The Arizona sentinel., 1888-12-08
CONFUSING IDENTITIES.
Remarkable Instances of People
Being Taken for Others.
Aheon1us' Twlns-Imprisoned for Claim
ing He Was Himself-Notable Case
1n RRssia-Other Stories of Mis-
saken Identity of Equal
Interest.

A French writer says no two person
do exactly resemble each other, an
on close observation, a distinctiv
physiognomy may be observed, eve
IN children and twin children, too, @
the same family; yet the distinguish
ing traits of some individuals ar
so slightly perceptible, or have be
come forgotten, that many person
have been known, without any inter
ested motives, but purely through
ignorance, to attest as true what wa.
really false-fathers, mothers, hus.
bands and wives have been thus leC
away by illusions-erroneou deny
ing or maintaining the identify of theil
children or of each other The infatrr
alton of Lady Tichborne in the cele
brated Tichborne cause was a case il
point.
Instances of mistaken Identities have
existed IN all ages, and it is no uncom.
mon thing for Ine person to be mis-.
taken for ano<her. Pliny AYERS that il
was next to impossible to tell the great
Fompey from the freedman Publicius
and the plebian Vebius, as each oi
these IJersonages resembled him most
closely in his generous and
no ole department and his strik,
'-ngly handsome eountenance There
was low slave named Serapion, whose
occupation it was TO sell animals for
the sacrifices, To him Oneas Scipio
bore such O. strong resemblance that
the popUace nicknamed him Serapion,
One OF the descendants of Scipio and
the consuls Metellus and the Lentulus
were each called after certain factors
in Rome whom they most strongly
resembled in feature and person.
When Antonius was triumvir, Turanius
sold to him two children of rare Der
sonal beauty and an almost perfect re-
semblance, the one of whom was
born in Asia and the other beyond the
Alpine mountain ranges.
Turanius passed them off as twins.
but as they grew up their language be-
trayed them. This deception ruffied
Antonius somewhat and he charged
Turanius with having obtained for
them price altogether too exorbitant.
Nothing taken back, Turanius replied
that the very point which was consid-
cred defect in these children was. in
fact, their very highest recommended
ton, inasmaoh while a resemblance
between twins could be looked on as
nothing very extraordinary, an example
OF Such strong resemblance existing
between two children born in distant
countries was worthy of the highest
recompense, and, arguing from this
standpoint, it may be that the dealer
Imagined he delivered the goods too
cheap. Be that as it may, Antonius
ever afterward considered the purchase
as the most valuable of all his innumer-
able articles of vertu. The proconsul
Sura was not only resembled infeature
by Sicilian fisherman, but also in a
certain defect in his speech.
Sufferings and other causes will so
far change the appearance of a person
that his identity may be lost to his
nearest friends. There was the case
of Andrew Casall, a nobleman of Bo- |
logna, who, having been absent from |
his country for period of thirty years,
was supposed to have died in battle
Presuming him to be in the land of
shadows, his heirs took possession of
his property. One day, however, he
turned up in Italy and claimed his
rights Looked upon by all as an i'm
poster, he was sent to prison. So COM
olete was the change in personal ap-
oearance that recognition was an i'm
But there were causes for
his, as it was shown that he had fallen
nto the hands of savages, and for a
lumber of years was held in cruel
bondage. The case was referred to a
earned counselor, Lacchias, who de-
ided that circumstances may so change
he appearance of man as to render
i'm unrecognizable, and Casall was
in all his rights and honors.
A singular case of mistaken identity,
II, it may be more aptly termed, i'm
'ositlon, occurred in Russia, as far
,ack as 1884, not entirely without its
ounterpart in English history In that
ear the Gar, Basitovitz, took it upon ,
imsef to be gathered unto his fathers. I
lying, he left two sons, Theodore and :
)emetriuS, the former of whom suc-
eeded to his fathers throne The :
ew Gar was a man of somewhat :
-eak intellect, and he allowed all his
over to pass into the hands of mis- 7
linister Boris, who persuaded the I
Ear that, for the complete security of I
is reign, there was an absolute ne 3
essity for the taking off," the