The Clock of Ages

In the world of strange and unusual wills, the last requests of Charles Millar must rank as the most capricious of all time.

In life, Millar was a quiet man. Friends even described him as straitlaced. But he had another, far more interesting side. Millar was a Canadian attorney and, unknown to many, fabulously wealthy. Probably reasoning that death made these quiet constraints pointless, he funneled all his capriciousness, humor and satire into his last will and testament. This was accomplished by donating large sums of money with interesting conditions attached. In so doing, Millar showed to the world its desire for greed, and the great lengths to which people would go, to receive money – even from dead people.

Some of his victims were professional acquaintances. He had friends, for example, who were judges and preachers. Several of them had a vocal and quite public opposition to organized gambling. One judge always ruled severely when cases involving gambling came through his court. One preacher gave fiery sermons on the spiritual degradation inflicted by the addictive demon.