Estate of O'Connor

This is an appeal by the proponents from a judgment of the lower court refusing to admit to probate a document dated April 25, 1919, purporting to be the last will and testament of Annie O’Connor, deceased. The contest was tried before a jury, which found that while the purported will was not procured through the undue influence of certain of the proponents, as charged by the contestants, Annie O’Connor was not of sound and disposing mind at the time the document was signed by her. This appeal presents the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict of unsoundness of mind.

In the lower court, the contestants, who are the respondents here, offered evidence tending to support their con tention that Annie O’Connor, by reason of an advanced state of arteriosclerosis, produced by various causes, had been for several months prior- to April 21, 1919, seriously impaired mentally. On that day she suffered a severe stroke of paralysis, producing a state of coma, which, the respondents contend, lasted until Mrs. O’Connor’s, death, and resulted in a condition of complete incompetency, which prevented any normal action on the part of the testatrix during that entire…