62 Ga. 627 | Ga. | 1879
This contest, though opening as a mere skirmish at one of the outposts of equity, has drawn into it all the forces of both combatants, and proved a general engagement, with results well nigh if not quite decisive of the whole substance of the controversy. Some of the parties to the bill stand indifferent, and others are apparently separated from their friends and mingle with their enemies, but it is obvious that the real dispute is between the illegitimate children of James Arnold, deceased, together with their mother, on one side, and his legitimate children, who are his heirs-at-law, on the other. The property for which they contend is certain shares of railroad stock, with the dividends payable thereon. The alleged right of the illegitimate children is based, first,.upon a will made in 1870, and, secondly, upon an instrument in the general form of a deed made in 1876. In each of these documents an attempt is made to dispose of the stock in behalf of the illegitimates, though the details of disposition in the one are different from those in the other. The mother, also, was designed to participate, in a limited and contingent way, in the benefits of the former, but is not named as a beneficiary under the. latter. Arnold, the father, after making the will, removed to Arkansas, and died domiciliated in that state, having in the meantime exe