WINDFALL FOR STATE

The supreme court today took a hand in the Colbert will case at the instance of Assistant Attorney General Harry R. Moore. An alternative writ of mandate was issued ordering Judge Harney, of the district court of Silver Bow, to appear April 19 and show cause why a peremptory writ should not be issued ordering him to hear the attorney general's objections to the probate of the alleged will. The attorney general asks to be allowed to appear as party contestant and wishes to have his objections reinstated on the files.

In his affidavit, the attorney general alleges that John Woolbeater had petitioned for the probate of the will, and afterward for letters of administration, with the will annexed. He filed objections April 3, alleging that the alleged will was not the last will and testament of Colbert, as Colbert was not mentally and physically capacitated to make a will; that Colbert was acting under fraud, duress and undue influence of William I. Lippincott and John Woolbeater, legatees under the will; that the alleged will was never signed, sealed, published or declared by Colbert; that Colbert died intestate, having no heirs or collateral relatives in Montana, or as far as known, at all.

It is then related that the case was set for hearing April 9, when Woolbeater moved to strike out the objections of the state on the ground that the state had not such beneficial nor any other interest in the matter as would enable it to contest the matter, and the motion was sustained. He says the district court threatens to, and will unless ordered otherwise by the supreme court, hear the petition for probate, ignoring the objections of the state and depriving it of any rights it may have; that there is no plain, adequate and speedy remedy; and that the rights of the state will be prejudiced and totally destroyed if it is compelled to await the ordinary course of appeal.

The affidavit filed in the district court goes into particulars as to the alleged fraud. It alleges that on February 11, the date of the alleged will, Colbert was incapacitated by physical debility, old age, infirmity and unsoundness of mind to dispose of the property; that his signature is a forgery, and was made at the suggestion of Woolbeater and Lippincott; that the signatures of Edward Wegner and E. Hafronter as witnesses were obtained by bribery, namely, promises of money and participation in the distribution of the estate; that the will was not executed until after the death of Colbert; that Woolbeater and Lippincott conspired long prior to Colbert's death to become beneficiaries of the will by undue influence, and connived to obtain possession of the estate by fraud; that Colbert died intestate on or about February 11, leaving property worth about $39,090. The state therefore asked that the will be declared a forgery and the estate held in trust for it pending distribution.

The case of Edward McCall, charged with marrying Mabel Hancock, knowing her to be the wife of another, went to the jury at noon, having occupied yesterday and this morning in Judge Smith's department of the district court. He admitted that the woman had been married before, but denied having had knowledge of the fact until after he had married her. His marriage took place February 26, and the state put in evidence against him a letter dated that day addressed to Hancock urging him to take his wife home; also a letter from the woman, dated Billings, but postmarked Livingston, declaring that they must be strangers thereafter, as Hancock preferred his mother to her. Hancock told how he had married the girl at Butte last May, but she did not agree with his mother, so he sent her to Helena until he could provide a separate home. When he received a letter from McCall that she was sick, he came to Helena, and learned from Mrs. Caulfield, where she and McCall had been boarding, that they were married. Mrs. Caulfield and several other women gave evidence to prove McCall's knowledge of Mabel's previous marriage.

Mabel Hancock herself testified against him, saying that he had written a letter to Hancock in her presence, and that she had told him of her previous marriage and had shown him a picture of the couple together; also that she wrote a letter from Billings at his dictation. McCall testified that he knew nothing of the girl's marriage to Hancock until he had married her, and denied the authorship of the letter to Hancock. His witnesses testified that the letter had been written by other boarders at Caulfield's, who were rivals for the girl's affections, but most of this evidence was shut out, and McCall's handwriting was proved by comparison with other letters admittedly his.

N. W. Hanson, a crazy tailor, who ap— )

N. W. Hanson, a crazy tailor, who appeared before Judge Clancy this morning, was, on motion of District Attorney Nolan, ordered to be examined by a commission as to his sanity.