testate, shall be granted to some one or more of the persons hereinafter mentioned, and they shall be respectively entitled to the same in the following order: 1. The widow, or next of kin, or both, as the judge of probate may think proper, or such person as the widow or next of kin may request to have appointed, if suitable and competent to discharge the trust. 2. If the widow or next of kin, or the person selected by them shall be unsuitable or incompetent, or if the widow or next of kin, shall neglect, for thirty days after the death of the intestate, to apply for administration, or to request that administration be granted to some other person, the same may be granted to one or more of the principal creditors, if any such are competent and willing to take it. 3. If there be no such creditor competent and willing to take administration, the same may be committed to such other person or persons as the judge of probate may think proper.
Administrator to give bond.Sect. 4. Every administrator, before he enters upon the execution of his trust, and before letters of administration shall be granted to him, shall give bond to the judge of probate, with such surety or sureties as he shall direct and approve, with the same conditions as required in case of an executor, with such variations only as may be necessary to make it applicable to the case of an administrator.
When delay in granting letters, special administrator appointed.Sect. 5. When there shall be a delay in granting letters testamentary or of administration, occasioned by an appeal from the allowance or disallowance of a will, or from any other cause, the judge of probate may appoint an administrator to act in collecting and taking charge of the estate of the deceased, until the question on the allowance of the will, or such other question as shall occasion the delay, shall be terminated, and an executor or administrator be thereupon appointed; and no appeal shall be allowed from the appointment of such special administrator.
Powers of special administrator.Sect. 6. An administrator, appointed according to the provisions of the preceding section, shall collect all the goods, chattels, and debts of the deceased, and preserve the same for the executor or administrator, who may afterwards be appointed, and for that purpose may commence and maintain suits as an administrator, and may sell such perishable and other personal estate as the probate court may order to be sold.
Same not liable to action.Sect. 7. Such special administrator shall not be liable to
