Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-10-06

dent, and the scheming Richard avai1s him
self of the circumstance to send his cousin to
lunatic asylum. At this juncture Mary
Wells, in her great affection for her mistress,
confesses to Lady Bassett that, having been
indiscreet, she is about to become mother,
and suggests that if Lady Bassett will simu-
late her own condition the child shall be her
own for all time, Sir Charles in his eagerness
for an heir will be grati6ed, his health will
be restored and the estate be preserved in its
entirety secure from the Vaccinations of the
cousin Robert After long mental struggle
Lady Bassett agrees to the plan. She goes to
London. takes quiet lodgings, the child of
Mary Wells is born, transferred to the bed Of
her mistress, and in due time is produced as
the true son and heir of Sir Charles. He re-
covers.
The boy becomes the apple Of his eve, but
is nursed all the time by its real mother,
Mary Wells, who has pretended to be
widow. As years pass the putative mother,
Lady Bassett, yields to an inherent dislike for
the boy, and Sir Charles himself wonders at
his strange idiosyncrases, his wild, reckless,
untamable, gypsy ike nature, his dark, ORR
entail eyes and other features 50 unlike any
other member OF his race. Finally Lady
Bassett confesses that the lad is not her son,
but in the LOYALTY of his affection Sir Charles
refuses to believe it.
The boy nearly attains manhood, and to
him also Lady Bassett one day tells the true
story Of his birth, giving him, however,
abundant means to go elsewhere than home
and begin life anew. That night the young
fellow with another gypsy robs his Uncle
Richard, is captured and carried triumph
antly before Sir Charles as the local magis-
trate, IN order that the latter might be
placed in the position of sending his own son
up for trial and thus gratifying the malice
of his rival cousin. Mary Wells, the real
mother, however, now appears upon the
scene, and in revealing her maternity and
the plot of which she has been one of the
central figures, confronts Richard with the
| fact that it is he and not Sir Charles who is
/ the father of the criminal, and that his own
early follies with her, like chickens, have
''come home to roost.
Without following the story further, it will
be seen that the novelist has utilized some of
the many possibilities that may attach to
transplanted babies. The playwright has
given us unique plot in Little Lord Faunt-
/ leroy'' which concerns the use made OF
strange children, and Gilbert, in ''Pinafore,"
makes the bumboat woman sing:
When was young and charming,
And practiced baby farming,
mixed these children up
But. as prominent police official said to the
writer, There is no case on our records
where, reaching over a considerable period
of time, fraud like that of the Mann girl
has been successful Now and then a party
is brought out, like the Buffalo girl the other
day who scared young fellow into fits by
! showing him a baby in bed which, as she
claimed, was his own and all ripe for adop-
ton: but when the old ladies in the boarding
house put on their spectacles it was found to
be two or three months old. Incidents of
/ this kind are common, especially among the
/ lower classes But do you remember the
! Rochester case!'
| "Some twelve years ago." continued the
| official, "a young fellow of means fell in love
with an up town girl, bright, ambitious, but
! compared with him poor. They were mar
/ ried and after a time he went abroad on
/ commercial business She remained in New
| York. During his absence a child was
/ born That young chick came from a
/ founding asylum. and if you knew the par
( ties YOU would see them driving through
/ Central park almost any bright day In the
/ man, but in all probability his will has been
made in favor of that boy.''
| Tho part that an illegiHmate child may
/ play in the affairs of life may be further il
/ llstrated by an incident or two.
"Massa.n said an old time colored servant
! TO the scion of one of the richest families in
! the south, young mistis tell me to bring de
/ baby ,roun' for see yo'" It was his own
3 6 1>,,,1 ,t I,
ed by him and grew to be woman. Pos
sessinr a magnificent voice and handsome
presence, she became famous in social circles
as a musician, and finally, while travelling
/ abroad. was courted and won by am Italian
count. There was no doubt about his ances-
! try, but he was impecunous and a rascal
By the generosity of her father" she was
enabled for long time to keep her husband
/ supplied with funds, but when these gave out
! he resorted to blackmail and something worse.
! Incarcerating her in lunatic asylum, the
villain demanded blood money until thou
sands of dollars were expended for her care,
! vet used by him. When the end came, ii
was found that she had been deliberately
| shut off from friends and home, that she was
ANYTHING but insane and had died from cruel
ty and a broken heart The father, too, now
! has q broken EcdTL, LOT tHc SLOIy ID hLOn Ii "
! thousands.
Another incident within the knowledge of
! the writer, which illustrates the Importance
of "a baby in the house, is rs follows: Father
and baby were both desperately i'll at the
same time By the terms Of will, If the
father died first an immense property was TO
revert to his wife or child. II the child died
! first the property was to so to his side of the
house Representatives of the two faction:
sat in adjoining rooms for two days. trying
] to prolong these valuable lives-a mother and
relatives on one side and q grandmother, with
/ a host of sisters, COUSINS and aunts on the
! other
Fate threw the dice for the baby, however
and turned up trumps 1t lived just five
minutes after the father breathed his last.
In less than year the mother remarked.
Today another generation is enjoying the
thousands year because battle was Sue
cessfullv fought over a baDy's last sigh.
Who viii say, after all these incidents, that
the pickaninies are not big factors in our
social lifel
WHAT IS III
| A Big Bone That Is Pulling the Folks al