Keely v. Moore

Messrs. C. C. Cole, Hugh T. Taggart, and Leo Simmons for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. D. W. Baker and Wilton J. Lambert for defendant in error.

Statement by Mr. Justice Brown:

This was an action of ejectment brought in the supreme court of the District by grantees of the heirs at law of William Thomson against Joseph H. Moore and the firm of Thomas J. Fisher & Company, agents of Mary Cecelia and Georgiana Hawkes Thomson, of the county of Kent, England, devisees under the will of William Thomson, to recover possession of an undivided ninety-one one hundredths of certain real estate in the city of Washington. Upon the trial it was admitted that William Thomson died in Southampton, England, in 1887, seised of the lot in question; that he was born in, and was a citizen of, the United States, leaving no issue or descendants. Plaintiffs had acquired the title of the heirs at alw, and the defendants were in possession of the lot as life tenants under his alleged will.

The validity of the will and the due execution thereof were contested by the plaintiffs for reasons hereinafter indicated in the opinion. The trial resulted in a verdict for the defendants, upon which judgment was entered, and affirmed by the court of appeals. 22 App. D. C. 9.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court: