THE RURAL, 
NEW-YORKER 
1159 
Legal Questions 
Distribution of Property. 
A year ago a man living in Massa¬ 
chusetts died intestate, leaving a widow 
who was his second wife, three children 
by his first wife and one child by his 
second wife. The administrator has set¬ 
tled a part of the estate, giving one-third 
to the widow and dividing the two-thirds 
among the four children. A month ago 
the widow died. If she left no will, does 
this money which she received from her 
husband’s estate, go to her own child, or 
is it equally divided among the four chil¬ 
dren? Also, how will the remainder of 
this man’s estate be divided? Can the 
widow’s daughter claim the third that 
would have gone to her mother, or will 
it be equally divided among the four? 
Also, who would this daughter’s money 
go to upon her death, if she remained 
single? n. E. b. 
Jonnecticut. 
The property which the widow received 
from her husband’s estate will be divided 
equally among the four children, as kin¬ 
dred of the half-blood inherit equally with 
those of the whole blood of the same de¬ 
gree. The remainder of the husband’s 
estate will be divided in the same propor¬ 
tion as the first division. The widow’s 
daughter will have to share her moth¬ 
er’s estate with the three other children. 
If the sister remains single her property 
will be divided at her death equally 
among her half-brothers and sisters. 
Dealing With Lawless Children. 
My neighbor has two rough boys, 11 
and 12 years old, and I have a girl 
seven and a boy five years old. My chil¬ 
dren have never molested these boys in 
any way. Every time these big toughs 
meet my little girl or boy on the street 
thev give them a punch or a mauling; 
they even strike them with stones when 
they are in their own yard. If my chil¬ 
dren were both boys and of equal age 
and size I would have them take their 
own part, but as it is they are power¬ 
less to do anything in the hands of these 
big cowards. I have gone to the boys’ 
parents but to no avail. What can I 
do to compel these people to take care 
of their boys? G. w. T. 
The most effective way would be to 
catch the big boys at the trick and take 
a shingle or a good horsewhip right to 
them. It might be necessary to apply 
the same treatment to the parent if he 
interfered, and no one should attempt law¬ 
less methods except as a last resort. If 
there is any constable or police officer in 
your town, go to him and make complaint. 
In some places the truant officer or school 
trustees would have authority. Find the 
proper legal officer and make written com¬ 
plaint, and he will have to act. The par¬ 
ents of these minor children will be held 
responsible if the youngsters do not be¬ 
have. 
Duty of Bondsmen. 
A widow has three children of which 
she is guardian, a daughter 10, sons 12 
and six. The widow has two bondsmen. 
She owns a good farm of 260 acres and 
some personal property. Everything is 
going to rack and ruin. What is the 
duty of the bondsmen? Will the daugh¬ 
ter have to wait until the youngest boy is 
of age before she can get her share?” 
Vermont. 0. R. II. 
The bondsmen guarantee that the 
guardian, the widow, will do what she 
was appointed to do, guard the property 
of the infants. If she is inefficient in 
her duties and causes loss to the prop¬ 
erty of the infants she is primarily liable, 
and if she is not financially responsible 
the bondsmen may be proceeded against. 
So it is incumbent upon the bondsmen to 
see that she performs her full duty. If 
she does not and they are in danger they 
may petition the probate court that she 
give an account of her guardianship and 
give a new bond. She may even be re¬ 
moved if not properly fulfilling her du¬ 
ties. The oldest daughter may get her 
share when she becomes of age. 
Fraud in Contract. 
One of my church members, German, 
who does not understand English very 
well, has been talked into granting a lease 
for developing oil lands, and I would like 
to have your opinion as to validity of 
the contract. I am of the belief this 
lease can be declared < void if the first 
party so desires, for misrepresentation. 
Texas. L. h. 
If the misrepresentations were made 
with a knowledge of their falsity, know¬ 
ing that they were relied on by Iv., 
and they were relied on and acted upon 
by him in signing the contract, it un¬ 
doubtedly can be voided by K., but every¬ 
thing depends upon the facts. Not being 
able to read or not reading the contract 
will not excuse him, but if he told the 
grantee he could not read and then re¬ 
lied on his statements of what the con¬ 
tract contained and the grantee misrep¬ 
resented them, the question of fraud comes 
up again. The contract appears quite 
inequitable in giving the privilege of re¬ 
newal indefinitely for one dollar. If K. 
Avishes to rescind the contract, steps to 
that end should be taken immediately. 
Possibly if some influential person pre¬ 
sented his case to the grantees they will 
voluntarily give a better contract. If not, 
it should be placed in the hands of # some 
good local attorney at once for action. 
Finder of Property. 
Will you let me know the law in re¬ 
gard to the finding of personal property 
of value for which the finder has no 
means of knowing the owner. A. S. H. 
New York. 
The general rule is that one who finds 
and appropriates lost property acquires 
the title thereto and the right to possess 
it against all the world except the true 
owner. The finder should of course use 
every reasonable effort to restore the lost 
article to its former owner and, after 
this is done and he has no knowledge of 
who the former owner is, the finder has 
complete title. 
Good Words 
Your paper makes me look forward to 
Friday wheu I rceive it. It is great, and 
I do all I can to help it. 
New York City. n. j. 
We believe the recipes we find in The 
R.-Y. are easily worth tLe price of the 
paper, and we have used quite a number 
of them. If you decide to reprint “The 
Rural Cook Book” let us know, will you? 
New York. H. s. 
I would not be without your farm paper 
for twice the price, as it is the only paper 
out of several that I read, and I find more 
good, instructive reading in Ttie R. N.-Y. 
than all the other papers put together. 
Wish you all success in your plans to 
help the New York State farmer to a 
better market for his produce. 
New York. A. T. s. 
The R. N.-Y. is wonderfully success¬ 
ful in its broad, constructive “home” de¬ 
partment, and it is a pleasure to see this 
feature being wisely and rapidly enlarged. 
Illinois. MRS. WM. G. SMITH. 
The R. N.-Y. is exceedingly interest¬ 
ing to me, along n rly all lines discussed. 
I clip and file articles and paragraphs 
that I think will be of future use to me, 
when I get my little farm village home. 
Until a year ago I used to pass over to 
a friend my clipped-up copies, with the 
result that last year he subscribed for 
the paper himself rather take my cut-up 
ones, and* now declares it the best farm 
paper he ever handled. Now I am hand¬ 
in'' over to another friend my mutilated 
copies, and perhaps he will in time add 
his name to the regular subscriber’s list. 
L. PERKINS. 
I have just returned from a trip to 
California, which I wrote you I was go¬ 
ing to take. I find among my accumulat¬ 
ed mai 1 of the three months’ absence your 
reminder that my annual subscription is 
due and unpaid. I thank you for the 
notification. Don’t you think for a mo¬ 
ment that I intend to let the good old 
paper, The Rural New-Yorker get 
by me. I expect to take it until 
I am laid away on the hill. I was 
absent three months lacking six days; 
about twelve weeks of the time was 
spent in California. I traveled al¬ 
together about 6,000 miles, and came 
home in better health than when 
I started, weighing a few pounds more. 
Pretty good for a man past 75, don’t 
you think? a. w. foreman. 
Illinois. 
We have the greatest admiration for 
your well-edited paper, and I regretted 
last Winter to find that it is not on file 
in the New York Public Library. Why 
is that? I happened to want it in Feb¬ 
ruary when I was in New York and 
asked for it in vain there. 
Pomona N. Y. m. m. c. 
, As I am away from home most of the 
time, and as we live in the city and 
the only live stock we keep is a canary, 
I wanted to drop the paper, but my cvife, 
Avho never lived on a farm in her life, 
insists on keeping it, as she reads and 
enjoys it very much. We like your 
“punch” on the drink issue. 
NeAV Jersey. edward underwood. 
We could not, should not and will not 
do without The R. N.-Y. There are five 
of us all at home, each doing business for 
himself and herself, but all working to¬ 
gether, three males and two females, three 
farms, eight oil Avells, four gas engines. 
We have just finished drilling the eighth 
Avell and have put it to pumping. 
West Virginia. j. t. .t. 
We are taking about a dozen different 
agricultural papers, and try to read and 
apply all Ave can in our oavii way—it 
Avould, no doubt, be very much of an 
“economic fallacy” to try to apply it all; 
but I firmly believe The Ii. N.-Y. stands 
in a class by itself in the one particular of 
the clean, straightforward fight you are 
making for the interests of the farmer 
and producer in behalf of a just share 
of the consumer’s dollar. 
Ohio. s. A. c. 
“I nAD to go through the woods the 
other night where Casey was murdered 
last year, that they say is haunted, an’ 
begorra I walked backward the whole 
way.” “And what for did ye do that?” 
“Faith, man, so that I could see if any¬ 
thing was cornin’ up behind me.”—Cre¬ 
dit Lost. 
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