Spurr v. Spurr

• Decision Date: 02 December 1920
• Docket Number: No. 21157.,21157.
• Citation: 226 S.W. 35,285 Mo. 163
• Parties: SPURR et al. v. SPURR et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

226 S.W. 35

285 Mo. 163

SPURR et al. v. SPURR et al.

No. 21157.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

December 2, 1920.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; George H. Shields, Judge.

Proceedings by Charles Spurr and another to contest will of Arthur E. Spurr, deceased, against George Spurr and others. Judgment for contestants, and defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.

Henry W. Blodgett, George B. Webster, and Walter N. Fisher, all of St. Louis, for appellants.

Edward A. Knapp, of St. Paul, Minn., and Robert C. Grier and James F. Hudson, both of St. Louis, for respondents.

RAGLAND, C.

Arthur E. Spurr, a resident of the city of St. Louis, died January 29, 1916. On February 7, 1916, a writing purporting to be his last will and testament was admitted to probate by the probate court of the city of St. Louis. This proceeding, which is one to contest the validity of the will under the statute, was commenced March 1, 1917.

The evidence, as preserved in the bill of exceptions, covers more than 900 printed pages. We shall, therefore, merely outline the salient facts disclosed by it, and add such matters of detail as seem necessary for an understanding of the questions presented for determination. Thomas v. Thomas, 186 S. W. 993, 994.

Arthur E. Spurr was never married. He left surviving him the following collateral heirs: His brothers, George and Charles, and his sister, Lucy Ann Estes, all of whom lived in St. Paul, Minn.; his nephew and niece, Harry and Lydia Spurr, children of a deceased brother; and his nephew and nieces, Sam Jackson, Annie Burkhead, and Lillian Chappel, children of a deceased sister. These nephews and nieces all lived in England. All of these heirs were named in the will as devisees or legatees. In addition to these, two others were named as legatees, Tom Spurr and William Jackson, children, respectively, of the deceased brother and the deceased sister. They were living at the time the will was written, but predeceased the testator. They were named as defendants in the petition and included in an order of publication, but before the trial an affidavit of one of the defendants was filed in which it was stated that both Tom Spurr and William Jackson died prior to the death of their uncle, Arthur E. Spurr. No proof was offered at any stage of the proceeding as to whether either left lineal descendants. Such lineal descendants, if any, were not made parties nor notified of the proceeding in any way.

In addition to the collateral heirs just mentioned, others were named in the will either as beneficiaries, or as being specifically excluded from any participation in the testator's estate. These were Martha Stone, Fred, Henry, Frank, and Jane Spurr, children of George Spurr; Eddie Estes and Susan George, children of Lucy Ann Estes; John Spurr, Sarah Cleaveland, Harry Spurr, Eva, Galloway, and Arthur Spurr, children of Charles Spurr; and Louis A. Morse, a business associate and the fiance of Jane Spurr. The testator's estate was valued at about $50,000. The will was executed December 17, 1912, and George Spurr, his daughter, Jane, and Morse are the principal beneficiaries. George and Jane Spurr were each given a legacy of $5,000 and they were made the residuary legatees. In addition, Jane was given a diamond ring and locket. Morse, in addition to specific legacies of a gold watch and 25 shares of stock in the Morse-Spurr Wool Scouring Company, of the par value of $2,500, was devised an undivided half interest in 160 acres of land in Washington county. Fred Spurr was given a legacy of $2,000, and the remaining children of George Spurr (those other than Jane and Fred) were given $1,000 each, as were the children of both the deceased brother and the deceased sister. Charles Spurr and Lucy Ann Estes were each bequeathed the nominal sum of $10. The will further provides that the children of Charles and Jane, designating them by name, shall receive nothing from the testator's estate. Fred Spurr and Morse were named executors without bond.

Charles Spurr and Lucy Ann Estes are the contestants. They attack the alleged will on the general grounds of want of testamentary capacity and fraud and undue influence. Under the first head the petition specifically alleges: (1) That for some time prior to the execution of the will and thereafter to the date of his death the testator suffered great physical pain from cancer of the stomach and other diseases, which ultimately resulted in his death, and that such diseases and pain brought about a general physical and mental impairment, and produced exaggerated mental impressions and delusions; and (2) that at the time of the making of the will he was suffering from alcoholic dementia. Under the second it is charged: (1) That at the time of the execution of the will, and prior thereto, the testator had become so weak and infirm in mind and body that he was unable to attend to his affairs, that Louis A. Morse acted as his agent in and about his business, advised and guided him therein, and that he thereby acquired an undue influence over him; and (2) that Morse, George Spurr, and the latter's children, including Jane, fraudulently conspired to induce the testator to make a will leaving the greater part of his property to them, by poisoning his mind and creating false impressions therein; that pursuant thereto they made false statements to the testator, and to others for his benefit, to the effect that plaintiffs had no love or affection for him and were ungrateful to him, that Lucy Ann Estes caused the death of their mother, that she complained of having had to take care of him when sick and of the trouble and annoyance caused her thereby, that she had refused to visit him during a later illness and had otherwise mistreated him, and that she had expressed the hope that he would soon die, so that she could get his money; that these false statements were made and procured by the alleged conspirators for the sole purpose of deceiving the testator; that they did deceive him, and that, acting and relying upon them, he was induced to make, and did make, the instrument purporting to be his will. The petition further charges "that said instrument was the result of the weak, unsound mind of said Arthur E. Spurr, unduly controlled by the fraud, undue influence, and overpersuasion "of the last-named defendants and each of them."

Arthur E. Spurr was about 60 years of age at the time of his death. He was born in England, but came to this country when a young man. He first engaged in farming in Minnesota. From the record here we next find him, in 1891, in the employ of the Morse Wool Scouring Company in St. Louis. He soon acquired some stock in the concern, and later became its treasurer. For a number o years before his death he was the dominant force in the management of the company's business. Prior to some time in 1906 he had boarded with the family of Mrs. Carrie Schuster. At that time he left, but returned in the latter part of 1911. Thereafter he continued at Mrs. Schuster's until the marriage of Morse and Jane Spurr in 1915. He then made his home with them until his death. After 1904 it was his custom to spend every summer from July to October with his relatives in St. Paul. During that period he made several trips to his old home in England.

Spurr seems to have been a man of great physical vigor until about 1910, when he began to suffer from violent headaches and from what he thought was indigestion. Early in 1911 he underwent a surgical operation at Rochester, Minn. His ailment was the result of a cancerous growth in the stomach. After the operation his health temporarily improved and he continued in active business. In December, 1911, he again went to England. He returned from there the following April or May, suffering from his old trouble, very emaciated, sick, and despondent. He went to St. Paul, going first to the home of his brother, George, after remaining there a few days, at the solicitation of his sister Mrs. Estes he went to her home. During his stay there she prepared food especially for him, rubbed him with alcohol, made hot applications for him, and otherwise nursed and ministered to him. Jane Spurr, her niece, visited him every day. At the end of two weeks he went back to George Spurr's, and remained there until he went to Rochester for a second operation, which was performed some time in August. After the operation he returned to George Spurr's and remained there, Jane nursing him, until October, when he went back to St. Louis. At that time (October, 1912) he was greatly improved in health and spirits. December 17th following he executed the instrument purporting to be his will.

The evidence further shows that deceased was endowed with a strong, active mind, and there is no question of its continued vigor up to the time his health began to fail, about 1910. Even after that there were no symptoms of a mental breakdown. In a general way it is disclosed that during the greater parts of the years 1911 and 1912, particularly, he suffered pain and physical discomforts of a trying character; that he was disturbed mentally by the recurring thought that his malady was probably incurable; that he was blue and discouraged; that he was irritable and impatient and flew into a rage if crossed; and that, because of his natural disposition to want to dominate, he was a difficult patient for his physicians to control. Plaintiffs' witnesses testified to several episodes as having occurred at intervals from 1906 to 1912, in which were displayed peculiar, eccentric, and sometimes violent conduct on the part of Spurr, but neither this nor the testimony as a whole constitute I substantial evidence of the slightest mental impairment, much less want of testamentary capacity. There is no evidence of a condition remotely approaching that of alcoholic dementia.

The evidence gives the distinct impression that Spurr bad a forceful personality and was imperious in...