Roe v. Mason Taylor.

• Decision Date: 30 September 1867
• Citation: 45 Ill. 485,1867 WL 5315
• Parties: JOHN ROE et al.v.MASON TAYLOR.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

45 Ill. 485

1867 WL 5315 (Ill.)

JOHN ROE et al.

v.MASON TAYLOR.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1867.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Ogle county; the Hon. WILLIAM W. HEATON, Judge, presiding.

The opinion fully presents the case.

Messrs. EDSALL & CRABTREE, for the appellants.

Mr. JOHN V. EUSTACE, for the appellee. Mr. CHIEF JUSTICE BREESE delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was a bill in chancery, exhibited in the Circuit Court of Ogle county, by Mason Taylor, against John Roe and others, claiming to be the devisees of George Taylor, deceased, under his last will and testament. The object of the bill was to set aside this will, on the allegation, that, at the time of its execution, the testator was partially insane and subject to delusions as to the characters, motives and actions of his relatives and friends, and unfavorable to them, and that he was subject to be easily and unduly influenced against his relatives and friends, and particularly against the complainant, who was one of his children. The bill charges that Bolivar Roe, the father of the devisees so named, seeking to obtain an advantage thereby to his children mentioned in the will as the children of Eleanor Roe, and the grandchildren of the testator, stimulated and encouraged this delusion in the mind of the testator, and did, before the making of the will, and while the testator was so mentally prostrated, exercise an undue influence over him for the purpose of prejudicing his mind against his other relatives and heirs, and particularly against the complainant and his family, and by this undue influence did procure the testator to execute the will in question. The bill expressly charges, that, at the time the will purports to have been made, the testator was not of sound mind, and was incapable of making any valid devise of his property, and that the paper admitted to probate as the last will of George Taylor was not his last will.

The prayer of the bill is, that defendants be required to answer without oath, and that the court direct an issue to be made up, whether the same is the will of George Taylor or not, and if the same is found not to be his will, that the probate of the same be annulled, canceled and set aside, and that the paper writing so admitted to probate be declared not to be a will, and that it be canceled and annulled.

All of the defendants, except Samuel Taylor and Bolivar Roe, being minors, a guardian ad litem was duly appointed for them, who answer the bill.

Bolivar Roe filed his answer, denying all the material allegations as to himself, and disclaims all right and interest in the estate. It does not appear, that Samuel Taylor put in any answer, or that any proceedings were had as against him.

A replication being filed to the answer, the court directed a jury to be impaneled to try the issue, whether the writing produced be the will of George Taylor, deceased, or not, and a verdict was returned that the paper given in evidence is not the will of George Taylor.

A motion for a new trial was overruled and exceptions taken, and thereupon the court decreed, that the paper writing so admitted to probate, was not the will of George Taylor, and that the same was void and of no effect, as such will.

To reverse this decree the defendants, John Roe, Eleanor Roe, Martha Roe, George Roe, Mary Frances Roe and G. Bolivar Roe, bring the record to this court by appeal, and have assigned various errors, the most important of which will be considered.

It appears, from the bill of exceptions, that quite a volume of testimony was taken in the cause, bearing more or less on the question of the soundness of mind of the testator at the time, and prior to the execution of the will in question. The controversy, however, is drawn down to the point of undue influence exercised by Bolivar Roe over the testator, and to the fact of an insane delusion under which the testator was laboring at the time the will was executed, of which his son, the complainant, was the object and the victim.

The first point made by appellants is, that the verdict was against the evidence.

This point is not discussed by them, and we shall spend no time upon it, any further than remarking, it seemed to satisfy the judge trying the cause, and he was in a better position than is this court to pronounce upon the evidence. While we do not think it of the most satisfactory character, we cannot say it is wholly insufficient to sustain the verdict.

The next point made is, that the court rejected competent evidence offered by the appellants.

This evidence consisted of a previous will made by the testator, on the 12th of September, 1860, which he had canceled by drawing a black line over his signature. The object of its introduction was to disprove by it the charge of undue influence, as it showed by its provisions that these appellants and their deceased mother, then living, were at that time favorably regarded by the testator, there being devised $1,000 to the mother over and above an equal interest in the estate with her two brothers, the complainant, and Samuel Taylor. The will in question was executed on the 25th of July, 1864, by which there was bequeathed to complainant $50 only, Samuel Taylor $100, the children of Samuel and Eleanor Roe each $100, and all the residue of the estate was to be divided equally among the children of Samuel and Eleanor.

When we consider the point being investigated when this canceled paper was offered, it will be perceived that it had no bearing upon it, the testamentary dispositions made by it being so variant from those made by the will in question. Had the rejected paper shown an approximation in its provisions, to those of the will in contest, it might have furnished some evidence to rebut the idea of undue influence having been exercised to procure the execution of the last will. But did it furnish any evidence to disrobe the last will of the charge, that it was made under an insane delusion toward the complainant, by which he and his children were cut off from any participation in the estate, save the bequest of $50? We think not, and are of opinion the court properly rejected the...