Ancient, Curious, and Famous WillsHarris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
History
Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills
Harris, Virgil M. (Virgil McClure)
Wills
An English gentleman, who had from his earliest years been educated with
the most violent prejudices against the Irish, came, when advanced in
life, to inherit a considerable property in the county of Tipperary, but
under the express condition that he should reside on the land. To this
decree he very reluctantly conformed, but his feelings towards the
natives only grew more bitter in consequence.
At his death some years after, on the 17th of March, 1791, his executors
were extremely surprised on opening his will to find the following
dispositions:
“I give and bequeath the annual sum of ten pounds, to be paid in
perpetuity out of my estate, to the following purpose. It is my will and
pleasure that this sum shall be spent in the purchase of a certain
quantity of the liquor vulgarly called whisky, and it shall be publicly
given out that a certain number of persons, Irish only, not to exceed
twenty, who may choose to assemble in the cemetery in which I shall be
interred, on the anniversary of my death, shall have the same
distributed to them. Further, it is my desire that each shall receive it
by half-a-pint at a time till the whole is consumed, each being likewise
provided with a stout oaken stick and a knife, and that they shall drink
it all on the spot. Knowing what I know of the Irish character, my
conviction is, that with these materials given, they will not fail to
destroy each other, and when in the course of time the race comes to be
exterminated, this neighbourhood at least may, perhaps, be colonized by
civilized and respectable Englishmen.”
MUST WAIT ONE HUNDRED YEARS
A very curious will was that of a Polish landlord, M. Zalesky, who died
in 1889, leaving property valued at one hundred thousand roubles. His
will was enclosed in an envelope bearing the words: “To be opened after
my death.” Inside there was another envelope, “To be opened six weeks
after my death.” When this time had passed, the second envelope was
opened, and a third uncovered, “To be opened one year after my death.”
At the end of the year, a fourth envelope was discovered, to be opened
two years after the testator’s death; and so the game went on until
1894, when the actual will was discovered and read. The contents of this
will were quite as eccentric as the directions attached to its opening.
The testator bequeathed half his fortune to such of his heirs as had the
largest number of children. The rest of the property was to be placed in
bank, and a hundred years after his death to be divided, with the
accumulated interest, among the will-maker’s descendants.
WILL OF AN IRISH MISER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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