Willam M. Rice Case

Did Albert T. Patrick instigate the death of Willam M. Rice? That is a question that was asked for over 30 years by many. A controversial case in the 1900 raised many questions from all around. A unique case that involved a rich man, his driver, and his lawyer. The question in fact was, did Mr. William Rice get murdered by his driver or was he instructed to do so by a lawyer. William M. Rice was a very rich man that lived on 500 Madison Avenue, New York City. He had an estate of seven million dollars. He was widowed and childless and died at the age of 84 in his Berkshire apartment. He was in the apartment alone with his driver, Charles F. Jones, whom was also his secretary and general servant, in his bedroom with a cone of chloroform placed over his face. He placed the cone over his sleeping master face, as he says, directed by Albert T. Patrick. Mr. Patrick was a New York lawyer who had never met Mr. Rice, but somehow ended up with William’s property all in …show more content…
They started to go through his papers when they stumbled upon his will. In the will Rice left more than a million and a half dollars to his charity, the William M. Rice Institute “for the advance of science, art and literature,” of Texas, founded in 1891. Only small amounts of money were left to his relatives. Patrick didn't find this fair, he thought the family members and those involved with him should get more money from the will. He told Jones that he should rewrite the will and he will find him someone to sign and witness it. The will was going to double or triple the amounts given to the family members, he was going to take the amount the Rice Institute normally held for himself, but a small portion of it was still going towards it. Patrick also told Jones that he can get whatever he wanted. Jones was still skeptical but ended up given in and rewrote the