The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-09-26
A COLLEGE MANS STRANGE CAREER.

Vicissitudes I'm the Life Of . Man who
Was Cremated I'm Missouri.
John r. Duffin, who died at the Plus
hospital, and whose body was cremated
At the Missouri Crematory, was well
known at Belleville, and seems from his
own statements while there to have had
. very eventful life.
Duffin, whose real name was Hamlet
Shakespeare FELTON,, was released from
the penitentiary at Chester, Ills, Feb %,
1890, upon a pardon issued by Governor
Fifer, having been sentenced to that in
stitution by the circuit court of st. Clair
county, April 6, 1888, for twelve years
for forgery. Duffin made his appearance
at Summerfeld, little town in the
northeastern part of st. Clair county, in
the fall of 1879, and secured work as
farm laborer.
His intelligence and gentlemanly bear
ing soon gained him many friends in
that locality, and it was not long till he
began transacting legal business, making
loans, ETC., for a number of the wealthy
and prominent farmers at Lebanon town
ship. On April 1, 1880, he secured
blank note at the First National bank of
Belleville, with whose officers he had be-
come acquainted through acting as agent
for the Summerfield farmers, and on
April 10, 1880, he returned the note,
signed by Mr.. Jacob Schmitt as principal
and Messrs. William R. Padfeld and
Julius Winkler as securities, and got
$4,000 on the note, which was drawn for
A,106.70, payable in four months.
The bank officials did not suspect any.
thing wrong in the matter until two
weeks had passed, and then, upon COM
municating with the parties whose
names were on the note, they learned
that the signatures were forgeries. In
the meantime Duffin had fed, and,
though large reward was offered for
his capture, he was not apprehended till
June, 1889, when he was accidentally
met with in Decatur, Ills, by Mr.. E. A.
Winkler, of Summerfield. Ills., a son of
Julius Winkler, one of the sureties on the
note. He was at once arrested and
brought to Belleville, where he was tried
April 3, 1883, and sentenced, as stated,
to twelve years in the penitentiary at
Chester, Ills.
Duffin made pathetic address to the
jury that convicted him, in which he
said he was an orphan and was born un-
der the English flag in Spanish waters,
and had been adopted by one Randolph
Duffin, who had him baptized into the
Catholic Church as John Randolph DUFF
fin, although his real name, he claims, was
Hamlet Shakespeare FELTON,. He COM
pleted his collegiate education at Elton
college, England, studied law at Har-
ward university, and completed his law
studies at Mary's Inn. Oxford, England.
He also claimed to have visited South
America, China and other foreign lands,
and to have been member of Walkers
flibustering expedition to Nicaragua.
While in Jail at Belleville, and also
while in the penitentiary, he wrote many
poetic effusions to friends here and for
the press. That he was talented there
was no doubt among those who came in
contact with him, and he protested
against his conviction for forgery and
claimed that he obtained the signatures
OF the parties to the note by fraud. Gov
ernor Fifer granted him pardon after he
had spent nearly seven years of his
twelve year term, when it became evil
dent that consumption, with which dis
ease he had been suffering for some
months, would soon end his days.-St.
Louis Globe Democrat.