Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/594

680 FEDERAL REPORTER. �subscriptions ; for it would be the wish of a chancellor to give effecf to the bequest made to the agrioultural school, if it could be done consistently with the condition he bas prescribed. �It remains to oonsider, therefore, the question whether or not, un- der the evidence, these subscriptions were made by responsible eitizens of Knoxville and Knox county, in the sense of the testator as required by the will. �There were about 700 subscribers. There -sjere six persons -who subscribed $1,000 each; six who subscribed $500 each; two, $400 each; one, $300; seven, $250 each; four, $200 each; about 170, $50 each; and over 300 who subscribed $25 each. The whole amount subscribed was between $42,000 and $43,000. It is admitted by the defendants that about $1,000 of the subscriptions are by irrespon- sible parties; but it is claimed as to the remainder that the subscrip- tions are good and collectible. �This clause of the will must be construed so as to carry into effect the intent of the testator as there expressed, and we have to consider what was his meaning in the use of this language : "With the ex- press condition and proviso that within six months after my decease responsible eitizens of Knoxville and Knox county shall pledge at least $40,000 to the same object or purpose;" at the same time de- claring that unless the amount was pledged and subscribed as above written, then instead of the money intended for an agrioultural sohool, the legacies named should go to Hamilton and Yale Colleges respect- ively. �The parties who sought to carry into efifect this condition of Mr. Knox's will appear to have circulated papers all through the county and obtained subscriptions from a large number of persons named, a great proportion of which were in small amounts, aggregating, nevertheless, more than $40,000. Mr. Knox, before his death, showed by his conduct that he had the establishment of this agrioul- tural school very much at heart, but that he at the same time fait that it could not be sueoessfully accomplished without the aid of others in addition to his own, and he sought to enlist in his purpose several of the influential and wealthy men of Knox county ; in which object, however, he failed. It will be recollected that the second codicil declared that the money eonstituting the bequests to Yale and Hamilton Colleges, made in his original will, part of which had been paid by him dnring his life, could be better used in the cause of edu- cation in the Mississippi valley, and for that reason he annulled the clauses in the original will and in the iirst codicil having reference to ��� �