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Show LITTLE CHURCH PEW. LONG LEGAL BATTLE OVER ITS OWNERSHIP. Farmer'o Sons Arrayed Against Stepmother Step-mother for Possession of Father's Fa-ther's Estate Contest Extends Ex-tends Over Ten Years. Littleton, Mass. Tho question of ownership of n llttlo church paw In tho First Congregational church, seating seat-ing llvo persons, was tho last obstaclo to bo overcomo In n contest extending ovor ten years, and It hns cost tho opposing op-posing factions of a onco happy family not only tho loss of much time, but Also largo sums of money. Tucked away on tho sldo of ono of tho many hills thnt abound In this town Is tho cstato left by tho lato Theodore C. Flctchor, comprising about CO acres. Tho lato Mr. Fletcher was held In high cstcom by nil tho rcsldonts of tho town, nud his cxamplo of caring In good shape for his farm wns well followed fol-lowed by his stopson. When ho married tho present Mrs. Fletcher Mr. Fletcher had two sons by his first wifo, Ilnmmond and Daniel, while Mrs. Fletcher, who wns previous to her marrlago Mrs. Tltcomb, had two sons, Ora and Walter. I On tho death of Flotchor, 14 years ago, an agreeable settlement of tho estate es-tate was mndo. Tho estnto was to remnln In the hands of Mrs. Flotchor, whllo tho two sons bearing the namo of Flotchor woro given a monoy consideration and relinquished all claims. The old family pow In tho First Congregational church was to romaln In tho namo of Fletcher. Tho cstato was valued at about, $1,200. About ton years ago Hammond Flotchor, bo It Ib nlleged, became dissatisfied dis-satisfied nnd, enlisting tho support of his brother, put In the claim that they bud not received proper treatment In the distribution of tho cstato. A legal light was mndo to obtain possession of part of It. It Is nlleged thnt their claim called for moro than tho estnto was valued at. Tho matter was carried from ono court to nnother until It reached tho highest tribunal. Tho findings wcro nlways nl-ways for tho widow, her fight bolng bundled by tho son, Ora Tltcomb. The estnto could not, howover, bo legally sottled until tho ownorshlp of tho pow had been established. Some tlmo ngo tho widow, Mrs. Fletcher, sold tho pow to her son, Walter Tltcomb, Tlt-comb, for $20, nnd tho claim wns mado by one of tho Fletchers thajt tho pow was worth $lf0. In tho probate court at Hast Cambridge Cam-bridge .ludgo I.awton wns called upon to docldo whether or not tho pow came undor the head of real estate. With tho decision would como tho final settlement set-tlement of tho contest that had boon continued for ten yenrs. Fletcher claimed that his only wish wns thnt tho church pow should romaln ro-maln In the family, but that ho did not havo $1E0 to buy It back, whereupon tho counsel for tho administratrix ro-idled ro-idled that If tho pow was all ho wanted want-ed ho could tako It 'and consider himself him-self Indebted to Tltcomb for $20. Tho matter was finally settled on this basis to the satisfaction of all. |