“BEN THE MISER.”

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9424, 21 April 1909, Page 8

“BEN THE MISER.”

A WILL ROMANCE. The English claimants to the £300,000 fortune left by an old American miser named Ben Hadley (or Radley) at East Somerville, Boston, U.S.A., who died on December 16th, 1907, at the age of 91, have failed to establish their claims before the Ameiioan Probate Court at Cambridge, U.S.A. The judge rejected two of the English wills produced by claimants, from Trowbridge on the ground of tha witnesses’ similarity of signatures. The money of old Benjamin Hadley, or, as he was known throughout the States, “Uncle Ben theMiser,’’ was accumulated in the march ot progress in the States. In his young days he purchased land at prairie prices outside Boston. As that cultured centre developed he sold at fancy prices; but he was one of the most notorious misers in America. The money has caused endless litigation, and now that the two English wills have been rejected, three nephews are continuing the fight on the ground of tindne influence, and a large part of the £200,000 will be absorbed in legal expenses. Tha English Wills cropped up among a sheaf of mysterious documents which poured into Boston, after the old man’s death, from many of tha States of the American Union and the European countries. An American attorney had drawn op a will from “Uncle Ben’s” instructions early in 1907. It divided the • property among the three nephews, who are now carrying on the dispute. Among claims advanced were two from an English family, for whom 'Mr O. J. Jones, a solicitor, of Trowbridge, was acting. There was a will and codicils bequeathing £SOOO sterling to Mr Charles Jones, solicitor, of England, as executor; -5000 guineas each to six of the children of John Fisher, ot Trowbridge, the testator’s next of kin, aud £IIO,OOO to Mrs Elizabeth Mooie, widow, of Trowbridge, described as his adopted daughter. The latter lady is the Wife of Dr. Ruckley, in practice near Trowbridge. This will - was attested by only two witnesses. The Massachusetts law requires three signatures. Another will, dated August, 1907, was produced, signed by Benjamin Hadley, bis mark, and attested by four witnesses. It varied the terms, but the beneficiaries were tha same. All these documents were received by Mr Jones, solicitor, of Trowbridge. He took tha first will to Boston in person, aud forwarded the second. He relates how they came into his hards. The first will, together with a catting from a Loudon newspaper, reached him by post at his office at Trowbridge on December 24th, 1907. There was no letter, but the envelope "bore the Trowbridge postmark, A number of other documents arrived anonymously through the (l post, aud some were found on Dr. Ruckley’s doorstep, all during the daytime. They were not addressed, as a role; soma were tied up with string and sealed. The document sent to Mr Jones, apparently by Hadley, did not reach Trowbridge till after “Old Ben’s” death. In the probate action at Cambridge, U.S.A., in which the beneficiaries under the American will sought permission to show that the second English will was a forgery, a mason named Francis Skrine, who declared himself to be an old companion of Hadley, came forward and said he had sent legal documents by post to Mr Charles J. Jones, of Trowridge, who was named as sole executor under one of the wills.