Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-07-03
Western TIehhorne.
From the Kansas City Times.

LfrOm the hanSAs lily 1lLneS.l
General interest has been created in
Kansas City by the approaching trial OF
the suit Of Beverly Jackson and wife
against Mr.. Hezskiah II. King, a veal
thy and prominent citizen of this CITY.
The case was called up for trial yester-
day before the circuit court of Jackson
county, Judge S. i. Sawyer presiding.
A large number of spectators were on
hand, and appeared to be deeply inter-
ested in the suit
The case was tried over a year 2 in
this city, when the jury failed to agree
upon a verdict, nine rendering for the
plaintiff and three for the defendant. At
that time, as now, the liveliest inter
est was manifested in the suit, but from
some reason no report was published in
the city papers. A brief synopsis of the
case is presented this morning to our
readers.
In 1865, Mr.. H. H. King, the defend
ant in the case, met, at a noted pleasure
resort in the east, with a brilliant and
beautiful lady, a daughter OF one of the
first families in the Bluegrass regions.
Handsome, fair, and highly accomplish
ed, this young lady won the heart and
affections OF Mr. King, and IN due time
became his wife. The newly welded
pair removed to Kansas City, where Mr.
MIX OHA04 SOnl6 4dl0C0 CSldLCs 4AGl
resided in this city about two years, and
as far as the outside world is concerned
their honeymoon may be said to have
passed quite happily. During the
month of March, 1867, or abouttwoy years
after marriage, Mrs. King suddenly and
secretly packed up her clothing and
effects, and, accompanied by her colored
maid, Mary Banks, left her husband
and went to st. Louis, where shortly
afterwards, according to the statements
sworn to by her waiting maid, she gave
birth to a son. The child, it is claimed,
was sent out to nurse and placed in care
Of the wife of the plaintiff, Beverly Jack
son, as we nurse. 1t is here where the
mystery and interest in the case centers.
The plaintiff produces positive evil
dence that Mrs King brought the child
TO his house to board, andth a b work
ed hard day and night, and wrote for
the ST. Louis Times and other papers
for the means to maintain the child.
Mr.. King refused to have anything to
do with his wife while she owned and
supported a child which he claimed was
not his. But this did no deter Mrs.
King from supporting and working
hard for its living. She finally went TO
New York, and while there wrote a
number of letters, which were produced
in court, renting money to her child.
These letters contain the most endear-
ing expressions when referring to the
child. Suddenly, and without explana-
ton the letters and money remittances
ceased to arrive. The child was kindly
cared for and raised. Mrs. King, for
some reason, gave up the CHILD, dis
owned it, and become reconciled to her
husband, and lives now surrounded by
all that wealth station and influence can
secure at such fashionable resorts as Sa-
ratoga or Long Branch. The suit is
brought for expenses sustained by Jack
son in taking care of the child since 1867,
a period Of five years. The child Is pro-
duced in court, and is a handsome. sad
faced, interesting boy, with a haxen
hair. blue eyes, clear skin, and is said to
wear the family marks and features of
the defendant, who LEFT him in March,
1867. When she left her husband. she
was supposed by her husband and her
physician(Dr. Milligan) to be near her
full time in pregnancy. The girl, Mary
Banks, who accompanied her to St.
Louis, is positive that her mistress gave
birth to the child.
The defence is based uponthe assump-
ton that Mrs. King had no child, inc
that the one produced in court by the
nurse Jackson, is a fraud is a child Ia
ken from a hospital in st. Louis for the
purpose of klackmailing the defendant
and obtaining money or fostering upon
him a spurious heir to the King name
and estate. The defence produces wit
nesses, one OF them an attendant at the
hospital and the other a nurse, who can
each swear that the child was a found
ling al the hospital, and is not what the
plaintiffs claim it TO be.
The child seemst to have received every
attention at the. hands Of the colored
people. If any fraud has been practieed
It was done by the nurse herself. The
plaintiff Beverly Jackson, was raised in
the Blair and Brown family in Kentucky.
Gen. Frank Blair snd Gov. Brown are
interested in seeing their old servant
receive justice. Jackson is at present
employed as janitor in the st. Louis
custom house, and has nine children Of
his own.
The testimony, or a large portion of it,
was taken last summer in st. Louis.
The examination of witnessestook place
yesterday. To-day and Tomorrow the
case will be argued in court. The inter-
est manifested in the case will no doubt
draw a large crowd to. hear the argu-
ment on each side. The suit is one Of
the strangest and most interesting suits
ever tried in this country. II the child
is a King. the conduct of the parents is
inexplicable, and cannot be too severely
censured. If on the other hand, the
child is a fraud, and the suit a c~onspira-
oy on the part of the plaintiff and vie,
il is one Of the best laid plots ever
brought into modern courts, surpassed
only by the great Tichborne cas- in
London,