Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-08-03

Concluded from first page.)

"My brother. sir; NV twin-brother VIII
conceal nothing from you now. When
only sixteen years OF age he was trans
ported tor forgery. We contrived To hide
the business from our friends; had we not
done so. should never have obtained the
post of trust l have held in your bank.
Had the fact OF his existence even reached
your ears while | held it, You would have
taken it from me, and l and my mother
would have been irretrievablv dlsgraced.
This is why did not write his name in
that statement. But his name was Ed
ward, and you will find the record in"
The. speaker suddenly stopped, put his
hand to his forehead, once more staggered
back into the chair, and thence fell heavily
to the floor.
The doctor who had watched his case
throughout was by his side instantly. and,
alter the very slightest examination, pro-
nounced him dead.
There is no occasion TO dwell upon what
Immediately followed. His dying state
ment was found To be correct, and an
Edward Chase-twin-brother to john
proved to have been transported two years
before the latter obtained his bank APP
pontment.
Our directors made it their business.
through the home office, to get every in
formation concerning this man, and the
whole of this strange business is made
stranger by what they thus discovered
Ii turns out after the most careful scrutiny
and comparison of dates, that the convict,
Edward Chase, had not only never left the
Australian penal colony to which he had
been consigned, and therefore could never
have had a hand in the robbery on the
NJ lint aft
of crimes as bushranger, he was con-
victed of having robbed and killed a man
on lonely highway, on the 18th of No
vember, IG; that he escaped, and being
recapiured at the end OF some months, he
was actually executed on the very day
that poor John fell down dead in our
board-room.
These are The facts, and | suppose Justify
the name, which in this neghborhood is
given to the story. 1t has been terrible
shadow indeed 1t rested on the whole of
us for long time, | can tell you; but for
my part, think it all came from poor
Johns encouraging his dreamy fancies for
wandering about the downs and lonely
places, and reading poetry. Shakespeare
and the like. don't hold with that sort
of thing; it partly turned his head, poor
fellow. I'm sure--at least you will I'M
derstand that is the way in which ac-
count for it all, for you'll never convince
me that there was anything more than
coincidence in it. The poor fellows
queer, odd nature was so worked upon,
thai he probably had fit when he got to
the Waterways, and fell out of the gig.
The doctor told me risately that was his
opinion and it was a fit that killed him in
the end. ! am not going to believe, as
some folks do hereabouts, that there was
any spiritual influence at work 10 his
dreaming. Why, | know a man who
wants to make out that 1t was the villain
Gus life the brother in Australia was lead
ing, and his contemplation of the murder
which he committed on the 10Th of No
vember, that affected the mind of John
Chase here in Eugland--through their
twinsbip, You understand. Bah! I'm not
going to uelieve that kind of stuff-no,
fm too matter-ot-iact for that, | hope.
You shake your heads, but the end proves
that am right, think.
Eight Years aud half passed. and the
matter was almost forgotten. when one
spring the little mere which lies between
Gray's farm and the town OF Meresdene
was drained, and among the white chalky
mud. what did the workmen come upon but
an old brown leather bag, with paddock
My old leather bag, win all the money
that poor John Chase had with him when
he lett the bank that night-evely penny
OF 1t intact, except for the rotting which
the notes and cheques had got from the
wet.
Well, for a day or two this was the
greatest wonder of all. However could
it have got thereP The neighborhood all
round was talking about it, aud as mat
ter OF course, 1t comes to the ears OF q GER
tain man, lying sick. well nigh TO death,
OF fever AT Gray's farm. When he hears
Of this find, he turns very uncomfortable.
sends tor the parson, and says he:
Il can't die with it on my SOUL flung
that bag into the mere, did,"
How did you come by itP'
"Why, when Joe Muzzle aud l came
upon the body OF that poor young Chase,
lying upon the Waterways, aud were
cropping about with the lanterns, and pick
ing up the whip and the cushions aud the
pistols. and all the rest OF it, | kicked
against the bag. Joe never saw me.
guessed what it contained. | slipped it
into my pocket, and said nothing ABOUT it.
When got home found | couldn't open
il, and 1 hid it Tor two or three days under
my bed. Then, when got wind that the
police were likely to search Joe's crib and
mine, why grew frightened lest it should
be found on me. slipped out in the mid
die OF the night and flung ii into the
mere"
With this confession on his lips the man
died; and the man was Farmer Gray's