Temple University School of Law - Restatement Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 109 text:

Wills and Decedents Estates. I’pon being asked by counsel for the defense as to the nature of his lectures, he delineated as follows: “Ah, gentlemen! It is late September. Heavy-laden is the balmy air with the aroma of fragrant roses; roses nurtured by the chief gardener of the Pennington Estate. To our ears comes the soft music of bees busily buried in beautiful beds of blooming barberries. Through the casement windows streams the splendor of the afternoon’s golden sunshine, revealing to us, seated at his carved mahogany desk a perfect replica of a masterpiece of the Doges' Palace none other than Percival Pennington himself. Through the haze of the golden glow we perceive the decrepit form of a man bowed under the weight of a thousand meetings of the hoards of directors of six railroads, maybe seven, who knows! Lined with the furrows of care is his forehead, and crowned is he with the snows of seventy winters. On his desk, the rich colors of many bonds rival the radiant magnificence of the dancing sunbeams athwart the room, but his finely chiseled features are alight not because of these. Mark you, how tenderly and caressingly he clasps, in fingers now trembling, the delicately-tinted envelope which Arthur, one of his twelve butlers, has just brought him. As Pennington slowly opens the envelope, the delicious scent of Quelques Fleurs now fills the air. Hastily, the aged man adjusts his spectacles. His shoulders heave with the unrepressed sighs of which only the love-lorn are capable. Soon he presses a button under his desk. A young man, one of his many secretaries, appears, notebook in hand. “Henderson,” Mr. Pennington softly commands speaking now, not with the crisp terseness of Pennington. Chairman of the Hoard, blit in the gentle murmur of Pennington, the crooning lover, “take a telegram for Miss Saccharine Sweet, care of Florenz Ziegfeld, New York City: Darling, I and all that's mine. Here and hereafter are thine. Thou art my symphony. All else is cacophony. The message had barely reached its destination before Percival Pennington. overwhelmed bv bis emotions, had crossed the Divide which leads to that Great Beyond, from whose bourne no traveler returns.” Then MR. BOYLE, after a moment’s pause, continued, “I asked, ‘Gentlemen, did this constitute a will?’ MR. ABRAMSON thought it was a mortgage; MR. WHITE considered it a hold-up and MR. PHILLIPS said it was a disgrace. The concensus of opinion, however, seemed to be that the document constituted cogent evidence of the presence of a not-frequcntlv-encountered interblending of affluence, beauty, senile dementia and testamentary Cupid-ity. MR. BOYLE then left the stand. 00

Page 108 text:

And so we come to the third year of this alleged conspiracy to Study Law. On arriving at the rendezvous of the gang at 1521 Locust Street in the City of Philadelphia, the conspirators clasped hands just a little more firmly than the previous year, for they were all implicated just a little deeper in this gigantic swindle. The first witness to testify as to the progress of the attempt during the third year was one BERTRAM K. WOLFE, Esq., who admitted that besides being a freeholder and an owner of “rill estate,” he was quite a connoisseur of good cigars. MR. WOLFE was positive that the defendants had attempted to study law and that they knew the law. He said that he was positive of their knowledge of the Law of Partnership, because while expounding the subject he cited the leading case of the American Shirt Co. vs. The Shirt Company of America, and that one of the defendants, “CASEBOOK” BLANK, had given him the details of the case verbatim. He was equally if not more positive that the defendants had imbibed freely of the Law of Bailments and Carriers, since he had assigned the leading case in this subject, namely, the case of the American Shirt Company vs. The Shirt Company of America. The witness was surer than that of the knowledge of the defendants as regards the Law of Bankruptcy and Damages, since he had explained the leading case of the American Shirt Company vs. the Shirt Company of America. WILLIAM ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Esq., famed Benedict, was again sworn and testified that he had taught the defendants collectively, though not individually, the Law of Sales. On this law, he emphasized, they were completely “sold,” so much so, that after his lecture each of the defendants would seek a padded “sell.” ROY MARTIN BOYD, Esq., Professor of the Law of Corporations, crisply stated that he could hardly accuse the defendants of a bona fide attempt to study law, but acknowledged having lectured to them upon the subjects of de facto and de jure corporate bodies, corporate mortgages and even Corporations. Like MR. WILSON, MR. BOYD said he cited very few cases to the students, never having assigned more than eighty-seven for each principle. For the purpose of establishing the fact that those charged with the offense of Attempt to Study Law had also made a serious effort to absorb a working knowledge of the Law of Wills and Decedents Estates, the Commonwealth produced non other than ROBERT M. BOYLE, Esq., Solicitor to the Registrar of Wills, Philadelphia County. MR. BOYLE acknowledged the fact that, during the third year of the visitations of the defendants upon the Law School of Temple University, he had stirred their souls with his lectures upon the subjects of 98

Page 110 text:

Il was during this third year of the conspiracy that the defendants became somewhat disorganized if it were possible to become any more disorganized than they were. The conspirators tried at various times to elect a chief—but of such remarkable quality were all of their number that they could arrive at no decision. Finally, after casting ballots, some eighty-five or -six times, a genuine election was held. There were forty-seven candidates for election to the office of president. Sixty-five members of the clan voted. When the ballots were finally counted, the following was the result: “SQUIRE” TOAL, 102 votes; “RIP VAN WINKLE” KRAMER, 70 votes; GLORIA SWANSON. votes; “GIL” HUNTER. 52 votes and E. VARE, 49 votes. It was decided that inasmuch as “SQUIRE” TOAL'S supporters had been the most successful in stuffing the ballot box, that he should be awarded the presidency. This the SQUIRE modestly declined on two grounds: first, that his supporters had prepared their ballots two weeks before the election, thus making it too easy to stuff the ballot box; second, that Media was no place to pick a president from. Despite his declination, he was unofficially known as “Prez” for the third year. The Commonwealth then placed on the stand a gentleman who was dressed in a long black coat, white vest, long flowing tie done in a bow, knee boots and a large black felt hat. This gentleman, after being sworn, took a few pot-shots at the audience with one of his spare revolvers and said, “Mali name is STRONG, gentlemen, GAWGE V. STRONG, with offices in the Widenah Buildin .” MR. STRONG then testified that he was Professor in Constitutional Law and Acrobatics at the Temple Law School. He claimed that besides teaching the defendants of the various edicts of the “Soopreme Coat of O-ha-o,” he had taught them the use of the word “ubiquitous,” how to hang from a clothes-peg with one hand only, how to straddle the back of a chair without serious injury to the legs (of the chair), how to get small marks in examinations, and a few other tricks of cortortion that called for a combination of the talents of Houdini, Ivan Poddubnv and Pat Rooney. He was confident that they had learned their lessons well as regards the above. He added that in his spare time he had given them a few pointers on how to draw up a constitution and how to run a country with one. Among the latter were direct tax. indirect tax., inheritance tax, surtax, syntax, carpet tacks and attacks. THOMAS E. COMBER, JR., Esq., after being awakened by the tip-staff, took the stand with great alacrity. His sudden display of energy may be accounted for by the fact that this afforded him an opportunity to wreak his vengeance on one JOSEPH COMBER, his brother and one 100