Omaha daily bee., 1888-05-20
AN HEIRESS
An Outcast Daughter Found In the
enness Mountains.

An outcast Daughter Found In the
Tennessee Mountains.
A Boston, Mass, special to the Chi
cago Times says: One of the Sunday
papers prints a very romantic story Of
the discovery in the Tennessee noun
tains of the outcast daughter and heir
ess of a Nantucket physician. 1t ap-
pears that DR.. Augustus Franklin, who
had lived on the island since 1852, and
was, perhaps, the leading physician in
all Nantucket, left the place and was
gone about sixteen months. When he
returned he inserted a card in the local
paper announcing that he would resume
his practice on a certain date. At the
end of this notice was the %nnounce-
ment that mystitied the good people of
Nantucket. He changed his name.
The physician whom the whole island
had for years known as DR.. Franklin,
stated hat hereafter he wished to be
known as Franklin Augustus Ellis.
Great was the wonderment, many were
the surmises, and not a few wore the
stories told. But no one knew the truth.
The physicians lips were sealed, and
when years afterward death came, the
doctor and the secret were buried to-
gether. His popularity in Nantucket,
both before and after his change of
hoihSt wac SiSuV, LIE ouCCSSS us IL DrdC-
titioner was extraordinary, and his par
ticipation in all the public interests of
the town was marked. The opium
habit, however, crept upon him, and by
1883 he was q slave to the drug. In
March OF that year he left the island
alone and came to Boston. In Nav,
1884, he died at Monson, leaving a will
bequeathing his fortune, some $l5, 900,
to his three sisters.
Now m the strange portion of the
story. George FL. Newton, of Munson,
the attorney who had settled the estate
in behalf OF the heirs, made q trip to
California the following year. AtSauta
Anna he became acquainted with Eph-
rain M. Cleveland, a former resident of
Massachusetts, who, it turned out. was
an acquaintance of the late DR.. Ellis.
Mr.. Newton was much surprised to learn
from Mr.. Cleveland that DR.. Ellis had
been married in 1860. Mr.. Cleveland
said that in company with the doctor he
was n'Saylesville, Ala, in 1859, where
the doctor taught school and practiced
dentistry, while the former taught
penmanship. In the fall of 1860 Ellis :,
Mr.. Cleveland said, married the
widow Martha Patty, of Saylesville.
About a week later he robbed her of
$1,000 and disappeared. Upon learning
these facts Mr.. Newton began a SYSTEM
attic search for the widow and child, if
any, for he had been informed by Mr..
Cleveland that Il child had been born to
Martha and DR.. Ellis a few months sue
ceeding the latter's departure to re-
gions unknown. Mr.. Cleveland, having
known the father of the child so we'll.
became at once greatly interested in
the case. The widow and child were
traced to Moro, ILL.,, and it was learned
that they had gone thence to some place
in Tennessee.
e.. Hill, of Collinsville, Ala, vas also
Interested in the case, and to him came
the information in January last that a
| girl named Sarah Anna Ellis was living
in one of the sO-called ''moonshining"
districts of Tennessee. Mr.. Hall pro-
ceeded to the locality at once, and after
riding on horseback for a long time, for
the roads were impossible for vehicles,
he at last came to an old Lighthouse,
where he found the girl in question.
She was s~cantily clad and surrounded
| by meager household furnishings. Her
appearance indicated hat she had been
subject to all the drudgery hat one
could impose, and investigation proved
that she had practically been the slave
of an old and eccentric ''moonshiner,"
although her character is above sus-
picion. She is of medium height and
i"ii NpihlASAiph, Nhiic hCI hiOuHtilh
life has given her a particularly robust
appearance. Hen hair is of a shade of
brown, and her grayish eyes resemble
those of her late father, although other
wise her features are similar to those
of her deceased mother. She told Mr..
Hall that her mother had been dead
about eleven years, but that her maiden
name was Martha Patty. She remem-
bered distinctly hearing her mother
relate many things concerning her
father, whom she never saw, but whose
name her mother told her was Franklin
augustus Ellis and that he had been
a dentist aud teacher before their mar
riage. Her mother had also told her
that shortly before her birth her father
deserted her.
The girl is now in Collinsville at the
house of her mothers cousin, Mrs. Eliza
A. Adams, who, although she had not
seen the child for many years, at once
recognized her from the fact that her
features so much rcsembled those of her
mother. A perfect chain OF evidence
has been perfected in support of her
claim. Whether the matter will be ad-
iusted in the courts o. by a compromise
with the three sisters, who now enjoy
| the possession of their dead brothers.
wealth, remains 10 be determined.
Mr.. Underhill of Hyde Park, Boston,
Mass, while looking up the chronicles OF the
defunct X. Of p. lodge of that town, for the
purpose of Incorporating 1t in the first
twenty years history OF that town, now In
the course of publication, became so inter
ested and enthusiastic over the past that he
| straightway pledged G.. g. TarDell TO reor-
ganize the old lodge ON an enduring basis.
Jennie Gibson, a handsome girl living with
her parents at Arkwright, N. Y, has never
| seen the world nv daylight th0uph auablad
by lamplight 70 sew and read just as clearly
as anybody. Up 70 the age Of four or five
years she was believed 70 be totally blind.
The parents noticed that after the lamp was
lighted she gave evidence OF seeing, md
gradually this power of sight grew upon her
until the little one PLAYED with her dolls and