The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1848-11-17
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER II, 1913
From the London Times.
A Romance Of Real Life.

appears TO have been as gratifying to every
listener, as It must needs have been to the
parties Immediately concerned. There was
no very great conflict of evidence in the
matter, as the case turned entirely upon the
selection OF two probable stories, and we
shall be best enabled to present the reader
with an Ineligible digest of the three days
trial by assuming, as the jury did, that the
tale OF the plaintiff was strictly true, and by
relating it in the shape of continuous
whole as may be constructed from the min
utcs of the proceedings.
| In the year 1863, there was born, at Bad
well Ash, in the county Of Suffolk, Theo.
phlus, the son of John and Elizabeth Tur-
ner, who were people in al humble rank of
life. the husband being n gardner 10 the
Rev. DIR. Ord, Of Fornhum st. Martin, in
the same parts. As the boy gave promise
OF quicker sense than ordinary, he was
sent to village school, where wiring hap.
pence to be taught with peculiar excellence,
and subsequently, by the kindness of DIR.
Ord, to some seminary at Bury ST. Edmund's
very probably, as his classical proficiency
IS mentioned, to the admirable old grammar
school OF that ancient town. II seems that
the boy looked to the sea as his future pro
lteSsion. since DIR. Ord used Familiarity 10
call him "Jack the Sailor > but upon some
quarrel between himself aud his patron lie
lett Suffolk, and obtained, through the con-
tlnued Kindness OF his friend. situation in
some school near London. This was in his
youth, and from that moment almost up to
the present day none of the Suffolk people
ever saw or heard anything of their lost
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Turner.
| In the wear 1910 nm thu last la, oF Ion
uary. there died at No. 10, Henley street,
] Brunswick Square, a gentleman by the
Bame of John Turner, insane and intes,ate,
leaving behind him property exceeding the
value of 100000 He had been an eccen-
Tick gentleman, and up to the year or two
before his death had not only been in pos
session OF his faculties, but Of faculties con-
SiderabIy above the common run of such
endowinens. lie had been a clerk, first in
the Ordinance Office, and subsequently in
the sun Fire Office, in which establishment
he conducted himself so serviceably that in
1870 he was permitted TO retire upon pen
sion OF i2OO per annum, as the reward of
nearly forty years work. He had gained
/ prizes not only in the lottery OF life, but IN
that less managely lottery with which the
government of those days encouraged the
speculative propensity of the people, and a
fortunate ticket was always understood TO
have blessed him with sort of comfortable
Independence. His habits and appearance
were as singular as those wealthy and single
are invariably expected TO be. He wore
pantaloonS and powder, entered only perio-
Ideally into society, and had only once
changed his landlady in thirty years.
Though not commonly alkatl,v ,r,r,.t
ing his extraction, yet he now and then
dropped hints which were not forgotten,
and he showed some prediction for the
couftyo Suffolk, by making an excursion
there twice every year for the sake of shoot.
ing; aud receiving from the same quarter
occasional presents Of game, which, were
let for him at the old eastern counties. the
White House, III Fetter Lane, and fetched
from the Office with his own hands. Al
) length. as we have said, in 1912. John Tur.
ner departed this lie, after gOodly lease
ct 1t, and in default Of any next kin. Mr.
Maule, the solicitor of the treasury, i'm.
r pounded his whole property in behalf Of the
crown.
I Now comes the romance of The story.
Few persons Of discreet age and average
observation can have failed to remark that
the memory of a relative lost when young.
and supposed to be revelling in riches in
some mysterious quarter of the globe is in
variabl cherished by every branch, spring,
or bond of the whole family, with a rever-
ahce and tenacity, compared to which the
affection Of a Roman for his household gods,
or of Chinese for his ancestral sacrifices,
vaniShes into nothing. Two whole gen.
eratiUns have passed away and yet the name
"A aSNgF f..
tie topic with the Turner'S of Livermoie,
and expeditions were actually made 10 the
great city to discover that relative; who
was presumed by all TO be infalliably sur
vivng in uubounded wealth and grandeur
, One woman with the consistency of her sex
actually devoted her whole lite TO the search
and was known in London as the lady il
search Of her longlost kinSman.
Even before Mr.. Turner's death some
glimmeringS of graduation were directed to
wards him, but when the amount and diSpo
, sal of his property became known, no furth
, err hesitation was felt, and kinship and good
! Of the deceased gentleman were bodily clai
med by the thirteen susviving Turner'S o
: the Suffolk stock. The result has reward
ed their fidelity and justified their claims
,, for our report of Friday will have iniorme'
the public that the jury were thorough,
!, satisfied by the evidence Of the witnesses
and the eloquence OF Sir Frederic Thesig
!, ner, of the identity Of TheophiluS, the schoo
!, boy, and John, the gentleman. and that III,
! crown has now to refund the c60,00O n. In,
stake for the benefit and disposal of til,
:, plaintiffs at large.
Considering that the proof involved cos
q, nothing less than the Identification of a gen
, teman who died six years back in Londol
: with a lad which lief, Suffolk seventy year
I ago, it must be admitted that Sir Frederick
, spun his threads of evidence into yarn q
, wonderful neaness and likelihood. II wa
proved by the cOncurrug testimony of wit
, nesses altogether unconncCtcd with the fam
, lily, that the deceased had spoken ofhimSeI
/ as the son of gardener, ms born in Sulloll
, as once n teacher in a school, aud as havin,
n sister named Sarah. He was also prove,
by the evidence of n surviving school fellow
, to have been at Bury, aud coincidence
: more really curious than such analogeS u
sually was exposed in the fact, that he use,
to call a lad to whom he had taken fancy
by that identical Sobrig,Ici of'Jack the Sal
: lor,' which had once been his own. Hi
! handwriting was peculiarly good, and an
a swered 10 tho notorious excellence of the
school in which he acquiredi,. The knott!
| point was the conver,lbili,y Ia he proved o