ANCIENT, CURIOUS AND FAMOUS
WILLS
“A truce to jesting; let me have a confessor
to confess me, and a notary to make my will."
{iii}
ANCIENT
CURIOUS AND FAMOUS
WILLS
BY
VIRGIL M. HARRIS
MEMBER OF THE SAINT LOUIS BAR, LECTURER ON WILLS IN THE
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LAW, TRUST OFFICER
OF THE MERCANTILE TRUST COMPANY OF SAINT LOUIS,
MISSOURI, AND AUTHOR OF “THE TRUST COMPANY
OF TO-DAY,” ETC.
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
{iv}1911
Copyright, 1911,
By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved.
Printed by C. H. Simonds &. Co.
{v}Boston, U. S. A.
TO THE LATE
HONORABLE JACOB KLEIN
OF
SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI
WHOSE LONG AND USEFUL CAREER AT THE BAR
AND WHOSE STERLING CHARACTER, LEARNING AND WISDOM
ENTITLE HIS NAME TO A PLACE IN THE GALAXY
OF GREAT AMERICAN LAWYERS
THIS BOOK
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
{vii}{vi}
PREFACE
And yet not so,—for what can we bequeath,
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?”
An addition to the fifteen millions of books of which the world is nowpossessed demands an explanation, if not an apology.
In my experience as a lecturer on the Law of Wills, and in the practicaladministration of estates controlled by wills, in which I have beenengaged for many years, it has been a subject of surprise to me that noone in America has seriously undertaken the collection of curious andfamous wills. It has occurred to me that I might discharge the dutywhich every lawyer owes to his profession by making such a collection.The subject is very comprehensive, and the material required has beenobtained, in most instances, from the original records of Probate andCourt Registers in various parts of the world, by exhaustive research inlibraries at home and abroad, and by reference to magazine and newspaperfiles.
It has been my effort to select from this collection the wills whichappeared most interesting and entertaining. I recognize quite fully thewisdom of Lord Coke’s remark, that
“Wills, and the construction of them, do more perplex a man than anyother learning; and to