Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1915 — GENERAL AND STATE NEWS [ARTICLE]

GENERAL AND STATE NEWS

Telegraphic Reports From Many Parts of the Country. SHORT BITS OF THE UNUSUAL Happenings in the Nearby Cities and Towns—Matters of Minor Mention From Many Places. WILL CASE MUST BE RETRIED. Petition for Rehearing on the Appeal Denied by Supreme Court. .The petition of the plaintiffs in the celebrated Jennie E. Caldwell will case, which was tried in the Benton county circuit court two years ago, has been overruled, and a re-trial of the case will be had. The petition of the plaintiffs asked for a rehearing on the ruling filed February 11, 1915, in which the judgment of the Benton circuit court was reversed. The plaintiffs sought to set aside the will of Jennie E. Caldwell, alleging that she was a person of unsound mind, and that she had been unduly influenced. She left an estate valued at nearly a million dollars, and in her will authorized that her home should be transformed into a home for homeless and friendless mothers and their babies. The trial proved quite sensational, and more than one hundred witnesses were examined. The hearing lasted seven weeks, And the jury returned two verdicts. The general verdict was in favor of the plaintiffs, and the special verdict found the decedent to be a person of sound mind. The defendants appealed on the ground of conflicting verdicts. The higher court held that the special verdict hound the jury, and that the general verdict was not sustained by sufficient evidence. It is thought that the second trial will be greatly expedited by the ruling of the higher court.