Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-12
A FoRTUNE FROof A JoKE.
A Proof Headers Prank and How "a
Copy Holder Found a Fortune.

COpY-AOluer kOund u fortune.
From The Kdasds Cfty JoaradE.
A story which reads like legend from
Gautauma, and in the denouement OF
which poor cOpy-holder and proof-reader
of the Kansas City Times inherits vast
fortune, has just come 10 light. The per-
son on whom the fates have thus be-
nignly smiled Is Richard L. Shanks, well
known as an old resident of Jackson
county, and known to newspaper men as
former copy-holder and proof-reader on
the Kansas City Times. When the first
men ate of the earth and found 1t deli
ciously sweet they could not have been
more enraptured with life and the charms
of the earth than was sold Dick Shanks,"
as the boys Familiarity call him, when he
recently found that vast fortune awaited
him in Kentucky. Had nymph from
Maryland conferred on him her sylvan
wealth, or had some tabled hat Of Fortuna
tus been placed upon his head. so that
every wish would at once be fulfilled, the
lonR-lost heir would not have been more
surprised, for the knowledge OF his wealth
came to him from joke perpetrated by q
proOf-reader during the sultry nights of
last summer.
one hot night last July, when the bur-
den of pr0Of-readng in close room
seemed almost sutfocating, when the hot
air of the blazing gas burners and the
sitting fumes from fifty jets over typos
cases seemed beyond human endurance,
Dick Shanks might have been seen work
ing as only night tlends on morning pa
pers can work, gazing ntenty at the
agate and nonpareil takes, declphering
bad manuscript and laboriOusly con
tributing his share to make morning
paper. With fevered brow and tired ewes
the Old copY-holdeT tOiled on through the
busy rush Of "a "heavy' night, gazing
through his spectacles TO catch a turned
SO" or a wrong font S." About $3.50
o'clock in the morning there was a slack
in the run Of copy, and while Shanks and
his fellOw-wOrkmen were waiting for
other proofs he began TO tell how night
work was wearing on him, how he could
not sleep through the hot days, and yet
how dependent he was upon his small
salary for Il livelihood! He lOnged to
leave the desk, and told how he had lost a
fortune In the war and now had to work
like slave; that he was poor and dis
cOuraged with his condition, and be did
not care how soon the good angel called
him to another world. A few minutes
later than this the prOOt-reader, who sat
beside him, came TO a little telegraph
''take" which said something about vast
fortune in kentucky. Thinking that he
could have little fun by inserting his
companions name in the dispatch, the
proOi-reader added IN few lines on
the manifold paper of the dispatch these
words:
The only known heir Of this Kentucky
Shanks is Il. L. Shanks, lame man and
proof-reader, supposed to be working like
slave on the Times.
The old cOpy-holder read it and laugh
ingly put it in his vest pocket, where ii
remained for many months. OF course no
one ever dreamed that there was word
Of truth in the silly prank Of leisure
hour. but it has now come to light that
every word OF that manufactured tele-
gram is true. Mrs. Shanks one day found
the telegram in her husbands vest pocket,
and asked what 1t meant. just for fun
he said 1t was a true telegram which he
had received. She told a sister-in-law,
and this sister-in-laW wrote to Stanford,
Lincoln county, KY, to know If 1t was
so. The answer came that there was a
! fortune there for the heirs OF David L.
Shanks, formerly of Virginia; that he had
at one time owned a number Of shares in
q turnpike road. He died IN 1S41, and the
annual dividends had accumulated and
been in the public treasury ever since,
and that the heirs could not be found.
When Dick Shanks saw that letter he
knew that his father, who died Just before
Dick was born, was the former owner of
those shares, for his name was David L.,
and he came from Virginia. The story is
a long one, but 1t is enough to say that
subsequent communication with the State
Treasurer and county officials has placed
Dick Shanks' identity without doubt as
the heir Of three-hfths OF the entire fund,
which has been accommodating for over
forty years. The case Is in the hands Of
Mr.. @. j. Bower, Of this city, and Dick
will soon have his money. The toll road
is twenty miles long. running from DAN
vile to Stanford, Ky. The lost-lost heir
is to-day the happiest man in Kansas
City, and, although the exact amount of
the estate Is not known, it is very large,
as stated in the original telegram from
which the joke originated. Thus did one
innocent prank lead TO a poor mans
happiness and the discovery Of long-lost