A STRANGE STORY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume I, Issue 4, 4 October 1879, Page 3

A STRANGE STORY.

A remarkable will case which came before Sir James Hannon recently has been compromised! - The inquiry affected seriously the honor and reputation of more than one person; and the validity of no fewer than three wills and several codicils, made by a young Welsh squire, Mr. John Davies Lloyd, of Alltyrodyn, in Cardiganshire, in favour of Mr. Allen, his solicitor, was in dispute. Mr. Lloyd was the representative of an ancient family which had time out of mind lived at Alltyrodyn, or near it, in Cardiganshire. But the old blood had received plebeian mixture. There had been a succession of misalliances in the family. The grandmother of the testator married a servant at a hotel, and left him a life interest in the property. The only child bora of this marriage took to wife the daughter of a publican near Woolwich. The testator, who was born of this union, married a ballet-dancer at the Alhambra. Whether it was the plebeian or the old Lloyd blood which worked too fiercely within his veins, ho was hottempered, impetuous, and wild, and his education and circumstances were not such as to teach him self-control. His father died when he was only two years of ago; his mother married again, and he found himself at twenty-one his own master, without councillors, and in possession of estates yielding a rental of £3OOO to £4OOO. He drank hard; and exposure and excesses quickly ruined his vigorous constitution. Ho was recklessly extravagant, spending in one year £44,477. He purchased six acres of diamond diggings in Africa, spent £755 a year on tobacco, hired a negro melodist to instruct him in the banjo at a cost of £l2O, and, on the strength of his accomplishments, proposed to become a member of Parliament. In the course of a suit in Chancery he became acquainted with Mr. Allen, who was at first a managing clerk and afterwards a partner of a firm of solicitors in Bedford Row. Shortly after Mr Lloyd came of age he made a will, bequeathing all his personal estate to Miss Crbwhurst, who became his wife, and devising the whole of his real estate to his half-uncles, who, as it happened, were rather younger than ho. This will made Mr. Allen executor, and left him an annuity of £SOOO. About a year later Mr. Lloyd made a second will, by which his friend’s legacy was increased to £IO,OOO. From time to time ho added codicils, and one of these increased Mr. Allen’s legacy by another £IO,OOO, making £20,000 in all. A third will was executed shortly before Mr. Lloyd’s death, and by this all the estates were left to the testator’s children, with remainder in fee to Mr. Allen. The testator also bequeathed to Mr. Allen a legacy of £25,000, subject to the obligation of paying his debts. All that his sister was to receive was an annuity of £300; and this was ultimately revoked by a codicil. It was this will which was in dispute. The terms agreed upon were these—the name of Mr. Allen was to be struck out of the will of February, 1873, and, there having been a revocation of all the previous wills, he woidd take no part of and no interest in either the personal or real estate of the deceased. The estates would, therefore, remain in the family of the testator, and tne personal property would be divided according to their rights between the members of the family. As to costs, it was thought right that that burden should not be put upon Mr. Allen, and a sum of £SOOO would be allowed him to be applied by him to that purpose.