New-York tribune., 1886-02-16
A pT/ZIING CASE.

Atlanta has a pulling case, the body ot
deceased man there having been poSltlVey
identified as TWO people. He is alleged to nave
been on the one hand n Texan millionaire
named j. w. Pierce, and on the othcr Il MI D.
Il. Weaver, of indianapolis. Mrs. Weaver has
identified the body by physical pecnilarlles ana
especially by scar pn the neck. The friends
of Pierce are equally certain that the remains
are his. The custodian of the body was about to
deliver it To Mrs Weaver but was stopped by
an iDinnction and as Pierce very wealthy
nottracted litigation is threatened. OF course
there are several almost equally plausible ex-
plantations of the case. That of mistaken
identity il perhaps the most probable. Iherc
are so many instances on record in which wives
have failed to recognize husbands, ana nus
bar dis wives, and in which the most singular
duplication Of physical marks has Only con-
frmcd error, that it is impossible to put lmit
TO this kind of dclusor. Nor does the Tact that
two men are missing while only one body Is
present render the matter less flicult, for 1t Is
always possible that the second man may nave
good reasons of his own for not coming forward
to clear np the mystery, and even in these days
of general newspaper reading he may have
failed to hear of the affair
Then there Is tho theory of a double life led
bv one man. Such cases have undoubtedly
happened, and a remarkable instance was
EXPOSED in England only last year. In that case
n man had married two women, IN two cities,
under different names had Tear' d two lamllieS'
conducted two businesses, formed two circles oi
friends, and kept this dual condition up 50
skifully that it was never suspected untll MS
death rendered conccalment no longer possible.
Such cases, however, are very rare, ana the
circumstances must be peculiar which render
the maintenance of so complicated deception
practicable. So far the conditions do not seem
10 have been present in the case OF the man
killed on the Georgia Pacific Railroad, the only
circumstance tending in any way to create
doubt being the possession by Mrs. Weaver of
letter written by a pen the like Of which was
found on the body of the supposed Texan
millionaire. Stylographic pens, however, are
yeIy common, and it mag be argued also that
the finding of the pen only strengthens the
probability that Mrs. Weavers identification is
right.
1t does not appear that every possible effort
has vet been made to determine the fact of
Pierce's death. If his home was in Texas it
seems possible that he may after ali be travel
ling somewhere in that State, and as in that
event he might easily have missed the Georgia
newspapers his silence would not necessarily
have any significance. Yet Pierce's son, i'll
Texas, appears to have concluded that his
father was dead, and this again complexities the
matter. Both the men seem to have been well
and widely lnOwn. Many people are equally
confident of the identity on both sides with
sufficient panstaking, however, there ought to
be definite proof one way or the other. II No
double life has been lived 1t is plain enough
that either Weaver or Pierce is still living. In
that event the survivor, whichever it is, ought
to be found The theory already hinted at,
that one man was killed and the other has dis
appeared purposely, while not unhinkable,
still sav0rs of extravaganza such as one does
not look for in real life. We do not see that the
blackmail theory has much support Both
sides appear to be sincerely convinced that they
are right. But if neither wives, nor sons, uor
sons-in law, nor business partners can settle
case of identity, it seems almost hopeless to ex-
pect that it can be put beyond doubt.