The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-16
THE WEAVER CASE.
The Contest Over the Remains and the Estate
of the Indianapolis Undertaken.
Atlanta Constitution.

Atlanta Constitution.
What curious case is this contest over the
corpse Of j. w. Pierce!
Let us review the testimony. A wealthy stock
dealer from Texas is in Atlanta with his friends
His name is j. W. Pearce. He buys the Arabian
mare, Gypsy, and starts home. In the Georgia
Pacific wreck he is killed. His son teegraphs
from Texas, asking that his remains be buried in
Atlanta for the present.
Shortly afterward a Mrs. Weaver-attested a
lady of irreproachable character by highest au-
thority-appears in Atlanta and claims that J..
w. Pierce was really j. P Weaver, her husband,
and the father of her children. Mr.. Walter
Brown is made her attorney, and the corpse is
exhumed. It is identified by the peculiar pitch
of the toes, wound in the neck, and, of course.
by the features. Mrs. Weaver being satisfied,
the corpse is returned to its grave The next
day it is exhumed again, and an Atlanta lady
who knew Weaver Identifies it instantly and
positively as that gentleman. In the meantime
Mr.. Bolton, of Texas. who was with the dead
man on his trip to Georgia, declares that the
Weaver story is absurd-that he knew Pierce all
his life-can bring a thousand of his neighbors to
swear that Pierce never was or could have been
Weaver; and then losing the gravity of the
occasion in the breezy habit of the plains, offers
to bet SIS, 900 to S. 900, or double or half in the
came proportion, that the corpse is that of
Pierce. The son and son-in-law Of Mr.. Pierce
are men of high character and standing, and say
it ia impossible to establish the fact that Pierce
forced by a leading Indianapolis physician
Judge Lochrane is brought into her counsels
Her physician swears that Weaver was shot in
the back OF the neck, while living in Indianapo-
lis, by Mr. Eden, because of trouble with Mrs
Eden. He probed for the ball and dressed the
wound The corpse is exhumed again, and the
wound is found exactly as described and
is sworn to by the physician A letter
written with photographic pen to Mrs Weaver
signed by j. P. Weaver. aud posted at Atlanta
the day before the Georgia Pacific accident is
produced. A stylographic pen and paper cor
responding to that on which the letter was writ
ten are found in the dead mans effects Pending
this. the excellent Mr.. McBurney of the West
view Cemetery, overcome with these repeated in
cursions into the quiet of his graveyard, an
nounced his purpose of turning the body over to
the Indianapolis claimants. The Texans applied
for temporary injunction, which was granted
and the case will come up on it's merits I'M
mense ranches in Texas and other properties are
involved in the contest. Not the least important
asset is the damage suit against the railroad for
killing the deceased Three theories suggest
themselves case of mistaken identity-an at
tempt on one side or the other to levy black
mail-or man who lived two lives and ran two
distinct courses. In any event, we shall have a
cause celebre, and many lawyer will get his
fingers into the wool that whitens the broad
acres of the disputed ranches in Texas.