The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-09-06


room, when the lawyers clerk came
home with a seedy-looking companion.
"The two went up into the sick-cham-
Der, and something impelled me to fol-
low. My list slippers were noiseless; I
crept into the little dressing room, the
door of which was ajar. I saw parch-
ment produced, and a pen, and the old
man raised to sign. I thought also I
heard a distinct No, no., and then he
fell back-dead.
'''It's no use, Job; he's gone, and his
moneybags with him; you've left it too
late-just like you, cried Keturah in a
temper.
"There was blue-bottle fly buzzing
in the window-it was the middle of
August.
"'Stop,' said the stranger, 'let me
catch that bIue-bottle,' and after some
lodging he caught it, and for what do
you suppose, Mrs. Chappen? He put
the fly in the mouth of the dead man,
and held it shut, saying as he did so,
Now put the pen in his hand and guide
it, and we can swear he signed it while
there was life in him.
"I shank with horror as I saw this
villainy perpetrated, and the other mans
signature affixed, while the fly, re-
leased, went buzzing over the room, and
then bells rang, and the great wall went
through the house /; but the young one
who fled to me for comfort, and sobbed
upon my shoulder, was the only true
mourner.
"The funeral came and the will was
read. James Dudley had not been
wholly excluded; they had been too
cunning for that but the will set forth
that his mother had offended in her
marriage, and that he, James Weston,
had taken an oath to disinherit her off
spring. The testator, however, left
charge upon his heirs and executors, his
beloved nephew and niece, to educate his
grandson James, and article him to
solicitor, as he had himself been articled,
with q small sum for mai ltenance till the
and no more
81 told DR.. Hill that I was sure the
pen was put in a dead mans hand, but
he said it was preposterous, and bade
me hold my tongue. l was dismissed,
and being myself afraid of any publicity
of my own name [ weakly let the mat
ter drop, sitting conscience with the
thought that it was no business of mine.
"Then my own cares drove all others
out of my mind. [ came to London,
where / soon got good connection, and
I began to save money. At last it came
to my ears that the Bromleys were purse
proud and arrogant, and had not even
fulfilled the provisions of the sham will
for poor James Dudley. My conscience
stung me; [ felt as if [ had been part
ner in the fraud to rob the orphan of his
patrimony, and [ went to magistrate
for advice.
'He gave me a hearing, and then re-
ferred me to a respectable solicitor, who
took the matter in hand.
"To make a long story short, James
Dudley was looked up, criminal pro-
ceedings were threatened against the
Bromleys, a search warrant obtained,
and in the recess behind the bed another
will was found, properly drawn up and
attested, in which old Moneybags left to
his nephew only the money he had al
ready defrauded him of-as witness sew
eral forged checks inclesed with the will
Of course the latter will would have set
this aside had it been genuine. That it
was not, was proved by the abrupt
fight Of the Bromleys, and the confess
sion OF their rfellow-conspirator, who was
brought to book.
"James Dudley is now rich man,
and if he does not make good use of his
wealth, Mrs Chappell, never trust the
discernment of Mary Marbury."