Green Grist (Cont'd)

Back to Manhattan last week went the traveling troupe of lawyers and court attaches whose task the past six weeks has been to ascertain facts about the domicile of the late Edward Howland Robinson Green in order to make possible the disposition of his estate, estimated between $40,000,000 and $100,000,000 (TIME, April 19). Before tackling the 900-page transcript of Texas and Florida testimony, Surrogate Harry E. Owen of Essex County. N. Y. called for a resumption of probate hearings. More convenient for all concerned with these memorable hearings than Surrogate Owen's little office above a grocery store in small Port Henry was a comfortable green-tinted trial room in Manhattan's Bar Building.

A surprise witness at the first session was tall, sharp-nosed, bespectacled Mrs. Harriet Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks, 66, whose right to her brother's fortune by terms of a will drawn nine years before his marriage has been challenged by Colonel Green's widow, redheaded Mabel E. Harlow Green, 66. Dressed completely in black as was the habit of her mother, Hetty Green, the "Witch of Wall Street." rich old Mrs. Wilks sparred verbally with solemn-faced Lawyer Isaac A. Pennypacker, who questioned her on behalf of Widow Green. Ignoring the scales of justice separated by a sword of "Truth" encrusted on the ceiling, alert old Mrs. Wilks said just what she wanted to in her testimony--and when she wanted to.

Q. (by Lawyer Pennypacker): Have you stated your full name? If not, do so.

A. (by Mrs. Wilks): I think they know it. It's been used enough in the last six months.

Q. Would you . . .?

A. I want to get out.

Surrogate Owen: Asking your name is a proper question.

A. Hetty Sylvia Ann Howland Green Wilks. It seems to me you are all very stupid.

Lawyer Timothy Pfeiffer (to his client) : I don't think he intended to insult you.

Q. Where do you live?

A. Several places. I don't think it necessary. You can find me at the Bank.

Surrogate Owen: State your residence, Mrs. Wilks.

A. What stupid people! If you had 25 reporters after you, you would not want anyone to know where you lived. . . .

Surrogate Owen: I don't think there are any reporters here.

A. They come out from under the table and all sorts of things.

Lawyer Pfeiffer finally had to give Mrs.

Wilks's address. No. 988 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan.

Questioned by Lawyer Pennypacker about her age (66). Mrs. Wilks snapped: Do you think that a proper question for a strange man to ask a lady? He [Colonel Green] was older and that's enough.

Q. Do you refuse?

A. I don't refuse, but I won't tell the truth. . . . Why should I? ... I'm over 50. Now go ahead.

Mrs. Wilks grew impatient with the laughter in the room, spoke up to Lawyer Pennypacker, who had walked back to the counsel table:

"While you're standing there doing nothing, will you give me your name and age?"

Lawyer Pennypacker (who is 58): My name is Pennypacker, and I'm also over 50.

Mrs. Wilks: Hmph! You look a lot older than that.

Asked about the 1908 will of Colonel

Green which left all his property to Mother Hetty Green or, in case of her death, to her. Mrs. Wilks replied: "I never knew about it." She testified that she found it in July 1936 in a safety deposit box, adding:

"It attracted me like a bull because cf the red paper attached to it."

Mrs. Wilks decided that she was making the going too easy for Lawyer Pennypacker. Brightening, she swiveled around in her chair toward Surrogate Owen, said:

"I'll tell you, but I won't tell the public."

The Surrogate allowed her to write out her testimony on a slip of paper. It turned out that she found the will among papers of Green Estates, Inc., the family management firm. Then Lawyer Pennypacker showed Mrs. Wilks two letters found in her brother's hotel apartment after his death. Both of them were reputedly written by old Hetty Green to Son Ned. One of them dictated the terms of the disputed 1908 will. Asked if the letters were in Hetty's handwriting, Mrs. Wilks replied:

"They are not. A secretary wrote most of Mother's letters. One of them is blind and the other dead, so you can take your choice."

Q. Are you willing to say under oath that this is not the handwriting of your mother?

A. She never wrote any Chinese pictures like that.

Surrogate Owen allowed the letter, telling Ned Green how to make out his will, to be submitted as evidence. Then followed a series of questions about her pleasure-loving brother's life which drew scornful replies from Mrs. Wilks. Examples:

Q. Did Colonel Green have a staff of servants in his house on West 90th Street [in Manhattan]?

A. I saw a Jap running around loose there.

Next day, during a recess in the hearing before the great Green Case was adjourned for two weeks, two lawyers stood chatting in a smoke-filled anteroom with plump Surrogate Owen. Subject of the conversation was Mrs. Wilks's "day in court." Said the Surrogate: "The thing I was worried about was: If I cited her for contempt of court how would I get her up to Port Henry for a hearing? I was afraid I might have to take her my self."

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