Seminary v. Morgan

• Decision Date: 14 February 1898
• Parties: GRAND PRAIRIE SEMINARY v. MORGAN et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

171 Ill. 444

49 N.E. 516

GRAND PRAIRIE SEMINARY

v.MORGAN et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 14, 1898.

Appeal from appellate court, Second district.

Bill by the Grand Prairie Seminary against Decatur Morgan and others. From a decree in favor of defendants, rendered in the appellate court (70 Ill. App. 575), directing the circuit court to dismiss complainant's bill, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Stevens, Horton & Abbott and Kay & Kay, for appellant.

R. W. Hilscher and A. F. Goodyear, for appellees.

CRAIG, J.

Legrande L. Wells, a citizen of Watseka, Ill., departed this life in 1883, leaving his last will and testament, which was duly probated in the county court of Iroquois county on October 20, 1883. Three executors and trustees were appointed by the will, who duly qualified, and are still acting as such. The will makes several bequests and devises, which have all been settled during the administration of the estate, and the only contention is as to the disposition of a fund of $30,000 provided for in the fifth clause of the will, and which has accumulated in the hands of the trustees. The bill was filed by the Grand Prairie Seminary, of Onarga, Ill., and makes the executors and trustees defendants. It prays for a construction of the will, and asks that the bequest for the purpose of erecting a school building upon lots in Watseka, Ill., be declared void for uncertainty, and that the trustees be decreed to turn over to complainant this fund of $30,000. A demurrer was filed to the bill in the circuit court, which was overruled, and, defendants abiding by their demurrer, a decree was entered in favor of complainant, according to the prayer of the bill; and the executors and trustees were directed to pay the fund over to the finance committee or trustees of the Grand Prairie Seminary, the complainant, to be invested in some safe security, to be known as the ‘Wells Fund,’ as by the will provided. An appeal was taken to the appellate court for the Second district, where the decree of the circuit court was reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to the circuit court to dismiss the bill. 70 Ill. App. 575. From the judgment of the appellate court the appellee in that court has appealed to this court, and asks for a reversal of the judgment of the appellate court.

The latter part of the fifth clause of the will is the only part in controversy, and is as follows: ‘I further direct that my trustees and their successors manage my estate until it has accumulated a fund of at least $30,000, after setting aside a sufficient sum to pay all specific legacies, debts, ect., which shall form a fund known as the ‘Wells Fund,’ and shall be used in the following manner, to wit: If the city of Watseka will donate a suitable lot for such purpose within thirty days after being notified by said trustees, said trustees shall cause a building to be erected on said lot for the purpose of educating boys, who reside in the state of Illinois, between the ages of twelve and eighteen years, and who are unable to educate themselves, which shall cost not exceeding $5,000; and the balance of my estate in the hands of my said trustees after the payment for said building shall be kept at interest, and the net income, except $10 per year set apart for the purpose of keeping my family burial lot in repairs, shall be used for the purpose of paying teachers employed in said school. And I further direct my said trustees that, in case the city of Watseka refuses or neglects for thirty days after being notified by the trustees that they are ready to carry out this provision in said will as to said school, then they shall pay the whole sum set apart for this purpose over to the finance committee or trustees of Onarga Seminary, located at Onarga, Illinois, the net income of which shall be used to carry on said seminary, and shall be known as the ‘Wells Fund.”

The allegations of the bill relied upon by appellant are substantially as follows: ‘Your orator shows unto your honors that said fund has now reached upwards of $30,000 in the hands of the trustees aforesaid, exclusive of all other specific legacies, and the time has come for the disposition thereof according to the terms of said will. Your orator has been informed and believes, and hence states, that within thirty days last past, and within thirty days after being notified by said trustees that said fund had reached $30,000, the city of Watseka has caused to be tendered to the trustees hereinbefore mentioned a deed for lot or lots situated in said city of Watseka; that said lots were purchased by the city of Watseka, and caused to be conveyed by the owners from whom it purchased, directly to the trustees aforesaid, and the said trustees have signified the acceptance of the lots so tendered as aforesaid; that the said city of Watseka has no power or authority, in law, to furnish any lots or lands whereon to erect a school of the character designated and referred to in said will, and that said trustees have no legal right, power, or authority to receive or accept said lots or expend any money in the erection of a building thereon, as in and by said will suggested; that it is the intention and purpose of the trustees aforesaid to set apart and expend the sum of $5,000 in the erection of a building upon the lots so tendered to them, as before said, by the city of Watseka.’ Charges that said trustees have no right, power, or authority, under or by virtue of said will, to expend any sum in the erection of a school building upon the lots so attempted to be donated to them by the city of Watseka; that they have no right, power, or authority to take the title to the lots in themselves, as trustees; that no person is designated by said will to hold the title to said lots, nor is any person designated in said will to manage and control the fund after the expenditure of $5,000 in the erection of a building; that it is not provided in and by said will that said fund shall remain in the hands of said trustees after the expenditure of said $5,000 in the erection of a building, nor is any disposition attempted to be made of the remaining portion of said fund; that the purpose of the remaining portion of said fund is to educate boys, who reside in the state of Illinois, between the ages of 12 and 18 years, who are unable to educate themselves. Avers that as soon as the said building is erected the offices of said trustees, and their connection with said fund, cease; that said will does not provide any person or party to determine what boys shall be educated in said building; that it does not provide that the said trustees, or any one else, shall have any power or control over the property; that it does not provide any person, party, or corporation to say what teachers shall be hired, or what their compensation shall be; that it does not provide any means for operating said school, except the use of the income in the payment of teachers; that it does not provide for the heating or repairing of the building, nor does it designate any tribunal, corporation, or person for that purpose; that it is wholly uncertain and indefinite, and cannot be utilized unless the court constructs the machinery, and makes, practically, a will for the testator. Avers, for the reasons aforesaid, and other reasons, that said bequest for the erection of a school building and the operation of a school, for the purpose as named, is so uncertain as not to be enforced or upheld, and that, to give it validity and force, the court would be compelled to appoint trustees, providing for a succession of the trust, and either divert the purposes expressed in the will for the use of the income to other purposes, or procure in some method the means to carry on the school referred to in said will, to keep the property in repair, to heat it and to operate it as a school, and also some proper trustees or tribunal who should decide just what boys in Illinois are ‘unable to educate themselves.’...