A FORTUNE ON A SHIRT CUFF.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 163, 7 April 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

A FORTUNE ON A SHIRT CUFF.

WILLS INSCRIBED OX CURIOUS ARTICLES

Never before have .so many men of property been lighting in the ranks of the British Army as in the present war, and on.' of the probable results will be that wills inscribed on all .sorts ot strange objects may be filed'. The soldier is supposed to make his will before going on active service, and the majority of those forming the New Army are likciy to do so, but here and there will lie found some who ha\> put it off and put it off until it is almost too late.

In former war.s many a strange will has been admitted to probate; a will hast:iv scribbled 011 an odd bit of paper, the back of a letter or elsewhere, has boon found on a mortally wouded man. Dying bequests have been written on the old pipe-clayed belt. 011 a pirgaree. in the fly-leaf of a pocket Bible, ano on one occasion by means of a Martini bullet a testament was roughly scrawled on a cavalry man's glove. It has been said that a soldier lying (lying beneath a rock in Afghanistan 11 Lord Roberts' famous campaign, with his finger dipped in his own blood wrote on the stone: ''l want mother to have a'l." A Guardsman killed at Belmon 1 :, in the South African War. managed to iuscr.be a short will 011 his helmet, bullet being the pen. Another oriva '■ :n the same war made Ins will 011 an odd p'cec of brown paper, writing :n chalk. However, it is not only soldiers who leave makeshift wills in this manner. Legend says that a shipwrecked man wrote a will on a plank, while some wills t!rafted in ordinary circumstances have be.-n written on any odd s.rap. One was written on an old envelope torn open, while it is sa'd that Mr. H. ('. Richards, at one time M.P. for binsbury, used some House of Commons notepaper, a leitercard, and a bit of foreign notepaper. A lawyer sent for hurriedly by a fanner living in the wilds forgot to take

jr.r>y paper, and a hasty search revealed nothing suitable in the house. Time was pre.-s'iig, and the dying man dictated It's will, which was written m cha'k on the hearthstone, the testator being lifted out of lied to append a signature. In another case the paper wa. there hut tlie only ink hottle was dry and a pencil was not forthcoming. Fortunately a child's slate ' were discovered, and the dying man signed Irs will, one revoking former heouests to relatives.

A miner hi far Yukon found himself dying, and anxious to leave h.s claim, which was a fairly rich one, to his lreees write his will 011 a piece of birch bark in lieu of paper. A companion said: "We had 110 paper, and so the sick man wrote his will on a piece of bark, and a friend and I signed as witrossos.'' Novel reac.crs know Rider Haggard's story of ".\lr. .Meeson's \> ill,'' tattooed on a woman's back. All eccentric reclus? living in .Mexico adopted a very similar device. Ho tattooed h's will across his cnest in some red pigment, and the authorities had it. cop ed and duly at-te-tec! before witnesses before the body was buried. .More romantic than any of these cases was that of a will leaving a fortune of L'2O.'HJO to an Hungarian girl who served in a oootmaker's shop. A bachelor customer who frequented the shop one day toil. 1 the girl ho was going to leave her all his property. Not believing his tale of wealth, as lie d'd not appear to be rich, she only laughed. However, he said, "'I really mean it ; and unfastening his links, h c placed his cut! 011 the counter and wrote a v. ill with a fountain pen. Calling two apprentices to sign as witnesses, he left the shop, the girl and i or companions thinking it a good joke. But shortly alter leaving he was knocked down by a motor while crossing the road, and a few day» later the. lr.iazed shop-gin learnt she was an heiress in a sii.all way. A man suffering from illness in Lancashire took ~01110 narcotic poison while visiting his daughter's house. He was found'dead on a sofa with a will writ ten on his shin front with the message "1 can stand this no longer. Goodbye,'' while a Lincoln-hire labourer wrote hi- "will'' ill chalk on a manger near which he hanged himself. A Belgian filicide scratched his dying testament with a nail on a sheet of rusty iron. . Then an ohl lady m America, v, :h an e.-tate worth thought a a eKI hit of w rapping paper good enough tor a w.il. but more remarkable still was anoth r suddenly struck dunilr wiio made Icr will w:th a pack of cards. Her lawyer wrote on -mall pieces of card the names of her friends anc.' relative- and the items of her property. These she arranged according to liei bequests, and the will was duly drawn 1;i) and signed.