Where There's a Will . . . .

 Women may have gotten the vote in 1920, but they didn't become jurors in Lawrence County until 1939.

The first time women's names were added to the selection pool for petit jurors was October 4, 1939. The panel of petit jurors, the first to be composed of both men and women, was made up of the following: Roy Mitchell, Bond; Rhea Day, Paul Stealey, Lowell Allison, Virgil Vandament, Melcena Johnson, V. E. French and Gladys Tarpley of Bridgeport; Rodney Kerraickle, Everatt Roderick, Madge Padgett, Glenn Harris, Hazel Forsythe of Christy; Ollie Harris, Harrison Belt, Minnie Gould, D. M. Fyffe, Golda Hall, and Ed Murphy of Denison; Calvin Wilder, Dorothy Spitler, Pat Dowell, Willard Whittaker, William Maxfield, William Patrick, and Noel Border of Lawrence, Willie Petty, French Baltzell, and Chester Rosborough of Petty, and Clara Clark of Russell. (Spellings per the newspaper)

The case these women would decide if they were chosen by the attorneys, was Shannon S. VanScyoc

 et al vs Guy E. Elliott et al. The plaintiff, Mr. VanSycoc had petitioned the court to have the Will of his sister, Nancy E. Gillespie Elliott, set aside.

Mrs. Nancy C. Elliott, who died March 24, 1937, was formerly the wife of Robert T. Gillespie and lived with her husband south of Bridgeport. Upon his death, Nancy married Guy E. Elliot, and drew up a Will leaving her estate of $400,000 to this second husband.

Now what could be wrong with this? (Other than she didn't leave any of this large estate to her brothers, nephew, and nieces?)

According to the allegations of the plaintiff, Guy Elliott had been a member of the household for several years, and was, in fact, her chauffeur. After the death of Mr. Gillespie, his employer, he married the widow. The plaintiff stated in his petition that Robert T. Gillespie was 20 years older than his wife, and that Mrs. Gillespie, who afterwards became Mrs. Elliott, was 20 years older than Guy C. Elliott.

The petition also alleged that Mrs. Elliott was wholly incapable of making a will owing to her mental condition and that she was unduly influenced by the defendant. The Will was dated October 31, 1925, and she didn't die until March 24, 1937. That's a long time to be unduly influenced.

Hmmm . . . .Older wealthy lady marries younger man. If I were an attorney for that case, and had women on the jury, I would be very careful how I framed my opening statement. Some of those women might not think there were anything wrong with that. Particularly if they knew that the plaintiff, Mr. VanSycoc's second wife was 42 years younger than he was. Just saying...