St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-08-30
A Strange True Story.
A WOUNDED PAUPER DIES IN a hosfirAA
Avn PROVES TO BE A MILLIONAIRE.

AND PROVES TO BE A MILLIONAIRE.
The keeper of the lodging room for va
grants in the Fourth Precinct station mouse
ssanorted at the hospital late one bleak
n;oht in winter that one of their loogers,
a new conner. was very i'll. The man was
h-ouobt to the hospital in an ambulance,
and the following history of his case was
placed upon our records:
"Thomas HUM, aged AZ, residence
Yonkers. Whoever. Born in ireland.
Had lived in the United States thirty nine
wears, Painter. No friends. Complains
of pain in left hypochondria and In umoil-
ical regions. Says he was klckeo IN Tue
abdomen at 10 a. m. the day before py an
unknown man on Cherry street he Is OF
medium height and weight and DARK com.
plexion. Dressed in dark blue SACK coa'
and trousers, with blue flannel shlre' heaVy
shoes and wooden socks. Clotnlhg eVl-
IDENTIFY new and of quality worn py laoor,
ing men for holiday dress NO external
sion of injury. Pulse and temperature
normal"
had the man put to bed and ordered
ON on;ate for him, under which his pain
disappeared and he fell asleep.
| The following morning his general con-
dition was good, and, as our beds were IN
damand 7 decided to have him transferred
To another hospital He wished to dress
himself for the ride, and, as he sat up IN
he'd to don some of his clothing, he sud-
denly expired.
| rushed to his side, but before l coulo
reach him the spark of life had gone OUT
He died without groan.
The autopsy held by the coroner re-
vealed an injury to the internal organs
sufficient to cause death. He had doubt
less been kicked some days previous to ms
Death and had not realized the serious
nature of the blow.
/ Az we had no addresses by which we
could find his relatives or acqualntances'
we were obliged to G i've minute deser1P-
ton of him to the newspapers. NO news
resulting from this advertisement, he was
sent to the morgue.
A few days later man called az the
hospital and asked to see the house sur
econ, I was busy at the time, and he
amused himself meanwhile looking ovel
our "Reporters' Book" volume kept fol
the benefit of newspaper men When
came to him he had the book open at The
entry relating to Thomas Hum. at once
recognized him as a private detective.
"What do you know about Thomas
Hunn?" he asked: :,
every little. What you read there II
the extent of my information regarding
him." =.
, II am looking for gentleman who dis
, appeared recently from an uptown hosei
His case is mysterious. When read II
t the newspapers about HUM oecain
curious regarding him.
< "But Hum was workiDgman: ii
had nothing of the gentleman about him.
"Come with me to the morgue' sal
the detective; 'you may Dc flgn'' ou'
3 want to satisfy myself"
A soon as he had looked at the body Q
, tho man 7 had known as Thomas HUM
, no took some photographs from his pocket
Tbev we're nictures of the dead "painter.
Sending for the brother and son of tn
9 missing men, the detective related to me
g strange story.
r s'The vagrant who died under the nam
of Thomas HUM was, up to ten days agt
@ a hospitable, genial man, living in luxur
9 at a hotel on Fifth avenue He was wort
4 millions, which he had made in the Yves
= His dinners and suppers were consldere
4 triumphs of epicurean skill by the DO
v vivsnts of the city. Suddenly he dtssr
Y reared. Nothing has been heard of hi
It until this moment"
S The dead mans relatives had arrive
: and had established the Identification mao
n by the detective.
II 1t was not until some months later TIL
: | learned the details of the case. l M
/ the detective one evening, and he said
% s'The Thomas HUM affair will never !
l wholly cleared up. 1t seems that II
g millionaire left his hotel one day IN con
1t pany with workingman. When II
t. Westerner's money gave out he pawnt
" his clothes and jewelry and continued unit
d be was again broke But there Is
n doubt that he was murdered. Some ds
= q clue may be found to the mystery /
present ali is dark concerning it,
GLOW about the workingman who a
companied him on his debauch 2
Gle left the millionaire at least ty
ID DAYS before the death blow was struck"
at ssAnd who is Thomas HUM p | asked
: "That is a curious feature of the AHA
N Thomas Hum was poor house painter
IN the West who had been wronged INA
g cially by the millionaire who died bearl
ly the name of his victim. Human nature
er a queer thing."-Cor. PhttadebDhta IRE