Chapter IV: Curious Wills (6)

One of the most singular cases that ever came before a court of justice was the dispute as to the validity of the will of the late Mr. W. R. Smee, probated in 1880 in England. That the testator was a man of exceptional ability is beyond doubt. His powers of organization were so good that he was employed by the Post Office authorities to readjust several departments which had got into a state of disorder. A pamphlet of his, on the question of the “Repeal of the Malt Duties,” attracted the attention of the acting Lord Chief Baron and Mr. Bass, who sought an interview with the writer; and after 1860 he wrote many able articles for various newspapers. At the same time, there is equally little doubt that Mr. Smee had insane delusions of the sort which most commonly afflict lunatics. He believed that he was a son of George IV, and rightful heir to the throne, and in 1859, before the composition of the articles just mentioned, he wrote a letter to the Prince Consort, enclosing a preposterous petition to the Queen on the subject of his “rights.” This absurd document stated that when out walking with his nurse he had been recognized by a crowd as the Prince of Wales, and escorted home amid loud hurrahs. The king had taken him on his royal knee, and said to him, “Poor boy, poor boy, get on with your learning. A great destiny is preparing for you, though you do not know it.” Every morning, he asserted, drugs were administered which took away his memory. The Duke of Wellington, disguised in a mechanic’s dress, followed him round Finsbury Circus; and, during his last illness, Mr. William Smee, senior, had said: “Extraordinary and unheard of means have been adopted to keep him down, or he must have come to the throne.” In his will the testator left his property to the corporation of Brighton, wishing to be associated with his supposed royal father as a benefactor to that town. As must have been generally expected, the Court pronounced against the will which benefited the popular seaside resort. “The fact that a man was capable of transacting business, to whatever extent that might go, however complicated the business might be, and however considerable the powers of intellect it might require, did not exclude the idea of his being of unsound mind,” the president stated in the course of his interesting judgment. “A man might be a good carpenter and follow his calling, and yet his mind might be tainted with insanity to such an extent that he might be held irresponsible for a crime on the ground that he did not know the nature of the act he committed. Therefore, all the arguments addressed to the jury on the subject of the testator’s capacity to deal with complex subjects, to write pamphlets, and to make calculations, had nothing to do with the question whether he was of unsound mind or not. He was admittedly of unsound mind, because shown by that which was the most conclusive symptom and evidence of unsoundness--namely, the presence of delusions--that was to say, ideas which they could not conceive any rational man entertaining.” These arguments do not tend to simplify the difficult duties of those who have the misfortune to be called upon to give advice in cases of mental disease.

A WORD LEFT OUT

Mary Richardson, who died on the 28th of May, 1874, made, by her will, numerous charitable bequests, amongst which was £500 to the “London Church Building Society.” There being no society in London bearing that title exactly, a petition was presented by the treasurers of the London Diocesan Church Building Society for the payment out of court of the bequest named. The Bishop of London’s fund likewise presented its claim; as also did the Incorporated Society for Promoting the Enlargement Building, and Repairing of Churches in England and Wales, the latter supposing that it most exactly answered the description of a London church building society. The Vice-Chancellor, however, Sir C. Hall, decided in favor of the London Diocesan Church Building Society, because the words used most nearly approached those of the title given by the testatrix.

AN ENIGMA

WILL OF ROSINE BARROT

I give to my sister 20
” Jeanne 10
” Pauline 6
” Marie 6
” Julie 6

I give to Gustave 6
” Eugénie 7
” Annie 14
---
75

This is my last will and testament, made at Meude, 20th October, 1767.

ROSINE BARROT.

* * * * *

As this was the entire will, without any clue whatever to its signification, the surviving relatives, for there were no executors appointed, set their wits to work to discover its enigmatic signification. At last they found that the testatrix’s property amounted to 75,000 francs, and they therefore concluded that each unit represented 1000. Another difficulty arose from the fact that there were in the family several repetitions of some of the names mentioned in the will. The decision, however, was worked out by common sense, and, strange to say, two trials at law that followed, failed to overthrow it.

BODY BEQUEATHED FOR USEFUL PURPOSES

A certain testator devised his property to a stranger, wholly disinheriting the heir or next of kin, and directed that his executors should “cause some part of his bowels to be converted into fiddle strings, and that others should be sublimed into smelling salts, and that the remainder of his body should be vitrified into lenses, for optical purposes.” In a letter attached to this will the testator said, “The world may think this to be done in a spirit of singularity or whim, but I have a mortal aversion to funeral pomp, and I wish my body to be converted into purposes useful to mankind.” The testator was shown to have conducted his affairs with great shrewdness and ability, and had been regarded by his associates through life as a person possessing high business qualifications, and the will was upheld.

WILL CONTAINED A SERMON

Another unusual will showing a strong religious belief and which incorporates a sermon to his heirs, is that of Elias Boudinot which was probated in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in 1821. The will contained twenty-six closely written pages of manuscript. The beginning of the will which contains the sermon is as follows:

“Know all men by these presents that I, Elias Boudinot, late of the city of Philadelphia, and director of the mint of the United States, but now of the city of Burlington, N.J., Doctor of Laws, being by the unmerited goodness of Almighty God, after great affliction, by a long series of bad health, and having passed my eighty-first year and returned to a tolerable state of bodily health, so as to possess a sound and disposing mind and memory; but being often reminded of the uncertainty of life and the propriety of settling the intended disposition of my property while free from the distresses of a sick bed, do make and publish this my last will and testament.

“And as this instrument cannot take effect till after my death, but must then be frequently resorted to by my representatives, I do therefore improve so good an opportunity of repeating the profession I have made for more than sixty years, and which by the free grace of God, through Jesus Christ, and by the continued influences of his Holy Spirit, has been strengthened and confirmed by the most happy experience, founded on solid ground and by a thorough examination and inquiry into the divine scriptures through that long period, and in which I hope under the same blessed influences to finish my mortal race, I mean that of a firm, unfeigned and prevailing belief in one sovereign, omnipotent and eternal Jehovah, a God of infinite love and mercy who hath delivered us from the powers of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invincible God, the first born of every creature, and he is before all things and by him all things consist, and whoever has been and still is reconciled a guilty world unto himself by his righteousness and atonement, his death and his resurrection, through whom alone life and immortality have been brought to light in his gospel, and by the all-powerful influence of his daily spirit, is daily sanctifying, enlightening and leading his faithful people into all necessary truth.

“And as it has pleased a holy and sovereign God to favor me with the continuance of one only child, to whom I most cordially wish and pray for the best and greatest possible good in time and eternity, I do in the most solemn manner, as in the presence of the one only great and glorious God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in view of an approaching eternity, beseech and entreat her to make the fear and love of God the great objects of her constant attention and pursuit, and in a particular manner that she will by a persevering inquiry into, and a thorough knowledge of the spirit and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which she has been so long, and I trust through divine mercy savingly acquainted with, endeavor to cherish and increase the like temper, disposition and usefulness in life as are therein so clearly and plainly taught and enforced, and which, generally speaking, consist in an universal benevolence, meekness, self-denial, deep contrition for sin and unfeigned love to our brethren, with an habitual lively faith in and dependence upon our Lord Jesus Christ, as the only atonement for our sins, the source of every blessing, and when the gift of God will inevitably work by love, purify the heart and be productive of good works, always remembering that however the profession of a particular denomination of our holy religion among men may be beneficial to herself and others in their state of imperfection in which every aid should be sought to support and manifest the Christian character, yet that the Church of Christ is one universal and Catholic Church, a communion of saints not confined to time or place, name or party of Christians, but that every one who exercises deep and sincere repentance towards God, unfeigned faith in his beloved Son and worketh righteousness, is born of God.

“And I do more expressly press it upon her under every circumstance of life, to consider that day as worse than lost, in which she does not seek earnestly communion with her Heavenly Father under the special influence of His Holy Spirit, and she may be positively assured that this may be done even amidst the common and ordinary business of life as in the most profound and secret retirements, assisted by the ordinances of his gospel; would also earnestly recommend her habitually living under prevailing sense of God’s overruling providence, which, however wonderful, regards the smallest things of those who love and fear him, even to the numbering of the hairs of the heads.

“As to all and singular, the temporal estate wherewith it has pleased God in his undeserved mercy to amply reward my industry and application to business, for the use and enjoyment of which I do him my most grateful thanks, acknowledging his great goodness and beneficence to me therein, I do dispose of the same and all my estate therein in the following manner, wishing to do what I think by solemn and serious consideration, will not be contrary to his divine will, but in the end may advance the honor of his great name.”

Thereafter follow the bequests.

A PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD

We might head this paper “Why Paul Duhalde made his Will,” for certainly no idea could be much more original than that on which its principal, and disputed, clause was founded.

A brief sketch of the history of Paul Duhalde cannot fail to interest our readers, and will best explain the peculiarity of this testamentary document.

This individual was born at Paris in 1691; he died in 1725; he was the son of a dealer in diamonds, and lost his father at the age of sixteen years, when he was sent to Spain by his mother to learn the arcana of the business. The lad had no success, and returned. He was then placed with a merchant at Rouen, but did not get on, and subsequently passed to America, but his restless disposition soon sent him back to France. This brought him to the year 1717, and he was now twenty-six years of age. He remained some months with his mother, and then, having contracted a partnership with two jewel merchants, set off a second time to Madrid; this enterprise was, however, not more successful than those preceding it, and he came back to Paris, in the month of February, 1719, profoundly discouraged, and not without reason.

Here the melancholy reflections consequent on his repeated and persistent failures suggested to him a very singular notion, that of contracting a partnership with God. He proceeded to enter seriously into this abnormal contract, and drew up an act in regular and technical form, which he transcribed into his day-book on September 24, 1719, in the following terms: “I have resolved to enter into a partnership with God, promising and undertaking to fulfil all the within-mentioned articles; and I enjoin my heirs, whoever they may be, to carry out these my intentions in case I should die before accomplishing them myself.”

He then proceeds to declare that this association, the object of which is to deal in precious stones, shall hold good for five years, reckoning from October 2, 1719. He fixes his capital at 3000 Spanish piastres, about $3000, being all that remained to him of his patrimony. He binds himself not to enter into any other partnership during the five years, unless with a woman, by marriage. As soon as the five years shall have elapsed, he proposes to balance his accounts, to begin by withdrawing from the partnership the 3000 piastres with which he started; secondly, to take from it the dowry that his wife may have brought him; thirdly, any sum or sums that may have fallen in to him by succession or otherwise during the time; after which he adds, “And the surplus shall be equally divided between God and myself.”

This unique partnership having been thus determined, Duhalde starts a third time for Spain, but the outset of this new attempt does not augur well for the partners. Two years after, however (1721), the project of a double marriage between the Courts of France and Spain gives a new impetus to the branch of commerce in which he is engaged, and he resolves to improve the opportunity. At last Fortune seems to smile upon his endeavors, and the ultimate results exceed his fondest hopes. He now returns to Paris, resolving to settle himself finally there.

In 1722 he married the daughter of De Hansy, a well-known bookseller, who brought him 30,000 livres, and from his mother, who died in September of the same year, he inherited 70,226 livres. On May 20, 1723, a son was born to him.

Meantime Duhalde never loses sight of the obligations he has taken upon himself toward his partner. He draws, from time to time, from the common fund, sums which he distributes in the name of God, to the poor, and inscribes these with regularity and precision in his registers.

On October 1, 1724, the partnership expires. Duhalde strikes a balance of his accounts, and finds from the aggregate of the entries that he has already paid to the poor 13,684 livres; but this is not all. In the statement of account drawn up he has considered three classes of stones as constituting a portion of the profits: one of these lots is at Amsterdam, one at Madrid, and one at Paris; these he shares equally, inscribing on the packets which contain them: “Half for the poor”; and at the foot of the statement of account he writes: “Misfortune and malediction upon my heirs, whoever they may be, if, under any pretext whatever, they should fail to distribute to the poor the half of whatever proceeds may come from the jewels now in my possession, if so be God should call me away before I shall have been able to satisfy their claims myself. Further, if by any extraordinary event it should appear at my death that no other amounts are forthcoming but those goods or sums which are virtually the property of the poor, let not a sacrilegious hand be laid upon them; they constitute a deposit which can under no circumstances be diverted from its just cause.”

In addition to this precaution, and in order to secure to the poor the amounts he regarded as strictly their due, Duhalde drew up in the month of January, 1725, eight bills of 1000 livres each, payable to order from year to year, comprising the years 1725 to 1732, and placed these bills in the hands of the Vicar of St. Germain l’Auxerrois.

On January 14, 1725, he fell ill and made his will, by which he declares that: “In the books which contain the minutes of my affairs there are several articles touching matters that concern the poor; I beg my executor to examine these articles with the greatest accuracy, and to see they are carried out with the strictest attention.”

Two months after, Duhalde dies, leaving a young widow, a minor, and an infant two years old. The schedule of property is called over, the administrators of the Hôpital Général are invited to attend. Among the effects of the deceased are found packets of precious stones, labelled “Half for the poor”; their portion is estimated at 18,188 livres. The administrators claim it, but offer to compromise for the sum of 15,900 ff. The young widow protests; the guardian contends that the will should be set aside on the ground that no sane men ever enter into partnership with God. The parties appeal to law, and, after a spirited altercation, a judgment is obtained, April 3, 1726, on the decision of D’Aguesseau (Avocat-Général), ordering that “The will of Duhalde and the acts and codicils dependent thereon shall be fulfilled according to the desire of the testator; he consequently condemns the guardian of the widow and her son to hand over to the administrators of the hospital funds the jewels constituting the legacy made by the testator to the poor, but leaving him the choice of paying the sum in money value, as estimated by experts to be provided by the Court; the course adopted by the said guardian to be decided on within a fortnight.”

ECCENTRIC BUT CHARITABLE FRENCHMAN

A gentleman of French birth, named Pierre Henri Baume, died some years ago at Douglas, Isle of Man, leaving a large sum for charitable purposes. He was born at Marseilles in 1797, and at an early age was sent to a military college at Naples, where he became private secretary to King Ferdinand. About the year 1825 he came to London. At one time he was a preacher holding peculiar views on theology, then became manager of a theatrical company, and subsequently got up a scheme for the establishment of model gardens. He took a lively interest in various charitable institutions, and expressed a strong desire to accumulate a great fortune, with the object of eventually endowing or establishing an institution, on principles which he had himself drawn up, for the education and benefit of youth of the poorer classes. By great perseverance and industry, and by subjecting himself almost to privation, he at last succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune, and bought land at Colney-hatch, together with a small estate called Chifont, on Dibdin-hill, in Buckinghamshire. Several obstacles arose as to the fulfilment of his educational project, and he was ultimately induced to abandon this idea. After living about a quarter of a century in London, he went to Manchester and engaged vigorously in a movement “public-houses without drink.” He also instituted Sunday afternoon lectures to working-men, which were carried on with varying success for several years. In 1857 he settled in the Isle of Man, purchased an estate there, and afterwards resided on the island. At Douglas he fitted up an odd kind of residence, the entrance to which he made almost inaccessible, and admission to which could only be obtained by those whom he had initiated into a peculiar knock. In this little den he lived like a hermit, sleeping in a hammock slung from the roof, for the room was so crowded with dusty books that there was no space for a bedstead or even for a table on which to take his food. He stated that his object in living in this condition and depriving himself of all comforts was to enable him to leave as much money as possible for charitable and educational purposes. He resided in this miserable place for several years; but his health failing him, he was induced, later, to remove, and died at a tradesman’s house in Duke street, Douglas. Public attention was directed to M. Baume’s affairs in London, in consequence of proceedings taken by him to evict a number of squatters who had located themselves on his Colney-hatch property, which was popularly known as “The Frenchman’s Farm.” M. Baume took out letters of naturalization, which enabled him to enjoy the rights and privileges of an Englishman, and to dispose of his property as he thought best. He left the whole of his real and personal property, valued at £54,000, in trust for charitable purposes in the Isle of Man, on his death.

“LOUIS AGASSIZ, TEACHER”

The will of Agassiz, probated in June, 1874, begins thus: “The last will and testament of Louis Agassiz, of Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, teacher.”

Of him the _Boston Globe_ said: “We should think the heart of every schoolmaster and schoolmistress in the land should bound at reading this simple announcement. The great naturalist, the peer of Aristotle, Linnæus, Cuvier, and Von Baer, calls himself, in the most solemn of all documents, ‘a teacher.’ There is, to us, something inspiring in this designation. All teachers, whether they are professors in colleges or directors in the commonest village schools, must be thrilled and invigorated by the statement that Agassiz is proud to enroll himself in their ranks. The good, grand, noble man, the apostle of pure science, the investigator and discoverer, the person who was preëminently a scientific force as well as a scientific intelligence dies with the feeling that his occupation was that of a ‘teacher.’ He, of course, leaves little or no property to his family; the noble woman, the bereaved wife, the constant companion of his intellect as well as of his heart, she who followed him whithersoever he was led by the spirit of scientific research, is, we suppose, the executrix of little but his glory; but the will is sublime, because it records the fact that Louis Agassiz was ‘a teacher.’ That was his occupation on earth. What it may be above, we do not pretend to know. One thing we know is this, that the simple preamble to his will must kindle into a generous flame every soul engaged in the great cause of education. ‘Louis Agassiz, teacher!’ but what a teacher! We preserve many memories of precious conversations with him on this question of teaching. He considered that teaching was a communication of life as well as of knowledge. A lad of ten years once contrived to get into the State House when Agassiz was urging the incontrovertible arguments for his ‘museum.’ We happened to jostle against the lad as he was leaving the hall, and asked him, laughingly, his opinion of the performance. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’ve been to many lectures, and have been tired to death, but Agassiz comes right up to my notion of the circus!’ When we told Agassiz of this queer compliment, he was much pleased. He wanted to see the boy who had been so unconsciously appreciative of the spirit of his speech. He knew that he had magnetized grave and elderly men, and that what he asked for would be cheerfully granted; but he desired to shake hands with the lad who thought he was as good as ‘a circus,’ and sent out from his deep lungs great roars of laughter in welcoming the testimony of his juvenile admirer.

“It would be idle to multiply instances of the thorough humanity and geniality of Agassiz. Everybody who knew him can tell hundreds of anecdotes illustrative of his sympathy with all forms of life, whether in the jelly-fish, the human infant, the developing boy or girl, the mature man or woman. Still his conviction of the immateriality and personality of mind was something wonderful in so austere a naturalist. We happened once to please him by defining a jelly-fish as organized water. ‘Now look at it through the microscope,’ he said. ‘But, Agassiz, the play of the organization is so wonderful that it seems to me that nothing but mind can account for it.’ ‘You are right,’ was his answer; ‘in some incomprehensible way, God Almighty has created these beings, and I cannot doubt of their immortality any more than I doubt of my own.’ His fealty to the rights of animals exceeded that of any great naturalist who ever preceded him. Incompetent as we are to give him his due rank among the great naturalists of the world, we think he excelled every naturalist who has gone before him in striking at the soul and individuality of all animals below man. It is impossible to convey in words the peculiar feeling which Agassiz had on this matter. Doubtless this large and genial genius is now satisfied. We cannot penetrate beyond the veil.

“What we can do, however, is to celebrate Agassiz as a teacher, and try to send a new glow into the heart of every person engaged in the difficult art of teaching. How hard is their work! The present generation is brought up, as far as education is concerned, on the most economical principles. No consideration whatever is given to the point of the will of Agassiz. When he proudly calls himself ‘a teacher,’ he means that he is a radiator of heat as well as of light. A poet has well described the method of instruction adopted by Agassiz:

“‘He was like the sun giving me life;
Pouring into the caves of my young brain
Knowledge from his bright fountains.’”

PIPE, TOBACCO AND MATCHES IN HIS COFFIN

Mr. Klaës, who was known among his acquaintances by the name of the “King of Smokers,” died some years ago near Rotterdam. According to the Belgian papers he had amassed a large fortune in the linen trade, and had erected near Rotterdam a mansion, one portion of which was devoted to the arrangement of a collection of pipes according to their nationality and chronological order. A few days before his death he summoned his lawyer, and made his will, in which he directed that all the smokers of the country should be invited to his funeral, that each should be presented with 10 lb. of tobacco and two Dutch pipes of the newest fashion, on which should be engraved the name, arms and date of the decease of the testator. He requested all his relatives, friends and funeral guests to be careful to keep their pipes alight during the funeral ceremonies, after which they should empty the ashes from their pipes on the coffin. The poor of the neighborhood who attended to his last wishes were to receive annually, on the anniversary of his death, 10 lb. of tobacco and a small cask of good beer. He desired that his oak coffin should be lined with the cedar of his old Havana cigar boxes, and that a box of French caporal and a packet of old Dutch tobacco should be placed at the foot of his coffin. His favorite pipe was to be placed by his side, along with a box of matches, a flint and steel, and some tinder, as he said there was no knowing what might happen. A clever calculator has made out that Mr. Klaës had, during his eighty years of life, smoked more than four tons of tobacco, and had drunk about 500,000 quarts of beer.

THANKFULNESS TO GOD

In the codicil annexed to the last will of Robert North, Esq., of Scarborough, England, proved in October, 1705, the following occurs:

“I give to Mrs. R. G. my English walnut bureau, made large to contain clothes, but hope she will not forget when she makes use of it that graces and virtues are a lady’s most ornamental dress; and that that dress has this peculiar excellence, that it will last for ever and improve by wearing.

“I give to Lieutenant W. M., my godson, my sword, and hope he will (if ever occasion should require it) convince a rash world he has learnt to obey his God as well as his general, and that he entertains too true a sense of honour to admit anything into the character of a good soldier which is inconsistent with the duty of a good Christian.

“And now having, I hope, made a proper disposition of my lands and money, those pearls of great price in the present esteem of men, let me take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to the grand original proprietor; and here I must direct my praises to that benign Being who through all the stages of my life hath encompassed me with a profusion of favours, and who by a wonderful and gracious Providence hath converted my very misfortunes and disappointments into blessings; nor let me omit, what the business just finished seems more particularly to require of me, to return Him my unfeigned thanks, who, to all the comforts and conveniences of life, hath superadded this also of being useful even in death, by thus enabling me to dispose of a double portion, namely, out of love to the poor, and another of gratitude to my friends.

“All my faults and follies, almost infinite as they have been, I leave behind me with wishes, that as here they had their birth and origin, they may here be buried in everlasting oblivion. My infant graces and little embryo virtues are, I trust, gone before me into heaven, and will, I hope, prove successful messengers to prepare my way. Thither, O Lord, let them mount up with unremitting constancy, while my soul in the meantime feasts itself with ecstatic reflections on that ravishing change when, from the nonsense and folly of an impertinent, vain, and wicked world, it shall be summoned to meet its kindred spirits, and admitted into the blissful society of angels and men made perfect; when, instead of sickness, gloominess, and sorrow (the melancholy retinue of sin and house of clay), glory and immortal youth shall be its attendants, and its habitation the palace of the King of Kings: this will be a life worth dying for indeed! thus to exist, tho’ but in prospect, is at present joy, gladness, transport, ecstacy! Fired with the view of this transcendent happiness and triumphant in hope, these noble privileges of a Christian, how is it possible to forbear crying out O Death, why art thou so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of thy chariot?

“To that Supreme Being, whose treasures and goodness are thus infinite and inexhaustible, be all honour and glory for ever. Amen.”