Patrick saw his
opportunity. By the forgery of a new will which would increase the
legacies of those mentioned in the will of 1896 and leave legacies to
every person who might have any claim upon the estate, it would be for
the interest of those persons to sustain and carry into effect the
forgery. The whole scheme was based upon the belief that "every man has
his price." He told Jones that he thought the will unjust; that he did
not think it right to leave so little to relatives, and later he brought
to Jones a rough draft of a will which could be substituted for the
genuine one. Patrick was to get half the estate, the relatives were to
receive double or three times the amount provided in the 1896 will, and
what was left was to be given to the Rice Institute. He proposed that
Jones should typewrite this will, and guaranteed to arrange for the
witnessing and signing of it, and promised that Jones should get
whatever he wanted. Jones at first objected, but was finally won over.
Rewritten many times to include new ideas of the conspirators, the
document finally reached the form of the will of June 30, 1900, in which
Patrick substituted himself for the Rice Institute and made himself one
of the executors.
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