SOME CURIOUS WILLS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2252, 14 October 1889, Page 2

SOME CURIOUS WILLS

Modern Instances of testamentary eoceotriolty abound, and iha Uoltod Siatea m p»rtioul« seems to be prolific of aarioua wllln. writes S dney Soropu In " Oiio« a Week " Seme llttli time «lnoe Mr Solomon ttknborn, of Medfo d, Mill. left hU body to tha late Prof. Agaaaz and Dr 0 W, Holraei, to be prepared by them In the most aolent 60 manner known to anatumloal art, and placed In the mnaenm of Harvard College. Two drum* heads were made of the akin. Upon oue was to be iuaorlbed Alexander Popu'a 11 Uulvers*! Prayer," oo the other the " DeoUratlon of In dependence ;'' and then they were to bo presented to the testator's «* dist;ngalahod friend," th« drammor of Oohanist. This presentation waa aabjeoi to the oandltlon that on the 17th of Jane, at eunrlao, every year, tho drammor should boat a pun the dinrn-hea-ia nt the foot of Bunker's Hill (he aplrit-Btlinug atralus of "Yaukeo Doodle "

Anothor American, who die:) within tha last foir months, by way of roV3nge on hla rolatlona, who hud nogleotod him, bequeathed to hla brother hia loft arm aad haud ; lo another brother his rlglu arm aud band, to anothor hla legs, nose, oats, oto Ho alao loft one inonaand Uollurj for tho diamembering of hia body. Among othor losutors who have dl«---played th'n peoallar tendency to lorvve iegkoiea m :ho ahapo of portions of their budiea may be mentioned Joromy Bomhuro, tho JKugllHh writer, who bequeathed hia body to the Utilvocslty College Hoaplt&l with Instructions tbit hia akoletoi should be prepared and olonnud, and thaIt should praaide at the meetings of the hospital directors. Whether ihln provision wai ever carried oat Is donbifal, bat It la oertaln that the skeleton was pronorved, and may be aeen to this day In the I O'pitul mnt«um

A wealthy German who died the othor dny btqnaa'hed hio offeote t) a poor mau whom he Kioitly disliked on ooudition tint he alwiiya wore linen andcr-olothes and dreaood m white, aud a short ilmo ago Btunislauß Poitmarz, a Bungurlan, left tho greater part of hie fortune to a notary named Lotz, forbidding him however, to take possession until he had tua^ at La Boala Opora House, the parts of Verdi's " Otello " and Elivira m " Honn»mbula ;" while John Read, the gas-lighter of the Wu'nut Stroot Theatre, Philadelphia, direoted that his heud, after being duly prepared, should be employed to repreuent the skull of Yoriok m " Hamlet."

Lord Nan borough, who died la November, 1888, dlreottid that, after a oe>tuin period elapies, his tody is to be exhnmed and telnterred ia Sardsey Island, which is reputed to havo no fewer than twenty .tb.oa.aand aainta burled m Us toil, and Mr John Browno, of Bathbano, Ooanty Limeriok, repaired that his ton, Revorend Peter Browne, should under penalty of forfeiting a considerable estate, ohango his Ohrlatlan name, "Peter," for either "William" or James, the old gentleman h»vtng taken an inveterate dislike to his sou's n*me, while a rioh aaddlec ordorod lo bin will that his daughter should lose the wbole of her fortune If she did not marry m oaddier. It famed oat, however, tb»t abe m»vrlod the Earl of Halifax, who, In oner to win the bride, aotaully eorvod »n apprentloeship of tevan yeara as n saddler.

Not long since a Mr Harper settled a hundred a year on bis " young bUok oat," the Interest to be paid to bis honaekoepor Mrs Hodgei, as long us tho oat remained alive; and quite reqontly an old dimo loft ftftoeu hnnc|red a year to hor butohor, whom she had never seen j while ono man ohalked hi* will on a o<unbin ; and anotbor imarlbed bis on a bed* post, Both tho eo'Q-bln and tho bod-post are filed In tho will office Ht Doctor's Oommonf, London. Tne whimeloal will of the Sooloh gentleman who bcqaeathod to eaoh of his danghtora her weight m one pound notes has often been quoted. More remarkable •till Is the will of the New Yorker who directed that his one and seventy pairs of trousers should be sold at public auotlon without being examined beforehand. The ■ale was actually held, an, d the seventy-one purohaiera found In t^io rlghthand popkat the neat Ijtlle, sum of a tho^iaud dollars In oneh,

Another poonllar/ legnqy was that of (Joloflol Naqn, j»n Jflogliab offloer, who bar quoathod on aunul»p of fifty poun.dfl to the boll-rlogero of Bath Abbey, oa condition that they should miiH) the oltppora of the bellß of tho Abboy, und ring them witU doleful accentuation from eight a. in. to eight p.m. on eaoh anniversary of bis wedding diy ; while a Mr Xjuko, of Rotberinffh»tn, after leaving a to ovory ohlld who ahoqld attend bis funeral, dlrooted that forty doqan loaves should be thrown down from the parish church stosple at noon every Chrhtmus day for oval*.