Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-04-25
One Use For q Family Historr

in Blocker street near Mulberry v aoNl
day, was a carefully dressed cro 9eNd
person connected with the fratern;s,d
thieves and swindlers, seated in a oI.!
twirling his moustache ~delicate]y 10y
one hand, while the other hunp ;ss
by his side. His feet were on a om nase
round centre table, and his hat ~,
cooked well back on his head. y
"You seem to be under the weatbo..
said a friend who entered.
The crook kicked a chair aronn1,
ward the visitor. and then said:
Eyes. Well, I'm not exactly I'm,
the weather, but"
Here he stopped and drew a ro,,
long newspaper clippings from bis o,]
pocket, and smoothed them out. Hay
ing them to his visitor, he continued.
81 am simply detected. One hate,
be beaten by amateurs, you know"
The clippings contained accounts
the searches for the treasures ALLEGED
have been lost in He'll Gate on the R.
ish frigate Hussar, with Statements
amounts of money advanced to the nj
who have conducted the alleged scar
'.In all my experience" said 4
crook, 81 never evolved a scheme ri
could bring into my hands anything]j
a quarter Of such sums but once
The memory Of that scheme brisA
ened him up, and, having lighted a ir
cigar, he said:
'.In 1872, when everything was
%parently booming in business, and nj
pie were just as anxious to become al
denly rich at small expense as they
now, l was one day rummaging arop1
the shelves of q secondhand book-sta|
in Nassau street, in search of a Grpl
lexicon. Economical? Yes, econon|
is the road to wealth. 1 always M
secondhand books, because it fire luq1
ly becomes necessary for me to cham
my headquarters suddenly, and it wou
not do to leave a valuable library
hind me. AS l was saying, in that std
l found in two large leather-bound I'd
umes the history of-well, call it
Hopkinson family, because that was]
the name. With it came an inspiratil
| Here was q list of names and address
running into the tens of thousand
"You could get addresses that va
fresher from the dealers in names"
''Yes, yes. You don't see. | imn
/ diately bought the books for 50 and
a quantity OF letter paper printed WI
a lawyers card at the head. For Sd
eral days l was very busy writing al
mailing letters which read somethi
like this:
ROE, SMITH & BROWN,
Attorncysand Counsellors,
No. Broadway, N. Y, :, 1S,22.
Mr.. John J.. Hophinson, Hcrlcime,, HsMid
County. n. Y.
DEAR SIR: The estate of r. Edward Hopk
son, formerly Of Q~uackcnwell. Dorse,sh}
A.. Dccember3, 1865. is now to be d~istribu4
We have been directed by Messrs. DolSj
Dodson Of London to look after the Amcrd
heirs. There is a small sum, about tl.MCO
be paid to a MIR. John Hopkinson of Hcd
son of L.. Mayo Hopkinson of Dorsctshl
England, Il cousin of the late II. Edward H
kinson. ii o can furnish legal proof Il
you are the man the money will be ready !
you when the papers are prepared. We md
' ~" " viz l"Iq
AS we do MOI know YOU, we are obliged to
mand this IN advance; Respectfully yours
ROE, sMIrH& BRowN, TeEd
1t is needless to say that the bod
had told me that the deceased had
away to sea in 1874, and had new
been heard of, although it was rumou
that he owned large estates in Calitd
MIA or some other place on the Pacl
coast, and that my correspondent Vi
the descendent of the grandfather
ferred to-"
''Your letter was very short"
"And business like. We weren't
tanned to write IN obituary OF the
ceased, but to distribute his estate"
Glow many Hopkinsons applied
their shareS:?n
II think l won't tell YOU I did,
%coniine myself to q fee of $50 thoug
When l could find u Hopkinson vi
was in either of the commercial agend
as worth a good deal of money In
the fee in at from 500 to $500. Nj
of that class would have been suspicn
Of a $50 fee. In fact, 1 wouldn'te
you this at all only l found it so We
risky on account of the wrath of tho
who We're caught for large sums ths'
DO not dare to work it again. l fou1
it necessary to seek q change OF air
fore | had garnered half the harvest
n. \. Sun.