Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-01-08

party broke up Mr. Shelmire said to him
Remember me, my boy, II you ever
want help" Years after, when chance
left him penniless In London, he remeh-
bered the circumstance, and went in
search of Mr.. Shelmire; and the old man
gave hin warm welcome. "Your aunt
is dead, my boy" he said, "and have
no kith nor kin on earth that know of;
| had daughter, but she is dead, too,
and can't learn that she has left me any
children to take cere Of You are well
come. Indeed, ihy lad" With this he
toph him home and treated him most
! aiiectionately while he stayed. The old
man was anxious to adopt him and keep
him with him till death should separate
them; but Bledsoe was @ sailor, and soon
began to long Tor another voyage, and at
last told the old man that he must go.
The night before he went Mr.. Shelmire
sat up after his usual bedtime writing,
and in the morning he gave to his
guest folded paper which he told
him would do him good some time. The
OLD man at the same time gave him
9lOO, and, leaving London the same
day, Bledsoe had seen no more of It
until the day before his interview with
the proctor He had been Of sea most of
the time since, and had learned bg the
Ing over the files of paper, of the
death OF Jacob Shelmire. Curiosity led
him TO examine the document which he
mad given him, and he discovered, to his
amazement, that 1t was the last will and
testament, giving all property to him
and making him his executor. In addi.
tion to this the fellow swore that he had
often seen Mr.. Shelmire and both the
| Witnesses write, and that he knew these
were the genuine signatures.
That the man had lied from beginning
TO end could not have the least doubt.
saw deliberate, determined perjury in
his snaky-looking eye. For two hours
did cross-eXamine him, endeavoring to
find weak spot in his story, but he had
thoroughly fortified himself and lie.
livered his evidence with all the cool
ness and honchalance of an expert. AS
FOR Passmore, he swore quite as plumply
as Bledsoe that he was well acquainted
with the writing of all the parties whose
names were on the will, and that they
were all genuine signatures. Further
than this, he remembered distinctly the
fact of Bledsoes visit and even went so
far as to swear that Mr.. Shelmire sent
him for Drake and Larned the night be-
fore Bledsoe left. He said that he found
them, and requested them to 20 to The
house on business, and that both had
told him they would go.
could make nothing more of them
than this; and the surrogate admitted
the will to probate when the examination
was finished. From this decision | took
an appeal to higher court.
shall have nothing to say at present
of the triumphant looks and actions of
these two scheming villains, nor the grief
and dependency of poor Virginia. The
sight of her pretty face pale and patient,
and so very anxious, made he nervous
and unfit for work. and at last l told
my student, viii Wyman, that he must
talk with her whenever she came into the
office.
Tell her." said, "that l am working
hard for her and that will do what can
be done"
And with that left him to talk with
her and comfort her. And Master Will,
as have good reason to think, was net
averse to the duty and performed it to
the mutual satisfaction of both.
Only few weeks intervened before
the sittings of the court at which the
case was to be tried. worked with the
zeal and fidelity of my nature, and with
the lncitement of my sympathy for the
poor girl but when the day of trial came
l had to confess to myself that had ac.
complished next to nothing. Icould not
find single person who knew anything
about Bledsoe or his pretended visit to
the deceased; and Mr.. Shelmire as well
as both of the pretended witnesses to
the will were so little known in the city,
and their transactions with business men
which required them to write had been
so few, that it was with great difficulty
that could find anyone who knew this
yTprIllngil.e aha VINO examihied the pre-
tended will, there was not one who could
swear that either of the signatures were
not genuine.
! l entered the court on the morning of
the trial with strange feeling of hope.
lessness. Except the assertions of fraud
and conspiracy that could make for my
client, knew of nothing that promised
to tell in her favor. Virginia took her
seat at the counsel table by me, and
looked with interest and curiosity upon
the unaccustOmed scene. She was look
ing very handsome, notwithstanding the
anxiety in her face; and there were
others present besides Will Wayman
who thought so too. had almost for
gotten to mention the deep interest that
Master Will had taken in the case since
It's commencement. / wanted somebody
TO whom l could talk in confidence about
it, and so he had become thoroughly post
ed in all its details. ] knew that he non.
dered over them considerably, but was
far from thinking that he had worked
out anything that could be of any prac-
tical use in the case. / understood him
better before the day was over.
The case was called and a jury i'm
paneled. The respondents counsel
opened the case in an address of half an
hour, giving all the details and telling
minutely what he could prove. Then
followed the evidence of Bledsoe and
Passmore, given as audaciously and COM
pletely as before the surrogate. NV
counsers cross-examinaticn failed to en-.
trap either of them into any inconsisten.
cy, or to shake their wonderful self-pos-
session in the slightest.
At the conclusion of the respondents
case my counsel addressed the jury in
| behalf OF my client. He roundly
charged perjury and fraud upon the two
men who had occupied the witness.box
al the morning, pointing out the suspl-
clous circumstances that both witnesses
to the pretended will were dead, and the
difficulty of finding anyone that knew
their writing. He insisted that the pre
tended will was base fabrication, and
that the whole story of these men was a
lie, coined and uttered for the purpose
of defrauding poor girl of her patri.
mony.
Virginia told her story in brief. She
told who she was how long she had
lived with Mr.. Shelmire, and what her
relations with him had been. The point
In her evidence was that he had very
often declared that she should be his
heir; that he had never mentioned the
subject of will to her, and that she
never heard him speak of Rufus Bledsoe.
The Jury were evidently interested in
the girl, and, l thought, sympathized
with her; but well knew that this could
not prevail against the strong affirmative
evidence of the respondent.
win Wayman had sat quietly by the
table, taking minutes of the evidence. |
ne now handed me scrap of paper, |
folded form and ooilaJ Mill, tI,o