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The last will of the joker-financier. Testament of Charles Millar The Great Stork Race

No one imagined that a respected Toronto lawyer and businessman would put on such a grand show after his death. It seems that Millar wanted to show that for a certain price you can buy everything and everyone. Having made a will according to all the rules of legal art, this respected gentleman set a precedent for the greatest posthumous, as journalists noted, "the joke of the century."

The funeral of Charles Millar drew many eminent figures legal, business and sports circles not only in Toronto, but throughout the province. attendant Anglican Church His Rev. T. Cotton spoke highly of the moral character, devotion and decency of the deceased in his speech. And it was last time when a church spokesman said something nice about Charles Millar.

After reading and publishing the will, something unimaginable began. Politicians, lawyers, businessmen, church ministers, and relatives of the deceased were shocked. As the reporters wrote: "Apparently, Millar's provocative testament is intended to entertain the 'high and powerful' members of society who impose their definition of morality on the general public."

At the beginning of the document, Millar wrote: “By necessity, this testament is unusual and whimsical. I have no heirs or close relatives, so there are no standard obligations to me about how to dispose of my property after death.”

At the beginning of the will, Millar listed several of his loyal assistants and collaborators and assigned small sums to them. He left nothing to distant relatives, explaining that if they hoped that he would leave them something, they would look forward to his imminent death, which he did not wish for himself.

To each ordained clergyman in Sandwich, Walkerville, and Windsor, Ontario, Millar left one part of his stake in the Kenilvert Jockey Club, knowing full well their strong opposition to gambling.
He ordered a share of the shares of the Catholic-owned O'Keeffe Beer Company to be given to every Protestant congregation in Toronto and to every parish priest who publicly fight against drunkenness without naming anyone. The result was stunning: a huge number of church ministers came to court, demanding their shares.
For one judge and priest who were vehemently opposed to betting on horse races (here he named names), he offered tidbits of the Ontario Jockey Club on the condition that they join the club within three years. Which they did (however, having received their shares, they left the club).
To three lawyer friends who were friends with Millar, but could not stand each other, the prankster Charles left a beautiful house in Jamaica with such casuistic notes that from now on they had to share the house, restraining themselves so as not to use their fists.

But all this was innocent pranks in comparison with the main 9th paragraph of this sensational testament. Charles Millar bequeathed the remainder of his wealth (more than half a million dollars) to the woman in Toronto who, within 10 years after his death, would give birth to the most legitimate children, which would be strictly recorded in the birth document.

So, the will was announced; moreover, it appeared on the front pages of the Toronto newspapers. Began " big show”, whose heyday, we note, fell on the years of the Great Depression. Relatives tried to challenge the will, teetotaling clerics rushed to get their share of "beer shares", lawyers from various courts looked for ways to cash in on the conduct of cases. And even the Supreme Court of Canada (!) Considered this will on behalf of the Ontario Supreme Court, which wanted to achieve the transfer of inheritance to the government Ontario, ostensibly to establish a scholarship fund at the University of Toronto.

But it was not for nothing that Millar was the best lawyer of his time for 45 years, and in terms of drafting wills, he was unsurpassed. He spelled out all the points so carefully (albeit in his usual playful way) that there was not the slightest reason to dispute them. For 10 years, the best lawyers in the country have been trying to do this - without success.

9 months after Millar's death, the "battle" for main part legacy! It caused a lot of publications and discussions in all printed publications that time. All mothers who gave birth to twins or triplets immediately became contenders, and their names did not leave the printed pages. A daily column appeared in the press called “The Greatest Stork Race” (how much work the newsmen have to do!), which published lists of women and the number of their children born at the moment.

The church insultedly announced that Millar's will was immoral, as it called into question the sanctity of conception and birth, and delivered angry sermons against the lawyer.

The pastors exhorted the women not to take part in this “bad joke.” “But what does it mean not to take? women asked, “not to have children?”

When the Attorney General of Ontario filed a case to set up the aforementioned scholarship fund at the University of Toronto, Torontonians were furious. They insisted that Charles Millar was completely sane when he wrote his will, and that no politician would dare to encroach on the rights of women who wish to bear children. Protests erupted throughout the province. The feminists emphasized that the remaining clauses of the will had already been paid, and the first to receive money under this will were the clergy and lawyers!

So 10 years have passed. On the tenth anniversary of Charles Millar's death, the Ontario court again read the terms of the will and considered the list of contenders. Two women were eliminated from the "finalists". Pauline Clark had 9 children, but one was not by her husband. Lillian Kenny actually had 12 children, but five of them died in infancy, and she could not prove that they were not stillborn. Each of which they gave a consolation prize of $12,500.

On October 31, 1936, the “great stork race” ended in a draw between Anna-Catherine Smith, Kathleen-Elyn Nagl, Lucy-Alice Timlek and Isabelle-Mary McLean (all of whom had 9 children in 10 years). They received 125,000 (which in our time is about 1.5 million US dollars).

The “Great Stork Race” received more press coverage than Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic and even the birth of five twins to Madame Dion. divorces.The following questions were also raised: what is meant by the word "Toronto", whether to count dead and illegitimate children, and most importantly, was paragraph 9 legal at all? But Millar foresaw everything.

Ironically, many participants in the "race" were not going to start at all. big families. After all, we did not mention those who were left behind, having given birth to 7-8 children. Note that half of the “stork races” fell on the years of depression, when extra mouths were not needed in families. Two of the 4 winners had husbands without work at all, and their families were on welfare. Two other husbands worked, but received Pauline Clark divorced and gave birth to her last child not from her husband.

Fortunately, the prizes really helped the winners. All of them managed their money wisely, raised wonderful children, and did not stint on their education. And the television movie "The Great Stork Race" immortalized this amazing competition.

It was said that by provoking an explosion of uncontrolled births, the old bachelor hoped to embarrass the government and religious circles that were contemplating control policies. They also joked that the childless bachelor Charles Millar “adopted” 36 children in this way.

A little more about the greatest joker of the century, Charles Vance Millar

Char Les Vance Millar was born in 1853 to a poor farmer's family in Aylmer, Ontario. A bright schoolboy and later a successful student, he received many awards including gold medal at the University of Toronto. His average mark in all subjects was 98! Equally impressive was his performance at Ozgood Hall Law School. In 1881 this ambitious young man admitted to the bar, and soon he opened his own office in Toronto.

Millar started small, but rented a lawyer-style apartment - several furnished rooms in Toronto's "Royal" hotel. Over time, his name sounded among successful corporate lawyers, experts in the field of contract law.

Since the practice of law did not bring very high income at first, Millar bought the British Columbia Express Company with the right to transport government mail to the Caribou area. When construction began on the Grand Trunk railway company, he expanded the scope of his activities to include remote Fort George (later Prince George).

It is known that Millar wanted to buy land for the Indians at Fort George, but it was bought by the railroad. Millar sued, citing some procedural violations, and won the case: the court ordered the railroad to allocate 200 acres to the lawyer (in judicial practice this has since been called "Millar's allowance").

Possessing a sharp business acumen, Millar profitably bought tenement houses, and, on shares with the Chief Justice of Ontario, acquired a steamship; in addition, he became the president and owner of a controlling stake in the O'Keeffe beer company (beer of this brand is still sold).

His hobbies were horses and racing. Millar was lucky: he had a reputation as a successful player, and two of his horses took first prizes at prestigious races. By the end of his life, there were 7 magnificent running stallions in his stable.

This lucky man had another hobby: he liked to joke and play tricks on his friends. Especially caustic jokes were subjected to people prone to stupid greed.

Millar's friends and colleagues remembered him as a loving and devoted son. After the death of his father, Millar left the "Royal" hotel, where he lived for 23 years, and bought for himself and his widowed mother big house. Beloved mother sometimes scolded her son that he worked so hard and hard and did not find time for marriage. However, one can only guess why he never married. She was also worried that her son slept on a cold veranda at any time of the year. However, there was no reason for fear: Charles never caught a cold. And it seemed to live for a century.

Canadian lawyer Charles Vance Millar was a little-known person during his lifetime, however, fame came to him after his death, thanks to an unusual will. At the age of 73, Millar, who had made quite a decent fortune for those times, died in Toronto in 1926. Since he had no close relatives, and during his life the lawyer remained a bachelor, he compiled unusual testament, which was discussed by all the media many years later. Millar's will became a real attraction of human greed and the greatest posthumous "joke of the century."

1. He divided the shares of the elite Ontario Jockey Club among three people, two of whom were ardent supporters of the closure of horse racing and any sweepstakes in general. They had to temporarily join this club in order to sell their shares. And the third, a rare swindler and gambler who otherwise would never have been a member of this club, got his membership.

2. He distributed one share of the Kenilworth Jockey Club among the practicing priests of the three neighboring towns. The joke was that the club was completely bankrupt. Everyone who owned his shares tried to get rid of them and their value at that time was only half a cent.

3. He also bequeathed one share of the O "Keefe brewery to each practicing Protestant priest in Toronto and most of the priests accepted them. Although, as it turned out later, in fact, he did not own these shares (and even the plant was under the "roof" of Catholics) and , as a result, it resulted in a long religious showdown.

4. He bequeathed his house in Jamaica to three lawyers who vehemently hate each other, without the right to sell it. And after the death of the last of these lawyers, the house was to be sold and the funds distributed to the poor.

Well, the last paragraph of his will, thanks to which Millar received a place in history:

All the remaining (after partial distribution) of his property, he bequeathed to sell and divide among those women who will give birth to the largest number of children in Toronto in the next 10 years after his death.
With the Great Depression gaining momentum, this provoked an explosion in the birth rate and this period was called the Baby's Derby. 4 mothers with nine children each reached the finish line and received 125 thousand dollars each. Another mother with ten children, two of whom were stillborn, received a consolation prize of $12,500, and another with ten children, but not all of whom were born to her husband, also received a consolation prize of $12,500.

P.S. All this time, distant relatives of Millar attacked the court demanding that his will be declared invalid on the basis of immorality, but did not succeed.

On Sunday afternoon, October 31, 1926, Charles Millar did two sensational things.
The first was that a slender, fit 73-year-old bachelor who had never been sick a day in his entire life suddenly collapsed to the floor in his office and died. The secretary was shocked. The second surprise was his will: it turned out to be so extraordinary, provocative, and its consequences so sensational that this legal document surpassed everything that Millar, a well-known corporate lawyer, had done in a lifetime.
No one imagined that a respected Toronto lawyer and businessman would put on such a grandiose show in the press after his death. It seems that Millar wanted to show that for a certain price you can buy everything and everyone. Having made a will according to all the rules of legal art, this respected gentleman set a precedent for the greatest posthumous, as journalists noted, "the joke of the century."

Greatest posthumous joke of the century

Charles Vance Millar was born in 1853 to a poor farmer's family in Aylmer, Ontario. A bright schoolboy and later a successful student, he received many awards including a gold medal from the University of Toronto. His average mark in all subjects was 98! Equally impressive was his performance at Ozgood Hall Law School. This ambitious young man was admitted to the bar in 1881 and soon opened his own office in Toronto.

This lucky man had another hobby: he liked to joke and play tricks on his friends. Especially caustic jokes were subjected to people prone to stupid greed.

Millar's friends and colleagues remembered him as a loving and devoted son. After the death of his father, Millar left the "Royal" hotel, where he lived for 23 years, and bought a large house for himself and his widowed mother. Beloved mother sometimes scolded her son that he worked so hard and did not find time to marry. However, one can only guess why he never married. She was also worried that her son slept on the cold veranda at any time of the year. However, there was no reason for fear: Charles never caught a cold. And it seemed that he would live a century.

The funeral of Charles Millar brought together many prominent figures in the legal, business and sports circles, not only in Toronto, but throughout the province. The Reverend T. Cotton, a minister of the Anglican Church, spoke highly in his speech about the moral qualities, devotion and decency of the deceased. And that was the last time a church spokesman said anything good about Charles Millar.

At the beginning of the document, Millar wrote: “By necessity, this testament is unusual and whimsical. I have no heirs or close relatives, so there are no standard obligations to me about how to dispose of my property after death.”

To each ordained clergyman in Sandwich, Walkerville, and Windsor, Ontario, Millar left one part of his stake in the Kenilvert Jockey Club, knowing full well their strong opposition to gambling.

He ordered a share of the shares of the Catholic-owned O'Keeffe Beer Company to be given to every Protestant congregation in Toronto and to every parish priest who publicly fight against drunkenness without naming anyone. The result was stunning: a huge number of church ministers came to court, demanding their shares.

For one judge and priest who were vehemently opposed to betting on horse races (here he named names), he offered tidbits of the Ontario Jockey Club on the condition that they join the club within three years. Which they did (however, having received their shares, they left the club).

To three lawyer friends who were friends with Millar, but could not stand each other, the prankster Charles left a beautiful house in Jamaica with such casuistic notes that from now on they had to share the house, restraining themselves so as not to use their fists.

So, the will was announced; moreover, it appeared on the front pages of the Toronto newspapers. The “big show” began, the heyday of which, we note, fell on the years of the Great Depression. Relatives tried to protest the will, teetotal clerics were eager to get their share of “beer shares”, lawyers of various courts were looking for ways to cash in on doing business. And even the Supreme Court of Canada (!) considered this will on behalf of the Supreme Court of Ontario, which wanted to achieve the transfer of the inheritance to the government of Ontario, ostensibly with the aim of establishing a scholarship fund at the University of Toronto.

9 months after Millar's death, the "battle" for the main part of the inheritance began! It caused a lot of publications and discussions in all print media of that time. All mothers who gave birth to twins or triplets immediately became contenders and their names did not leave the printed pages. In the press there was a daily column called "The Greatest Stork Race" (what a lot of work it took for the papers!), which published lists of women and the number of their children born at the moment.

The church insultedly announced that Millar's will was immoral, as it called into question the sanctity of conception and birth, and delivered angry sermons against the lawyer. The pastors exhorted the women not to take part in this “bad joke.” “But what does it mean not to take? women asked, “not to have children?”

On October 31, 1936, the “great stork race” ended in a draw between Anna-Catherine Smith, Kathleen-Elyn Nagl, Lucy-Alice Timlek and Isabelle-Mary McLean (all of whom had 9 children in 10 years). They received 125,000 (which in our time is about 1.5 million US dollars).

Ironically, many participants in the "race" were not going to start large families at all. After all, we did not mention those who were left behind, having given birth to 7-8 children. Note that half of the "stork races" fell on the years of depression, when extra mouths were in families to anything. Two of the 4 winners had husbands without work at all, and their families were on welfare. Two other husbands worked, but received low wages. And Pauline Clark divorced and gave birth to her last child, no longer from her husband.

Fortunately, the prizes really helped the winners. All of them managed their money wisely, raised wonderful children, and did not stint on their education. And the television movie "The Great Stork Race" immortalized this amazing competition.

Well, Charles Millar put on a good performance showing how far people are willing to go to get someone's money. Perhaps this was the most outstanding achievement of the lawyer Millar.

After the death of a rich man and the announcement of the will, relatives begin to divide the inheritance. But sometimes the last will of the deceased can be very unusual...

Canadian millionaire Charles Millar
So it happened with the Canadian Charles Vance Millar. When this very successful lawyer and businessman died, his will was opened, which shocked his numerous relatives and amused the rest of the people.

Of course, the press wrote about the death of a rich man, but in much more detail it covered the details of the will he left and called it "the joke of the century." But first things first.

Charles Millar (1853 - 1926), a resident of Canadian Toronto, has always had a sharp mind and a great sense of humor. He studied at the law faculty of the local university and graduated with the highest score. After Millar opened his own office, where he provided legal services to residents of Toronto. His business was going very well. He earned both prestige and money, but he wanted more.

Sun Express Campaign, Canada
Someone squanders what they earn, and Charles invested everything in various projects. He bought the O Keefe Brewery, the BC Express mail-delivery company in the Caribbean, and expanded its reach; bought up real estate and built two steamboats.

Charles Millar was not married, so there was no one to control his expenses. And sometimes he could literally words, scatter money. Knowing the human nature, he liked to have fun, for example, like this. The millionaire scattered money on the street, hid and watched from his hiding place as passers-by rush to him and start, trying to overtake the arcs of a friend, grab them and hide them in their pockets. It is a pity that in those years there were no video cameras, otherwise, undoubtedly, Millar would have immortalized this spectacle for posterity.

And Millar was very fond of horses and racing. His thoroughbred race stallions won prizes more than once.

In 1926, at 73, Charles Millar died. As we have already mentioned, he had neither a wife nor children, but there were more than enough other relatives. And they all hoped to get their piece of the inheritance.

When they opened the will and began to read it, the relatives began to suck in the stomach - they realized that they had to wait for a dirty trick.

“My will is extremely unusual. I believe that I have no relatives to whom I owe something, so I dispose of my property according to my whims and whims ... ”(C. Millar).

Relatives got nothing. “They hoped for a share and looked forward to my death, but in vain ...” (C. Millar).

Money, movable and immovable property were divided among strangers. But not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance.

Millar bequeathed the house in Jamaica to joint ownership without the right to sell his share to three men who hated each other.

Brewing company "O Keefe"
Toronto priests, zealous fighters for sobriety and healthy lifestyle life, received stakes in the O Keefe Brewing Company worth over $700,000. The holy fathers could not sell them, they had to take part in the management of the plant and make a profit. The will did not include names, but greedy Toronto churchmen rushed to court in droves, arguing that it was they who were entitled to a share of the inheritance.

Three men who did not like racing and demanded a ban received shares in the Kenilvert Racing Club. With the condition that they become members of this club. And they did.

And the rest of the inheritance (very considerable) will need to be handed ten years later to the woman who over the years will give birth to the most children. If there are several "heirs", the amount will be divided between them into equal parts. Why did Millar do this? It is believed to "annoy" the fighters with large families.

Many women believed Millar and entered the race for the inheritance. Journalists called this their competition - "Race of storks".

Millar's relatives, dissatisfied with the will, tried to challenge it. They said that no sane person could write such a thing! But all to no avail. The court recognized it as valid.

Ten years have passed. The rest of the will (and these were shares of a large construction company) grew during this time and amounted to 750 thousand dollars. She was divided among four mothers who gave birth to nine babies over the years. And how many women gave birth to 7-8 children, and received nothing!?

About Charles Millar, more precisely about his will, a television movie was made in Canada.

And so it happened that a solid business man with an excellent education managed to put on a public show and proved for the last time that it was not for nothing that he was considered the best lawyer in the city. He managed to draw up a will, which shocked someone, made someone laugh, but not a single point of which could not be challenged.

And his moral is this: you can buy almost anyone, the main thing is to correctly determine its price.

Charles Vance Millar was born in 1853 in Aylmer, Ontario (Aylmer, Ontario). He studied at the University of Toronto and in all his subjects, in total, he excelled by 98%. Deciding to study law, Millar successfully passed the bar exam and opened his own law office in Toronto.

In 1897, Charles purchased the BC Express company from Stephen Tingley and acquired government contracts to deliver mail to the Cariboo, British Columbia region.

When it became known that the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway passing through Fort George, later named Prince George, Millar took over the BC Express service at Fort George and built two unicycles, the BX and the BC Express.

Charles also foresaw that Fort George would become major center in Northern British Columbia, and began negotiating the acquisition of an "Indian Reservation", areas set aside for First Nations people, at Fort George.

However, the builders of the Canadian Pacific Railway had already planned to acquire the "Indian Reservation" and persuaded the Bureau of Indian Affairs to stop doing business with Millar. When Charles sued the builders, the defendant agreed to sell him 200 acres of land in what became known as the Prince George suburb, "Millar Addition".

Known in the world of investment and legal practice, Millar, however, is best remembered for his love of jokes and practical jokes based on human greed. His favorite stunt was to leave money on the sidewalk and watch from hiding as passers-by furtively put the bills they picked up into their pocket.

The most unusual was the last "trick" of Charles, reflected in his will. Expressing his will, the financier wrote the following:

"This will is non-trivial and capricious out of necessity, since I have no hangers-on or close relatives, or an obligation imposed on me to leave any property after my death. I leave this will as proof of my reckless craving for hoarding and holding more than required in my life".

Best of the day

In a hilarious will, Millar wrote a host of strange clauses, among which he ordered the ownership of his country house in Jamaica to be divided "between three men known for their contempt for each other."

Charles bequeathed $7,000 worth of shares from the O'Keefe Brewery to seven well-known Toronto Protestant ministers and sobriety advocates, but only if they become involved in the management of the company and will be content with its dividends.

Three ardent adversaries horse racing Millar bequeathed $25,000 worth of shares in the Ontario Jockey Club.

But the last item in the will of the financier was the strangest and most serious in terms of the amount of remuneration. The tenth clause stated that after ten years from the date of Charles's death, all of his property should be "converted into cash and given to a Toronto woman who had by then given birth largest number children."

Miller foresaw the option in which there would be several such women, and in this situation ordered that his fortune be divided equally between mothers of many children. As a result, the competition between women in childbirth became known as the "Great Stork Derby" (alternatively, the "Great Stork Race").

The Supreme Court of Canada recognized the will as valid, since Millar seriously tried to find fault with the point of view of the law there was nothing to complain about.

Yet the will marked the beginning of a decade-long series of litigation, including by distant relatives trying to recognize last will Charles is invalid. At the same time, those wishing to win the "Great Stork Derby" competition did not become less.

Millar's long-term investment, especially in the construction of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, has turned a $2 investment into more than $100,000. The total value of Charles' property after 10 years, after a deflationary economic period, amounted to about 750 thousand dollars. Most of " prize fund was divided among four Toronto women, each with nine children.

A certain amount, $ 12,500 each, received two women who allegedly had the right to claim a share of the total amount of the Great Stork Derby competition. Thus, the long-departed Millar, who during his lifetime regretted his craving for hoarding, provided at least 36 children with everything they needed.

The Great Stork Derby was covered in the 2002 TV movie The Stork Derby, where leading role played Megan Follows (Megan Follows).

It has been speculated that Millar used the mother-of-family clause in his will as a means of calling into question the notion of "ill-conceived childbearing" and prohibitions on birth control.

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