The Mystery of the Two Wills
After the death of Jennie McHugh Brown, two conflicting wills emerge, leading to a complex legal battle over her estate.
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.
The two wills found among the papers of Mrs. Jennie McHugh Brown, who died November 22, were filed in probate yesterday by Everett Smith, Mrs. Brown’s former attorney. It is quite probable that a long investigation will have to be made and much testimony taken before either of the wills is declared the last and only one and admitted to probate, as the earlier is revoked by a later, which, however, is unsigned, although otherwise complete.
The earlier of the two instruments is dated July 13, 1892, is type-written and signed by Mrs. Brown in the presence of three witnesses. In it, Mrs. Brown declared that certain lots in Terry’s First Addition were her sole and separate property. She bequeathed her entire estate to Everett Smith in trust for her husband and son. A codicil to this will, dated in the August following, changed the time during which a portion of the property shall remain in the trustee's hands from ten to four years.
The second will is made out on a blank form in Mrs. Brown's own handwriting, but is unsigned. It is dated September 11, 1893. In the opening clause, she explicitly revokes the will drawn for her by Everett Smith. By this later document, she provides that her funeral expenses shall first be paid out of the income of her estate and a monument erected to her memory with the inscription, 'She has done what she could.'
“She has done what she could.”
Disputes over probate and inheritance remain common, but this case highlights the precarious status of women's property and legal standing in the 19th century, where a lack of a formal signature could invalidate a person's final wishes.
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