham ;25 or 26 : years ; ago.. The woman's maiden nam* is Annie Storey." ... A will executed by the man Kyezor was found, but evidently the' dead woman did not . leave a', will behind: All their affairs, in fact, Were so clear that "one who • has been connected with the case has been led to remark: If. they had expected something of the sort happening, and had desired to cause the least trouble to anyone who had to .investigate their■ affairs, their papers and possessions could not have been, left in better, order." In his will, Kyezor, it is understood, bequeathed all "his 'property to the deed woman, and the point for. the lawyers to settle, is this,: Who-, died, first, the man or the woman ? • . < ■ ■ : - .[ - - -. • • ! If, the man died.first, then his property ;will, go under his will into the estate of ths- woman, '•'.• and thence to her relatives 'under an intestacy, as .she has not left a will. ■■'.'"' :' , .i - " .'. ~- ' ;'-■■'■■''.! ; .;- !'-.'•'L '! ■ ■ If, on. the - other hand, the woman; died before him,- even by the fraction of a fecond, there occurs what is known, in the- law as "a lapse." and the man's estate, would pass to his' legal representatives as if he had not left any will at all. As the man Kyezor, left a substantial estate, the point at'., issue is of .some importance to the ..persons concerned.. The sum. of . £50 odd Was found upon his body, and iii the boxes' there was a list of securities which will realise a substantial sum.

The man.-., and woman were travelling without companions in the railway . compartment in which they were killed, so that there can be' no direct evidence as to what hao'pened at the moment in which they met, their doom. ' r . '.'.'_ .'~ "•■ It is stated that Kyezor was dead whim he ; was. extricated from -.the debris,, and that ,the woman ~ expired just, as , she, was being laid beside' him on,the railway embankment, but.of course any evidence on the point .will have, to .bear the strictest investigation. .. •' ./. • ' .':-. . : .-. . , ;