The Nick of Time [pp. 124-128]

The Nick of Time.
From AU The Year Round.
THE NICK OF TIME.
LET us suppose a case that might
occur if it has not occurred.
John Mullet, immersed (say) in the
button trade at Birmingham, has made
money in business. He bequeaths his
property by will, and is in due time
gathered to his fathers. His two
sons, Jasper and Josiah, take certain
portions; and other portions are to go
either to the family of Jasper or to that
of Josiah, according as either one of
those brothers survives the other. Jasper remains in England; but Josiah
goes out to Australia, to establish something that may make his children
great people over there. Both brothers, twelve thousand miles apart, die
on the same day, May 1st, one at noon
(Greenwich time), the other at noon
(Sydney time). Jasper's children
have been on pleasant cousinly terms
with Josiah's; but they are aware of
the fact that it would be better for
them that Josiah should die before
their own father, Jasper. Josiah's
children, on the other Shand, be they
few or many, although they always
liked uncle Jasper, cannot and do not
ignore the fact that their interests
would be better served by the survivorship of Josiah than that of Jasper.
The two sets of cousins, therefore,
plunge into a contest, to decide the
question of survivorship between the
two sons of old John Mullet.
This is one variety of a problem
which the courts of law and equity are
often called upon to settle. Occasionally the question refers to two persons
who die at the same time, and in each
other's company. For instance: Toward the close of the last century,
George Netherwood, his children by
his first wife, his second wife, and her
son, were all wrecked during a voyage
from Jamaica to England. Eight
thousand pounds were left by will, in
such a way that the relations of the
two wives were greatly interested in
knowing whether the second Mrs.
Netherwood did or did not survive her
husband, even by one single minutea matter which, of course, could not
be absolutely proved. Again, in 1806,
Mr. Mason and one son were drowned
at sea; his remaining eight children
went to law, some of them against the
others; because, if the father died before the son, ~5,000 would be divided
equally among the other eight children;
whereas, if the son died before the
father, the brothers only would get it,
the sisters being shut out. A few
years afterward Job Taylor and his
wife were lost in a ship wrecked at
sea; they had not much to leave behind them; but what little there was
was made less by the struggles of two
sets of relatives, each striving to show
that one or other of the two hapless
persons might. possibly have survived
the other by a few minutes. In 1819
Major Colelough, his wife, and four
children, were drowned during a voyage from Bristol to Cork; the husband and wife had both made wills;
and there arose a pretty picking for
the lawyers in relation to survivorships
and next of kin, and trying to prove
whether the husband died first, the
wife first, or both together. Two
brothers, James and Charles Corbet,
left Demerara on a certain day in 1828,
in a vessel of which one was master
and the other mate; the vessel was
seen five days afterward, but from
that time no news of her fate was
ever received. Their father died about
a month after the vessel was last seen.
The ultimate disposal of his property
depended very much on the question
whether he survived his two sons or
they survived him. Many curious
arguments were used in court. Two
or three captains stated that from
August to January are hurricane
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