Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1881-10-27
"Reassure yourself, madam" said

mo, SIT.
"you have, perhaps, Il record of
family events-yOur own birth, your
parents marriage, your grandfather's
death?'
Hannah Gneldt wonderingly replied:
81 have mothers Bible, and they tell
me it's all there"
"HOw far back?'
ITO grandfather's birth, | believe
Grandfather Burns. He had one
child; and l am the only one my par
ents ever had. Oliver set down our
wedding day and our two boys birth
days"
"And your great-grandfather - the
record of his death is there?"
81 don't know; you may see. Wait,
I'll call Oliver
Going to the door, Hannah took
down horn used for that purpose, and
uttered a call which brought Oliver
Gneldt home from the field at once.
He also felt alarmed, but explana-
tions quieted him. Almost as much
astonished as his wife, he brought out
the old Bible.
"The death of my wife's great
grandfather, Zebulon Burns, is not
here" he said. "The first record is in
his hand, l believe. 1t is the birth of
his eldest child"
So it proved, and the lawyer lJoked
disappointed.
"YOu cannot remember the day of
his death?" he said. 81 mean the date
of it,"
"IIe died long before was bOrn,'
said Hannah, "and though rich, left
nothing to grandfather. They had
quarrelled, I believe. lie told odd
stories of him. lie must have been
very eccentric, and a servant Or house
keeper had great influence over him;
she had the property. Margery-Mar-
gerry"
"NIargery Nilber, think" said the
lawyer.
eyes" said Hannah, 81 remember
now."
"Iou are quiet people, not likely to
talk too much," said the lawyer. 81
will tell you something. We have
found a will among the effects of a
legal gentleman who died very sudden
ly III a fit of apoplexy. Don't hope too
much, mind. A will in your favor
that is now in your favor, as your
fathers only child"
Hannah clutched her husbands hand.
ut is written by one on his death
bed, dated the 10th of March, IL,
and leaves all his property TO your
father, his grandson, then boy.
Hush! don't expect too much. Mar
gerry WILDER or her heirs now hold this
property under will dated March Is,
IL"
"a later will" said Oliver. "Then,
of course, they are the rightful pos
SCISSORS. What need of all this-the
latest must stand"
"Not if it is forgery" said the
lawyer,
Oliver laughed the bitter laugh of
care and disappointment.
"Who can prove that" he said
"No one, perhaps. Yet the record
Of the old mans death might"
"a man whose dying hand signed a
will on the 10th of March would scarce.
, ly make another on the 18th. We be.
lieve the will forgery, written on old
, parchment since the discovery Of the
one | have spoken of. Margery vii
Der took possession with legal forms
: for no one appeared to test her title
, Where was your great.grandfalhel
buried?"
Here" said Hannah. They say he
was brought down at his request-Mrs
WILDER as chief mOurner, and his SON
grandfather--not even sent for. Al
) old graveyard somewhere. Oh, Oliver
Oliver
She turned quite white and uttered
. a cry.
"0liver, that must be the graveyard
( on Grey's place, that he dug over las
winter in the warm spell"
"Then it is gone said Oliver "Ant
:, our last hope with it. No, gentlemen
good luck could never come to us
:; Poverty means to cling to us to TIN
last. l wish you had better clients.
, "Oliver! Oliver" gasped Hannal
: Gneldt, "tell me one thing. Zebulol
was great-grandfather's name. Zebu
); lon is spelled with a Z, isn't it? Oh
do speak"
Il think you are going mad, Hannah
y of course it is."
u "Oh, the big Z, remember it S
u well! knew it was z; and it wOul
l. have been broken topieces before now
>: Oliver, don't you remember my doc
II step that you were so angry atp | bt
;, lieve it is my old great-srandfather
tombstone. And not to know it whe
!. = l stared at the great Zv
IL Oliver Gneldt said nothing. II
u feared his wife's brain was turning
y and that made him faint and cold as h
u followed her into the garden, and ther
watched, while the three others lfte
at the fiat slab.
n 1t lay before them on the gree
10 spring grass, black letters on IL
u whiteness, and, bending over it, the
read aloud:
IL "zebulon Burns. Born May
Died March IA, II" With eulogi
le tic verses, with long SIS underneath, {
10 in duty bound.
p "Its poor great-grandrather," sal
ie Hannah. And the lawyer extended h
hands, grasping those of Oliver and h
s. wife.
h. "rhe proof issoundw he said, TT
d. latest will is forgery, for it is date
IN the day after the old mans deaf
he Mrs. Gneldt is heiress to large pro
le erty. congratulate you"
II. And Hannah, with her head on h,
or husbands shoulder, whispered: 30
yer, it wouldn't have been better
y, have married Miss Lester after allw
" ->-
I'd "Don't know half their Value"
an "They cured me of Ague, Biliousne
" and Kidney Complaint, as recommende
y, I had half bottle left which used (
VI my twn little girls who the doctors nj