Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-01-18
STE v ARIgs BOD REST,
The True History Of the For and
I Final Recovery of the Stolen Body Of
tho Dead Mil li0nafre. e s
il Good Word for Yillard, With q Pleasant
Reminiscance Of the Days When He was 6
aPoor War Correspondent. al
.A Notable Auto Album, With a Number
OF Charming Extracts Therefronl The
atrical and Other Gossip. K


Stewart have been purposely withheld, and
various stories have been given to the local
papers here to satisfy the curiosity OF their
readers Two of the chief of these papers
! have alleged within the last two months that
lit has never been recovered from the thieves
I who stole it from the vault on thai dark
night five years ago. I am able to-day to
give the true story for the first time and on
high authority. The restless remains Of the
millionaire were recovered more than two
years ago, and for a year they have re-
posed under the cathedral at Garden
City, In special vault so constructed
and equipped that if an attempt were
made to enter it, the touch would set in mo-
tion the chime Of bells in the tower above,
and ring en- alarm to the town, If Judge
Hlton's conjectures are correct, the robbers
Of Stewards grave were three horsethieyes
4 pretty well known in this State and Connec-
tlcut Mrs Stewart, from the first moment
of her discovery that her husbands grave
had beendesecrated, insisted On the recovery
OF the body at any price, but Judge Hilton
doggedlY opposed it, declaring with some
show Of reason, that public safety re-
quired "a defiance Of :. the Villains,
and a. refusal to yield to- their
demands But in the foil Of 1851 q think it
was) an event occurred that woke Judge
Hilton up to the peril Of further persistence.
One of his servants happening to go out OF
the door Sat night, discovered some men at
the foot Of long ladder that was erected
against the side of the mansion. They i'm
mediately fed, and he alarmed the house
hold AT the top Of the ladder window was
open-the window of the room where slept
Judge Hilton's seven year-Old son ! Then
came an anonymous letter:
"You were in time last night. Next time you
viii be too late.
Hilton yielded to Mrs. Stewards view Of
the case and negotiations We're reopened.
There was good deal Of shrewd bargaining
IS to the actuel sum of money to be paid,
and spirit exhibited on both sides that must
have rejuiced the soul of the great merchant
If it was present. but at last the sum of
$4,000 was fixed on, and the term, c. o. d
Not precisely, either, for the thieves insisted
on getting tho money in hand before deliver
ing the body. This condition was accepted
by Hilton as no other was offered to him, by
the commercial and suspicious parties of the
second part The place selected for the de-
livery was o small bare hill in Westchester
county, commanding the approaches from
every side. The directions to Judge Hilton
ran virtually thus:
I'VE will be there at 4 o'clock on Sunday
morning with the body. You send one Man, I'M
armed, on foot, with $4,000 for us. When he
has given us the money we will leave him in
possession Of the body
This program me was actually carried out
A plucky servant Of the late Mr.. Stewart was
selected to complete the purchase He
walked to the top Of the hill, and was ex-
a1nined for weapons by masked men, who
then accepted tire money and departed,
leaving the tormented body behind them in
a trunk have forgotten to say that while
the negotiations were pending the villains
proved their Identity b. sending to Judge
+ Hilton piece Of paper exactly the size and
shape of the piece Of zigHag cloth they had
cut from tho hing Of the riHed coffin they
had left behind them in the Stewart vault
So ends the ghastiy affair.
Since the recovery If the body Mrs Stew
art is very secluded, and is constantly attend
ed by detectives, who are hardly ever out of
her sight. Judge Hilton thrives amazingly.
Stewards great projects OF cheap woman s
hotel and Garden City utopia have both
been allowed to 90 to dismal wreck, but
Judge Hilton has, it is alleged made money
by the sweat of his ingenuity, at the rate of
more than 81 600, 900 a year. The ST ,OOO,-
900 that Stewart gave him has been turned
over and over-ten or twelve times some
folks say, but folks will talk. Stewart him
self is seldom spoken well of by those who
- knew him. / know of no more hideous pic
: ture of wealth than his hollow life and re-
voting death and resurrection, OF one better
calculated to make the poor contented with
their lot
GARFIELD AND MARSHAL NEY.
The human mind bankers for romance.
We are not inclined to believe any thing with
real gusto except the improbable. see that
the story is again current that the illr1strious
Marshal Ney OF France was no other than
Michel Rudolph. u humble lieutenant of our
Revolutionary war, who ran away from Viz
ginia and from this country in 1856 because,
his wife ''went with handsoner man" The
addition is now made that this Michel Ru-
do1ph was brother Of Mrs. Garfeltl's grand
father. Indeed, Mrs Gartields father con-
firms tho report. The yarn is cap
tivating one. Young Rudolph flying
from the scene OF his dis
grace, full of chagrin and ambition, Joining
the French army the year Napoleon did, ris-
ing through rapid eraces, beating the Arch
duke Charles, s5orming the castle Of Elchin-
gen, wrestling victory from defeat, covering
the retreat from Moscow, winning the titles
of count, marquis, duke and prince, welcom-
ing Napoleon from Elba, holding the center
at Waterloo, and finally shot in the gardens
of the xelnbourg--I wish so brilliant fell
low had been Mrs Garfield's great-uucle [
don't know who started the story, but it re-
ceived some creience twenty years ago from
the circumstance that NeYs name was Michel.
and that he spoke English, and that Napoleon
is alleged TO have alluded to him as "Aiy
American" though I can find no such thing
in his writings. The melancholy fact is
that the pretty story is entirely unfounded.
Some twelve or fourteen years ago wrote
to Minister Washb:lne in Paris about it. and
asked him to apply to the municipal records
OF saarlos1is, Ney's reported birthplace 1
soon gotta letter from him, saying that he