The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-01-27
FACT STRANGER THAN FICTION.
Some Notable Instances.


FACT STRANGER THAN FICTION.
Some Notable Instances.
Within the last two or three weeks the
newspapers have chronicled no less than four
"facts," each of which is as strange as those
In fiction. The one first before US occurred
in philadelphia, where one Of the judges was
employed for several weeks in the effort to
ascertain and decide
WHICH OF TWO INFANTS
then in court was the child of the mother who
was then and there present, and claimed one
of the babies and repudlated the other. 1t
was admitted that one of the babies Was the
child of the mother who made the claim, but
1t was alleged that the one she did not claim
was really hers. This was setting aside the
forcIble testimony Of nature, but, after long
discussion and much conflicting evidence, she
was awarded the baby she claimed--not, how
ever. because she did claim IL, but because 1t
had s.yaccination" mark on It's arm, and the
other baby had none. The dispute was not
less improbable" than those we read of In f1c-
tion, where children were represented as
having been ''chouged in the cradles" and
where the stolen one at last turns out to be
the "true heir" and the test by the vac
cination" scar rivals the famous strawberry
mark" on the left arm Of 1.-THE long-lost
brother"
THE NEXT CASE
is that of prosperous citizen of Oswego, N.
Y, who left his home one night, about Blk
years ago. to go on short erraad, and never
returned. There was no reason why he
should absent himself voluntarily. In prose-
c1tng the search for him the dead body OF a
murdered man was found In the vicinity.
This was regarded as solution OF the mys,,
terry. Ills children divided the property, and
in the course OF five or six years the "mur-
dern had nearly passed into oblivion, when,
about three or four weeks ego. the murdered
man. ,reappeared at his old home, apparently
to the utter conservation ofhis family, rather
than to their satisfaction. He had never been
further away than the Pennsylvania oil re-
giotS- and has not yet disclosed the reasons
for his strange disappearance. Nearly every
novel-reader will recognize iu these facts par
allies OF similar events in stories and dramas.
which are regarded as "iar-fetched" and
iigrossy improbable" third among recent
STRANGE DEVELOPMENTS
Is that of Miss Butlllon, OF New Hampshire.
This young girl was employed In cotton
mill, working hard for scant living. death
In her family compelled her to give up her
employment and 60 home % take care OF an
aged mother. When she left the mlllshe had
a few articles of working clothes to take with
paper which she tound among the waste In
the mill. After she got home she picked up
fragment Of the paper "a New OrieaHs jour-
nall to amuse herself by reading 1t, and she
saw the mention OF name like her oWn-Bu-
tillon-which Ia not common name. She
wrote playful letter to this gentleman, who
responded, and proved to be distant rela-
tive. The correspondence was kept up with
great regularity for awhile, and then suddenly
ceased. Some months later, and only q little
while ago, she received letter from lawyer
In Louisiana Informing her that her relative
(Mr. Butillon) had recently died without fam
ily. and had left her his whole estate, valued
at 5000 900. Here poor factory girl sudden
IL becomes rich heiress through the incl
dent of wrapping up her working clothes in
niece of old newspaper, which paper, alter
hundreds of vieisslludes and escapes from de-
struction. wandered by accident 10 her hand
in mill thousand miles from It's starting
point!
ANOTHER CASE
within two weeks reads like some Of the
scenes in the novels OF Eugene Sue and Du-
mas, where perlls In dungeon vaults and
mysterious underground passages frequently
plsy their parts. Two worsmen In a New
England factory town went down into long
and deep subterranean passage connected
with the waterways of several mills, to clear
away distractions. They were at work long
time, at distance from the place OF exit,
when one OF them noticed that the water was
rising rapidly behind them. They started
towards the only place of escape, when, by an
unfortunate misstep. one OF them fell, dropped
his lantern, and extlngulshed their only means
OF light Then they went cropping their
way along through the black darkness,
the rising water swelling up faster
and faster until it reached their arm
pits. Esthis time they had got TO the place of
exit, but the wooden ladder by which they
had descended had been carried away by the
rush of water. Their case was now desperate,
for, during the time spent In trying TO find
the ladder, the water had risen up 10 their
necks, leaving but about ore foot Of space
between the surface of the water and the top
of the vault. just then, when all hope of
escape seemed to be cut of, immediate
death staring them In the face, a surge In the
waters swept the floating ladder against the
shoulder of one of them. They set it in Its
place, one of them mounted to the trap" at
the entrance to the vault, while the other
held 1t fast, and In few seconds both were
safe on the surface of the earth, in the glad
light of day.