Fulton County GaArchives News.....Mrs. Cox Attacks Her Father's Will February 21, 1900
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Meredith Clapper http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002801 July 22, 2006, 10:53 am

The Atlanta Constitution February 21, 1900
The Atlanta Constitution 21 February 1900
MRS. COX ATTACKS HER FATHER'S WILL
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Declared Her Parent Had Been Unduly Influenced

FIVE DOLLARS HER PORTION

Ordinary Hulsey Decided Yesterday In Favor of the Will

CASE WAS APPEALED TO SUPERIOR COURT

Mrs. Cox  Charged That Other Members of the Family Sought To Have Her Cut Off. 

Mrs. Margaret A. Cox yesterday attacked the will of her father, the late 
Stephen Spruell, in the ordinary's court when that document was brought forth 
to be proven in solemn form.

she filed a caveat alleging that her father, from "extreme old age, imbecility 
of body or mind, want of memory and mental weakness, was not capable of making 
the will," and charged that the document was not a voluntary act of Stephen 
Spruell, but was the result of threats and practices of his son, Thomas 
Spruell, and other members of the family. 

Ordinary W H Hulsey decided that the document was the will of Stephen Spruell, 
directed that it be proven in solemn form and recorded upon the records of the 
office as such.  Mrs. Cox then filed objection to the judgment and appealed 
the case to the supreme court. 

Stephen Spruell died December 11th of last year and on the 30th of the same 
month his will was filed in the office of the ordinary.  Thomas E. Spruell and 
Joseph S. Power qualified as executors. 

Mr. Spruell left an estate, which was said to be worth about $10,000, to his 
wife and at her death it was to go to his children, Thomas E. Spruell, Oak 
Shade, Ga., Martha A Henson, Bolton, Ga., Georgia A. Thompson, Bessemer, Ala., 
Nancy V. Poss, Oak Shade, Ga; Ella J. Power, Dunwoody, Ga. 

To Mrs. Cox, her father bequeathed the sum of $5.  She considered the will 
inequitable and unjust in its provisions and filed a caveat, asserting that 
the document ought to be declared against.  She alleged in her caveat that Mr. 
Spruell was laboring under a hallucination and delusion that his daughter was 
his enemy when she was his friend, and charged that this belief on her 
father's part was brought about by remarks made to him by other members of the 
family. 

One of the reasons she advanced for filing the caveat was:

"Because the said will is not the will of the said testator, but is the will 
of his wife, Mary A. Spruell, and his son, Thomas Spruell, they having by 
force, fraud, threat, menaces and other practices, substituted their will for 
the will of the said testator, being moved thereto by their hatred of this 
caveatrix and their desire to obtain control of all the property of the said 
testator." 

Mrs. Cox was represented by Attorneys W H Terrell, S C Tapp and S D Johnson.  
The executors were represented by Colonel W T Moyers. 
			


 

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