To the Devil
There is perhaps no sentiment, grateful or spiteful, or any phase of humor, good or bad, which has not been illustrated in testamentary documents.
Probably the legatee who stood the least chance of realizing was the Devil; an attempt was made to make him a land owner in Finland: a few years ago, a queer old native of that country devised all his property to the Devil without attempting to establish the identity of the devisee. The Devil’s claim was disregarded and the property went to the heirs of the testator. It was suggested by one writer that doubtless the testator desired to make a good impression on his Satanic Majesty with a view to conciliating him; another writer suggests that even the name of the Devil in a will is better than none, such omissions being frequently found in wills.
Devise to an Idol
Within recent years, the Judiciary Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain was called upon to pass on the validity of a testamentary devise made four hundred years prior to that time by a resident of India, conveying by will certain lands to the use of an idol, and, strange to say, this gift was sustained.
Mr. Justice Riddell, of the Supreme Court of Canada, recently called attention to this remarkable devise, in an address before the State Bar Association of Missouri.
It appears that one of the descendants of the original testator, after the lapse of four centuries, by a subsequent will, attempted to devise the same property which was formerly conveyed to the use of the idol. The Privy Council upheld the original gift, and the lands are still devoted to the use of the idol.
The Lost Dauphin
It is said the Duchesse d’Angoulême, sister of the “Lost Dauphin,” was a cold-hearted woman who preferred the prospect of a throne to the calls of family affection. She died childless and in exile at Prague in 1845.
There is a story that on her deathbed she called to her side General la Rochejacquelein and whispered: