The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-25
wAs BLYTHE A TH1EFq
mead California Millionaire Said
IN be q Norfolk Island Convict
H.. The PhiLndslrhfn Inoalirer.

From inc 1HtStsActpfSeG inquire"
Tba famous legal fight for the estate of
,,;rI;onaire Thomas H. Blythe of San Fran
80 which has been going on in the Cali
ia courts for five years, has reached
IS the continent to Philadelphia in the
r,aof a commission to take the testimony
sI FL, anxiously sought for and important
o. ~ Michael Dunn the picturesque
Nvl'.Jar and superintendent of the Home
y Industry, at Forty-sixth street and Pas
vi avenue, West Philadelphia.
nudge Tofey of San Francisco has ap-
.;utSd LAWYER Charles Chauncey, Mrs.
haia Parnell's legal adviser, the commls-
l3oasr 10 take Dunn's testimony, and Attor-
S. and G. T. Wright, the San
pp ss attorneys for Adam Blythe,
LIo,bar and Abbie Ayres. the sister, who
" The collateral heirs of Blythe, have APP
y 800 LAWYER Christian Kneass to look
4 iif-er their interests in the case here.
p1yTHE's ADVENTUROUS CAREER.
7bomas H. Blythe was one of the Argo-
n is of '49. In that year he struck Cali
mia and made big find in the gold dig
Us Us He invested his gold in lands and
lame one of the nabobs of the Pacific
tIona In 1888 he died, leaving an estate
vsIned at 100000 and no will. He was
,ben living in redwood palace on Mob
Hi in San Francisco, and his death caused
considerable excitement. He died in his
bath.tu while taking a bath, and a coro-
nars Jury decided that he died of heart dis
ease
t;aI residence, and it was generally be-
iieved that he was a bachelor. Notice of
his death was advertised and brought re-
snonse from England in the shape of collat-
oral heirs. who claimed to be his brother,
Adam Blythe, and his sister, Abbie Ayres.
They had apparently satisfactorily proven
their identity, when third claimant ap-
reared in the person of young girl, who
said she was his daughter, Florence Blythe.
Florence was accompanied by a woman
who claimed to be her mother and who
called herself Mrs. Mary Blythe. She
swore that the dead millionaire was mar
ried to her in London and that he was the
father of her daughter Florence. James
Crisp Perry of San Francisco was ap-
pointed Florence's guardian, and a hot
4 legal fight for the dead mans millions was
4 begun. This was in 1884.
HE WAS AN Ex-CoNvICT.
As the fight progressed the dead mans
4 history was hunted up, and, to the surprise
of his millionaire acquaintance, it was
learned that when he went to California in
\ '49 he had gone there as a probation man
B from the English convict colony in Van
Diemen's Land Then it was brought out
. that Blythe. the California millionaire, had
\ been an English thief; that, after various
& offenses, he was finally convicted in 1912 of
4 tapping a till in Liverpool and transported
4 to Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, to
serve a seven years sentence there and on
the famozs Norfolk Island. Here, with
$4,000 other convicts, he toiled on govern
ment work under first the famous Sir John
\ Franklin, then governor Of the island, and
later the hero of the unfortunate Arctic ex-
petition in which he was lost; and after
ward under the notorious Gov. "Bully"
Price, who caused by his seventies the great
convict uprising on Norfolk Island, and
who was subsequently murdered by the
convicts.
He served his term out, and with few ex-
ceptions no one in California knew his past
record. These few exceptions were his
associates in the English penal colony who
had also grown rich in California They
did not wish it known that they had ever
been convicts. They had come with Blythe
in the wild rush to the gold diggings in 40,
land some of them, it was said, had not
waited in Van Diemen's Land to serve out
their terms. 1t was this Thomas Blythe
that the brother and sister claimed as their
brother, and to whose millions they lay
claim.
ANOTHER THOMAS BLYTHE.
The alleged daughter Florence and the
widow Mary, however, claim that the dead
millionaire was not the convict Thomas
Blythe, but an entirely different man. who
|emgrated from England during the hight
1 Of the California gold fever, and returned
there about fifteen years ago, when he mar
FRIED his alleged widow In London and then
deserted her and her child, returning to
California. The identity of the man is thus
made the hitch in the legal proceedings.
That is why commission has been issu ed
. to Lawyer Chauncey to take Michael
Dunn's testimony.
Along with the papers in the case sent to
Lawyer Kneass are two copies of photo
graphs Of the dead millionaire. one taken
from daguerrotype of Blythe in his early
California career, and the other a photo
graph taken just before his death.
Yesterday Michael Dunn was shown the
5 copy OF the daguerrotype, and at once pro-
nounced 1t fair likeness of Thomas Blythe
the ex-convict. Dunn himself is probably
possessed of as adventurous career as any
man in America. He spent thirty-fiye
years OF his life in penal servitude, seven
years OF which were spent in Van Diemen' s
land and Norfolk Island while Blythe was
there.
MIChAEL DUNN KNEW HIM,
In speaking Of Blythe yesterday he said: :
i knew Blythe in Hobart Town, where I
~ met him in 1S49. One night 1 was in
Tue seven Stars, tavern which was the
resort OF probation men, when Blythe
zane In l was introduced to him bv
jimmy Linton and the notorious "Shattyn
DItostello. Richard McLeester and John
ruler, both Manchester convicts, were
present. and heard Blythe tell how he had
Deen transported for tapping a till in Liver
pooL We were all probation men.
and went under the name of
Peter Featherstone. and told
blythe that l had shipped before the
paSt IN the whaler Washington, of Sag
Haroor. Blythe expressed a desire to 90
n ~iua me and remarked: L guess you are
Eau 70 get away from "Bully" Price;
The whaler remained at Hobart Town
, nearly month, and l became very inti-
iliaOe with Blythe. The next l heard of
LIN LIN was In 1884, year after his death. l
~ 0 T. u san francisco establishing a Home
~ y, INDUSTRY for ex-convicrs. While there I
f aiss Capt. McCIelland, who owns large
, 10. d IN near San Francisco, and who is a
"eIaai1hy man. McCleland had been a
T Toi In the prison guards at Norfolk
ha nano and knew me at once. We
dcame very intimate, and one
"a he said. "MichaeI, Won
lW1Utlo have been here last year before Tom
Wy Cne died you would have met one of
! aUur oid chums. McClelland had been
tpIaru In the Eleventh Infantry over
aIJS Ine, on Norfolk Island, and knew him