Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/349

Rh Bill in equity by the executors of the will of Lizzie F. Bacon, and certain legatees thereunder, against the executor of the will of Eliza F. Eddy, Lucy Stone, wife of H. B. Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, and other legatees thereunder, and the attorney-general, to compel the executor of said Eddy's will to pay over to the plaintiffs the residue of her estate. The bill alleged the following facts:

Francis Jackson, the father of said Eliza F. Eddy, died in 1861, leaving a will, by the sixth article of which he gave $5,000 to Wendell Phillips, Lucy Stone Blackwell and Susan B. Anthony, in trust, "to be expended by them without any responsibility to any one, at their discretion, in such sums, at such times, and in such places as they may deem fit, to secure the passage of laws granting women, whether married or unmarried, the right to vote, to hold office, to hold, manage and devise property, and all other civil rights enjoyed by men; and for the preparation and circulation of books, the delivery of lectures, and such other means as they may judge best." By the eighth article he gave one-third of the residue to a trustee, to pay the income to his daughter, Eliza F. Eddy, during her life, and upon her death one-half of the income to the trustees and on the trusts named in the sixth article, and the other half to Mrs. Eddy's daughter, Mrs. Lizzie F. Bacon, during her life, and, on the death of Mrs. Bacon, the principal to the trustees and on the trusts named in the sixth article.

It was held by this court that these bequests were not a charity (see Jackson vs. Phillips, 14 Allen, 539).

In consequence of this decision, certain agreements, releases, and a partition were made, by which one-third of the residue of Mr. Jackson's estate became the property of Mrs. Eddy, subject to being held in trust for herself for life, and thereafter, as to one-half, for her daughter, Mrs. Bacon, during her life. Mrs. Eddy died December 29, 1881, leaving a will by which she gave absolute legacies to the amount of $24,500 to various persons therein named. This disposed of all her estate except what came to her from her father's estate. Her will then provided as follows:

"What is left, after paying the above legacies, I direct shall be divided into two equal portions; one of said portions I leave to Miss Susan B. Anthony of Rochester, in the State of New York, as her absolute property, and the other portion I leave to Lucy Stone, wife of H. B. Blackwell, as her own absolute and separate property, free from any control of him. I request said Susan and Lucy to use said fund thus given to further what is called the woman's rights cause; but neither of them is under any legal responsibility to any one or any court to do so."

The will further alleged that this residue was substantially the estate received from Francis Jackson; that the will was intended by the testatrix to defeat the decision of this court, before mentioned; that the testatrix had no personal acquaintance with Lucy Stone or Susan B. Anthony; that said gift was intended as a gift in perpetuam to the said cause, and was, without limit of time, upon trust in favor of said cause; and that said cause was not a charity within the meaning of the law, and was null and void.