Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-05-31

lady whose husband was travelling
for commercial house in this city.
This was in the month of May,
1877. Letters to her parents dated
at "New York" were regularly
written by Miss Tillie from her re-
treat on College Hill, but they were
first received by the sister, who,
after tearing off the envelope that
bore the College Hill postmark,
turned them over to the loving
father, motherand brother at home,
who were sad that their loved one
was so far away. From the Sd of
May until the Sd of the following
September the girl remained at the
Hill, where at the last mentioned
date the child was born. Her bills
were promptly paid by Mr.. Webber.
Finally, Titles mother found
out the trick that had been played
upon her, and with it came the
crushing blow that her darling was
the victim Of q seducer. Mother
like, she did not turn her back
upon the daughter, but took her
child, when two days old, and
adopted it as her own. None in
that family but the mother and
sister knew how near, by birth, the
little waif was to them. The little
fellow was petted and caressed, and
doubly so by his mother, who went
to see him as often as she dared,
and who fairly worshiped him.
She hardly dared to acknowledge
to herself that it was bone Of her
bone and flesh of her flesh.
At length a reckoning time for
Webber came. He made frequent
trips to New York to attend to his
"silverware" bubble, and to his
credit be it said, he never left with
out amply providing for his victim
and her child, Upon one occasion
he handed 5000 to a clerk for Til
lie, saying: "Tell her John Smith
gave her this" Upon his return
from one of these Eastern visits, he
was met in his Office by Tillie and
her mother. Upbraidings, tears,
threats and a sad scene followed,
resulting in the institution of u
suit for baStardy. "Clifford," as
the little fellow was called, was by
this time nearly three months old.
The case was never called to trial.
The married libertine preferred
paying out to swearing out Of the
scrape, and compromise was eff.
fected, the documents being signed
in Squire Riley's Office. Thus
matters we're adjusted as nearly fle;asrrllyy
satisfactory to all parties as possi-
bic, and the principals in this So
cial drama tacitly agreed to bury
the hatchet and endeaYor to forget
and forgive. The girl resumed her
old place 1T the desk, for the family
was poor, and the earnings of the
sisters in the Art Company were
not to be despised, and the business
Of the Office went on as before.
Last December 1" Clifford" died.
Hadn't the girls better come home
to the funeral?" asked Mrs. Lin
kenbach. "No, it's hardly worth
while, answered her husband, "it's
only an adopted child land the
baby boy was buried, its grave un-
bedewed by the tears of its mother,
who dared not own that it was hers.
The subsequent career of the hero
of this "o'er true tale" is easily
told. Not content with the large
margin of profit made from the
"Three Graces out of his income,
from which he builta palatial man
sion in his native town of Marion,
Webber Matched still another
scheme with pictures as a basis,
This last one he carried on with
such a reckless disregard of the
common usages of business honesty
that it at last brought its inevitable
reward. How he duped the people
with it was fully explained in a
column article in the Enquirer but
a few weeks ago. The next thing
we hear of him he has shaken the
dust Of Cincinnati from his feet,
where the atmosphere was becom-
ing too warm for his delicate or
ganization, and when the sheriff,
with an attachment on his effects,
issued for the settlement of a trades
mans bill, called at the office, he
finds the art-rooms empty and the
bird flown. Going to Marion, after
the expose in the Enquirer, he
traded his palatial residence for
land and a homestead in Chippewa,
Ontario, and thither he has gone.
But far away in his Canadian home
visions, no doubt, OF his art career
while in this city haunt his imagi-
nation, and the principal figures in
his mental Kaleidoscope are his
lovely clerk aud her dead "Clir.
ford"