WILL ON AN EGGSHELL

Taranaki Daily News, 26 November 1926, Page 9

WILL ON AN EGGSHELL

QUESTION OF LEGALITY. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Nov. 23. “Mag everything I possess. —J. 8.” Tliis, written in indelible pencil on an egg-shell, constituted perhaps one of the strangest wills ever exhibited at the Probate Court. The widow of John Barnes, a ship’s pilot, said she found the egg-shell on the top of the wardrobe after her husband’s death, and urged that it should replace a previous will, in which she was granted £4OO and others largely benefited from the eft ate, which is valued at over £5OOO. Counsel submitted that the will came within the exceptions under the Wills Act. namely that Barnes was virtually a seaman at sea. Received Nov. 25, 5.5 p.m. London, Nov. 24. The Probate Court ruled against the egg-shell will. It found that the handwriting was that of Mr. Barnes but that it could not be accepted as a testamentary disposition. It appeared to the Court about as grotesque an act as was possible for any man who had engaged in the serious undertakings of life.