Everyone needs to let off steam every once in awhile. Jacob Harris had his own way of doing it. One day he went on a rampage walking around his neighborhood with a baseball bat smashing car windows. After that a local Jewish organization that he was affiliated with in some capacity, tried having him committed for mental evaluation.
He would spend most of his time wandering the streets and would often be seen sleeping on a bench in a park. His disheveled appearance and actions led everyone to believe he was homeless including the Jewish organization.
Jacob Harris was found dead one morning on one of those park benches. After several days of his body going unclaimed, I went to the morgue to pick up the inventory turned in on him. He was categorized as being homeless but sometimes there is helpful information to be found in the inventory. His rotting wallet contained the usual like State ID, Social Security card, small amount of cash and something showing a home address.
I contacted the man who owned the property and asked him if he had a tenant named Jacob Harris. The landlord said he did. I filled him in on Jacob’s situation and he agreed to meet me at the decedent’s apartment. When we entered Jacob’s one room, ramshackle apartment, the first thing I noticed was taped all over the walls were pieces of note paper, paper towels, napkins and toilet paper. On them the decedent had written quotes of his. For instance on one piece was written “Jacob Harris says “Don’t leave the apartment without an umbrella if it’s raining outside.”” On another he wrote “Jacob Harris says “Don’t eat the food once the mold starts growing on it.””
All the walls were covered with nonsense like these and as I’m reading through them, I noticed one of the pieces of toilet paper appeared to be his Last Will and Testament. To me it appeared to be a legal document because it was signed, dated and notarized but still I would need Dick, our attorney, look at it. In the Will the decedent left all his money to the Federal Government to help pay down the National Debt. He also mentioned in it that he originally was going to leave everything to that Jewish organization but he got mad when they tried having him committed. I set it aside along with other papers and told the landlord he’d have to hold the apartment as is until everything got resolved.
Back in the office Dick confirmed that it was indeed a legitimate will even though it was written on toilet paper. He said the office would be filing it with the Probate Court. In the other papers I removed from the decedent’s apartment was an out of town phone number to someone with the same name. I called and it turned out to be a sister to the decedent. When I told her all about the situation with the will, she immediately tried contesting it. She said the money wasn’t really Jacob’s because it came from an inheritance from their father’s estate therefor she thought she was entitled to it. A judge ruled differently and all of Jacob Harris’ $250,000 was turned over to the Federal Government. Giving money to the government to pay down the debt is not uncommon. They have received gifts as small as one penny all the way up to 20 million dollars. Annually Americans donate approximately 2 million dollars. Go figure, huh?