Heirs Challenge Stubblefield Estate
A legal battle over the late Joseph Stubblefield's will threatens to stall the establishment of an indigent home in Walla Walla.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
After a vexatious delay of several months in determining the location of the Stubblefield home for indigent widows and orphans, and within a few hours after it had been definitely decided that the institution would be established near Walla Walla, an action was commenced in the superior court which will tend to cause more trouble for the trustees and may hold up the matter for an indefinite period. Mary McElroy and Henry White, residents of Arkansas, filed a petition praying that the will of the late Joseph Stubblefield be annulled. They allege that their uncle was not of sound mind and memory at the time of the execution of the will, that he was in his dotage, and that the trust provisions are too indefinite to be legally valid.
“The said Joseph L. Stubblefield was not of sound mind and memory, but on the contrary was in his dotage.”
The Stubblefield Home was a significant historical endeavor intended to provide a social safety net in the early 20th century. Today's legal disputes over land use and charitable trusts often echo these same tensions between the intentions of large estates and the rights of distant heirs.
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