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'ORPHANS s SEEKS ACTION(Continued from page I)milled items to Smouse and , Bessie at the farm in Saltillo, f Objection .Sustainedj Edith Nycum was sustained in d an objection to this line of ques-i 'tioning by Judge Klepser, she Jclaiming that the testimony had I' nothing to do with the Smouse marriage. The witnes said that he knew that Bessie paid some of the f' feed bills, also that she had ' brought grain to a mill at Trough r Creek, in Huntingdon County, h Crotsley said that he had never known at the time that there had been a mill operating in Trough ,( Creek He told of frequent trips ■, to the Smouse farm to deliver0 fp«*d _1 Samuel J. Hashers. 82, of Three i Springs. Huntingdon County, saidthat he had resided in the area since 1808 and knew both Smouse , and his late wife. He also had . heard of a divorce and remarriage The witness said that he j also operated a mill until his retirement in 1841 He said that on . the occasion when he dealt with Smouse and his wife the bills were always paid by Smouse.1 The witness said that he also jhad known Ann Smith for ap** proximately five years, but only las Smouses housekeeper. He recalled that while he was a di* [rector of the Three Springs Bank, .Smouse was a school director.Ij Knows Nothing of Bonds!'» Questioned by Edith Nycum as to the present whereabouts of three bonds which were not otherwise identified, the witness said that he knew nothing of tl e ’Ibonds. Reminiscing, he repeated that he had operated a mill to !84l and that Bessie ordered feed . on occasion. He said, too, that he I knew nothing of Smou-.e reported-flly going back to Baltimore.-j The witness said that he was in .Imilitary service from 1941 to 1951 ['and he recalled having seen Ann ,Smith at the Smouse home.. Lena Nycum recalled being with Jher sister. Edith, to the farm in I Saltillo on Mav JO. 1853. and that j Smouse brought in the girl. Ann I j Smith, and announced that she . was going to stay. She said that the Smith woman moved in with ' both a dog and a television set |and that her sister. Bessie, was ; crying and threatened to sue . Smouse for bigamyLena Nycum said that on the occasion in 1953 she shared a* bed with Ann Smith and that the , latter told her that Smouse had . brought her to the farm in order r to “care for the old ladv Sherecalled that on June 2, 1933, she, Edith and Bessie, went to the office of a Huntingdon attorney and p that Smouse and Ann Smith had* left that same day for Baltimore. p She said that the next time she- saw Ann Smith was at the Smouse 1 home in Baltimore.Offer Sister Home i| She quoted Ann Smith at the- time as saying she had learned .{that Smouse was still married to- Bessie. Lena Nycum related that- when she learned in 1956 that , j Smouse hud moved bac k into Ij Bessie's home with Ann Smith.she and Edith went to the farm and assured their sister Bessie that she could come to Altoona* with them and be assured a* home.I Lena Nycum asserted that she ’ was present when Bessie signed ■ her will, the other witnesses* being John Bruner and Bertha* Stevenson, who witnessed the will. While on the stand this morning and under direct questioning by Edith Nycum. Lena* stoutly insisted that Bessie never I had indulged in alcoholic liquoisas had been implied in earlier J. testimony in the case r She claimed that after Bessie ; had left the farm to go to Edith Nycum's home Smouse visited J her only once and never called i during her final illness. She said that when Bessie became home-' sick for the farm she and her , sister took her back to Saltillo 11on Easter 1959. but that Smouse never spoke to his wife., Wanted to Sell FarmShe recalled, however, that several years after Bessie had gone r to her sister’s home in Altoona, Smouse contacted her and mdi-(ated a desire to sell the farm in Saltillo. Lena said she had first heard of Ann Smith when she learned that the woman was living at the farmhouse. Smouse, she recalled, claimed that the new stove in the farmhouse was owned by Mildred Smith, sister of Ann.The witness reviewed the period following Bessie Smouse's fracture of a hip and her hospitalization in 1961 when the sister was bedfast for a time but learned to use a walker around the home. Lena said that in 1956 her late sister handed the will to two witnesses. Bruner and Bertha Stevenson, and requested them to sign it, commenting that it was a good time “for me to make a will.”When Atty. Lower objected to the statement, Edith Nycum asserted that she was not attempting to prove the validity of the will so much as to show that Smouse lacks any right to contest the validity of the instrument.Lena identified herself as the tvpist of a letter in 1959 in which Edith invited Bessie to come to Altoona, this being prior to the occasion on which Smouse filed a habeas corpus proceeding in county court to have her returned to his care at Saltillo.
Newspaper Details
Altoona Mirror
Altoona, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, Mar 02, 1965
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
John F.
NA, NA 16 Jan 2025
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