The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-23
A Third Claimant for the Body.

A Third Claimant for the Body.
Atlanta Constitution. Saturday.
There are now three claimants for the dead
body resting out in Westview Cemetery under
marble slab on which ]. w. Pierce has been cut.
The third claimant was added to the list yes
terday.
Mrs. Weaver of Indianapolis, claims the dead
man as her husband.
Mrs. J. W. Pierce, of Texas claims the dead
man as her husband.
The Chicago Inter Ocean claims the man in
behalf of Boston, where he was wealthy citi-
zen.
The Inter Ocean writes upon the controversy
now going on between Mrs. Weaver and Mrs.
Pierce edtorially, and to its own satisfaction at
least. that the dead man belongs to neither Of
the claimants, but that he is Bostonian. On
the 10th instant the Inter Ocean contained the
following:
IA very remarkable story is this that comes
from Atlanta, Ga, about quarrel over the body
of Z. w. Pierce. who was killed in the recent
railway accident on the Georgia Pacific, near
that city.
''Mr. Pierce was one Of the Oldest and best
known railroad men in the United States, and it
hardly seems possible that any question could
arise as to his identity. At the time of his
death he was president of the Galveston, Harris
burg 81 San Antonio railway, which owns and
operates nearly one thousand miles of road
The State has in all something over six thousand
miles of road. and is more indebted to old man
Pierce as he was Familiarity called, than to any
other person for its progress in that direction.
He entered upon the work with broad gauge
appreciation of the needs and capabilities of the
State. He believed in Texas and had the fac
ulty to inspire Eastern capitalists with his own
faith in that great State. Boston was his base
OF supplies. The city poured out millions upon
millions to build and equip railroads in Texas
under the management Of Mr.. Pierce, whose
Judgment, integrity and energy gave him COM
mand of almost unlimited resources AS
builder he lived along the construction line, and
endured all the hardships of roughing it. Of
late years he has spent most of his time in Bos-
ton ard New York, going to Texas often enough
to keep abreast of all the business of his line and
the general combinations which were necessary
to maintain the interests Of the Sunset system
of which he was the intellectual head.
Mr.. Pierce was buried in Atlanta, in accord
ance with telegraphic instruction from his soa,T.
w. Pierce, jr., the general passenger and ticket
agent Of his fathers road. Hardly had the bur-
ial been performed when q lady appeared on the
ssting that his real name was Weaver and that
his home was Indianapolis. She able to
make out very strong case, the evidences ad
duced being ample, in ordinary circumstances, to
substantiate her claim; but the evidence that
the deceased was Mr.. Pierce was no less ample.
1t is hardly possible that there were two men so
closely alike as to- be mistaken for each other,
one of the marks of identity being hand writing
Ieck. The story of My Double and How He
Undid Me- is familiar, and cases of black mail
carried beyond the grave have been known, but
neither line of explanation would seem to ft this
case
Ordinarily the natural and simple conclusion
would be that Mr.. Pierce was a roue vino main
tanned. under an assumed name a semi-domestic
establish at Indianapolis, but those who knew
him will be slow to believe such an explanation
possible in this instance. He was a man of the
world, in the ordinary acceptation of that term,
but he was very happy in his domestic relations,
and about the last man one would suppose could
be guilty of leading double life. On the whole,
the final and decisive developments in this mys-
terry will be looked for with special interest,"
Yesterday afternoon Major Heath, of Texas,
was shown the paper. He read it carefully. but
as he read an occasional smile showed itself.
Then he said:
"Yes know that man. He did just all that
the paper claims for him. He has built mile
after mile Of railroad in Texas. and no man in
the State is better known in railroad circles than
that very gentleman But / did not know he was
dead Is he2'
That's all know"
"Well, he may be dead, but that amt his BODY
out there in Westview."