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STAFFORD WILL MUST STAND TEST IN THE COURTSATTORNEY BOORMAN BRINGS ACTION FOR THE WIDOW.other heirs wantSHARE OF ESTATfl' - 1 aInstead Of One Heir It is Claimed Estate Should Be Divided Among Five People.Attorney H. M. Boorman to-day filed a Buitf in the interest of Mary A, Stafford and her children, to test the validity of the will of the late P. T. Stafford. It Is charged that at the time Stafford made hiB last will he was under the influence of opiates and unable to sign his name except by the use of the same, and that John McDowell of Platsburg, New York, exerted undue Influence on the old man of eighty years to got him to make a will that jyould leave all the property to Miss Ruth and cut off Mrs. Mary A. Stafford, and the three minor Stafford children, Grace, Mae and Sir Paul. In the statement filled to-day *Mrs. Stafford states that she was ‘in a manner’ the wife of Stafford. No claim Is made in the Btateihent that the marriage was any other than a common law marriage, Mrs. Stafford says she came to the Stafford home at the age of 17 and that after the death of the first Mrs. Stafford, P. T. Stafford urged and.insisted upon marrying her. She states that she faithfully permored the wifely duties, becamethe mother of his children, at the sacrifice of her health, and worked for the comfort and happiness of hi* home. She states that Mr. Stafford well knew he had no grounds for- a divorce frontier, but that Stafford and McDowen conspired to get her to apply for a divorce. She Bays she made application not realizing whatagreed wth Stafford and McDoweJi that, she was to accept $8,000 at the time such divorce was granted, and that sbe was also to be cared for la ' the said P. T. Stafford's will.' She Btiys that it was the understanding that the balance of the alimony wae to be provided for in'the will.She further states that the Will a« filed Is a fraud and not a legal will, and that It should Include the die-position of property in a sum of not-less than $150,000, instead of- $40* ,000. She asks, that the will be aside and'that property be divided ab that ail my share aliks. She is willing that the $8,000 which she has already received bo deducted from her share and such monies as the minor children have already received shall alBo be deducted.The case promises to be • a very, interesting one.
Newspaper Details
Atlantic Daily Telegraph
Atlantic, Iowa, US
Sat, Dec 10, 1910
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Patricia G.
NA, 03 Dec 2018
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