Estate of Johnson

The appellant presented to the superior court an application to have admitted to probate as a last will and testament a certain document annexed to her petition, which she alleged to be a true copy of a will executed by her husband, and fraudulently destroyed in his lifetime. The respondent filed a contest of the petition, and upon the hearing the following facts were shown: The decedent made and signed an olographic will, sufficient in form, upon two separate sheets of paper, on the first of which was written all of the will except the last two lines and his signature. After he had made this will, a friend of his, named Neville, to whom he exhibited it, suggested to him that the will might be ineffective if the last page should be lost, and advised him to have it rewritten. Upon his reply that he would be unable to write it over, as he was soon to leave the city, Neville stated to him that he would take it and have it 'typewritten, to which the deceased assented. Neville thereupon took the will away, and on the next day returned with it and a typewritten copy. After reading the typewritten copy, the deceased signed it, and Neville also signed it as a witness. Upon the suggestion…