{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-legatee",
 "title": "The Legatee",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "book_slug": "black-beetles-in-amber",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 30,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1892,
  "venue": "Black Beetles in Amber (1892)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
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  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20",
  "corrections": [
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    "why": "Indentation absent from the source markup and measured from the scan: this line starts 5.1 character advances (~2.6 em) right of its own page's base margin, where the verse sets flush. Converted at 3.0 advances per indent level (tools/defects.py indent).",
    "checked_against": "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
    "date": "2026-08-20"
   }
  ]
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 52,
  "max_indent": 2
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "In fair San Francisco a good man did dwell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And he wrote out a will, for he didn’t feel well.",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Said he: “It is proper, when making a gift,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To stimulate virtue by comforting thrift.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So he left all his property, legal and straight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To “the cursedest rascal in all of the State.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the name he refused to insert, for, said he:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Let each man consider himself legatee.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In due course of time that philanthropist died,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all San Francisco, and Oakland beside⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Save only the lawyers⁠—came each with his claim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The lawyers preferring to manage the same.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The cases were tried in Department Thirteen;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Judge Murphy presided, sedate and serene,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But couldn’t quite specify, legal and straight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The cursedest rascal in all of the State.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And so he remarked to them, little and big⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To claimants: “You skip!” and to lawyers: “You dig!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They tumbled, tumultuous, out of his court",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And left him victorious, holding the fort.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twas then that he said: “It is plain to my mind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This property’s ownerless⁠—how can I find",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The cursedest rascal in all of the State?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So he took it himself, which was legal and straight.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}