Surrogate Recognizes Duplicate of Document Lost with Titanic
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Surrogate Fowler has admitted to probate a copy of the lost codicil of the will of William Augustus Spencer. Mr. Spencer and the codicil went down on the Titanic, April 15 last.

In his will Mr. Spencer had appointed his brother, Lorillard Spencer, executor. Lorillard Spencer died in March, and Mr. Spencer altered his will in Paris, making his nephew, Lorillard Spencer, Jr., executor. He also took cognizance of a newly passed New York State statute.

In ordinary circumstances, Surrogate Fowler said, he would decide that the loss of the codicil would be proof that the testator destroyed it, but in this case he said that the methodical character of Mr. Spencer, and the circumstances of the case, indicated that the making of the codicil was a fixed and irrevocable intention, and he would admit the copy, which had been left in the vault of a firm of Paris lawyers.