Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-05-18

A PECULIAR CASE.
The TURNING POINT IN MY PROFESSION
AL CAREER.

forbidding all outdoor exercise, shall
kill time by writing all about it.
We two first met aud laid the founda-
ton of our intimacy while serving togeth-
60 in the State Senate. | was then in the
full practice of my profession. with no
notion of going upon the bench. You
were from different part OF the State,
and it is scarcely possible that you had
ever heard much OF my early career.
began practice in Gordon county, which,
thirty years since. was in the backwoods.
Brantford, its county town, has now over
$4,000 inhabitants; then it was strag
Cling village OF less than 800. Its coal,
It's iron, and the fact that three railways
cross within its limits, have forced its ex
pansion. At the time | settled there it
gave no promise of mushroom growth :;
and for two years plodded along, getting
call occasionally, and just managing to
be out of debt at the end of the year.
When | came to Brantford, the two
wealthiest men there were Able Prescott
and Benjamn Cuyp. The former had in
herited fine estate. and also obtained a
large amount OF ready money by his wife.
The latter, inheriting very little. had made
money very fast, and by means not quite
creditable The one was free liver !;
the other close and penurious. 1t was
known that Prescott had gone to the bad
as the saying is, on the death of his wife,
and was getting embarrassed in his affairs.
He drank hard, and thus incapdciated
himself for the prudent management of
business. He bred and ran race-horses,
and his colts rarely won. He gained, and
was unlucky at that. The result was that
his ready money gave out, and the most
of his real estate became heavily mort
gagged. The money was always loaned
by Cuvp; ard whenever Cuyp advanced
money in that way, the property secur.
ing the loan came into his hands SOON
er or later. 1t got to be saying,
when mortgage with Cuyp as
mortgagee was recorded: "Old Ben has
been buying another farm cheap" Cuyp
rarely put himself forward in these trans
actions. Nose M'Kissen was the go-be-
tween. Moses was justice of the peace,
a cOnveyancer and real-estate agent. He
was also an auctioneer; in fact, he en-
gagged in almost anything whereby a
penny might be made. And had made a
good many pennies. He was growing
rich. Through him Cuyp loaned Tres
colt quite large sums of money. which the
latter squandered.
Prescott had an only daughter. Marion
Trescott-but | need not describe her.
You saw her when over forty-a handsome
woman; and you can imagine her at
eighteen. had met her on several occa-
sions; but the father was still considered
rich, and [. poor young lawyer. had no
pretensions as a suitor. Her father doubt
lsss loved her; but he did not alter his
habits tor that. AT length he was attacked
by disease, and, his constitution being ut
terly broken up, could not withstand it,
He died, not at the Prescott homestead,
but on what was Familiarity known as the
-Four Section Purchase. About year
before he had left the family place which
was heavily mortgaged. and removed to
the large tract. which was free from all
encumbrance. His grandfather had bought
from Government four sections of rich
lard, extending two miles along the river.
and IA mile from it on either side. Then
it Just touched the village; now it is near
~ all closely built on and cut up bv
streets. 1t contained TWENTY-FIVE hun
drcd and sixty acres of the finest land in
the country. One section had been cleared
and put under fence, on the right hand
side of the river, and on this a rude but
substantial frame house had been erected
Nearly as much had been cleared on the
other side of the river. The place was
rated at between twenty and thirty dol
lars an acre.
On his death-bed Prescott said to his
daughter: 81 have not done very we'll by
you. Marion; but you'll not want. The
old homestead, and the valley farms, and
the three town houses are heavily encum-
bered. By good management, you NAV
keep the homestead; the rest will have
to go. Cuyp'll get them. You can't pay
the interest. much less the principal; but
you can pay one years interest on the
homestead. The rest are desirable proper
tv, and will yield a surplus over the debt
upon them enough to clear the homestead.
have left yon executrix. This property
we are on has not a cent against it. The
cleared part will pay the taxes and keep
you after fashion, and in time it will be
very valuable"
In spite of all that, on the day after the
funeral, Cuyp produced a deed from Tres.
colt to himself, conveying this very prop
erty in fee. tor the expressed considera-
ton of thirty thousand dollars, little more
than half its value The deed was dated
and acknowledged more than three months
before it was offered for record. 1t was
acknowledged before Nj Kissen, who was
also one of the subscribing witnesses, the
other name being that of a 10 Davis, a
sort of hanger-on of M'Kissen. who had
been drowned about four weeks before by
the upsetting of boat in the river. 1
happened to be in the County Clerks
office when Cuyp brought in the docu-
ment. was al deed book, engaged in
search. and after Cuyp had gone out,
Parsons, the County Clerk, spoke to me
about it. saving it was bad business, as
it left Miss Prescott without anything. |
took the deed from him and looked it
over. There could be no doubt about
Trescotts signature. a bold one, with
which | was familiar. But | wondered
what Prescott had done with all that
money, and | said so. We talked the
matter over, and at length concluded tt at
he must have gained it away. The deed
was odd, for various reasons, as YOU shall
see presently. and suspected something
wrong about the transaction, though what
it was could not penetrate.
The next day met Miss Prescott in
the street and she accested me.
"Mr. Bonsall,' she said. 81 was about
to send for you. MIR. Grover, YOU know.
Was papa's lawyer. He is out of town and
will not return for several weeks. Unjust
have counsel. 1t is about that deed which
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