The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-05-18

A SKETCH OF EARLY CALIFORNIA DAYS.
The following story is based upon
facts. Some of the parties who paid,
years ago, heavy assessments to avoid
expensive and almost hopeless litiga-
ton still hold the rescued property;
Others. who at one time lost all their
earthly possessions through fraudulent
grants, are still living in our midst.
Many years AGO, two brothers, born and
reared in New Hampshire, one named
Mat F. Gravthorn and the other Nat T.
Graythorn. babe each other goodbye,
as it proved. for the last time. The first
returned to his rocky farm in the White
Mountains, while the second sought
fame. fortune aud happiness on the sea
and in foreign lands.
Mat, the older of the two, devoid of
energy or worldly ambition, plodded on
in poverty. as his father before him had
done, grumbling at his lot. hut never
trying to better il; while Nat. the
younger. after manv wanderings. by
strange freak in the wheel of fortune,
found himself. at last, stranded in that
land on the Pacific coast which after
ward became the Golden state. There,
being tired of wandering, he took
young squaw for a companion and
settled down. Having in the easy, in
dolent life of hunting, fishing and smok-
ing his greasewood pipe found at
length his proper level, he spent the
remainder of his DAYS in what he chose
to call comfort. AT his death, which
occurred in December, 1868, he left a
worthless little ranch on the borders of
a worthless little trading-post, in one of
the "cow counties" of Southern Cali
fornia, to his ignorant wife and three
half-breed children.
In the wear 1868, the coming of the
Union Pacific railroad infused life into
manv dead towns, and where lazy ma
tives had basked in the sunshine, or
had slept in the quiet shade of rough,
dirty, tile-roofed adobe houses, built
generations ago, a change, sudden,
startling and marvellous, took place.
Old houses were removed, streets wild
ened, Strengthened and extended, and.
as if by magic, large brick blocks and
elegant mansions took the places of the
old sun-dried brick abOdes, while an en-
terprising, ambitious American popula-
ton thronged the busy thoroughfares.
So it came to pass that the small clay
ranch where Mats swarthy wife had so
long MIXED the goats, and raised to-
bacco. red pepper and bijou beans, be-
came the business center of rich sea-
port city.
In the mean time, away in the cold
Granite state" among the mountains,
Mat F. Graythorn, grown more COM
planning as the years went by, heard of
these things, and with envious hatred
cursed the memory of the brother who
did not will that land to him, instead
of allowing it, in due course of law, to
fall into the hands of the copper-col-
ored woman, to whom he was never
married. and her dusky children. But,
in the year of our Lord, 1880, Mat HIM
self paid the debt of nature, and was
buried in the family graveyard with his
ancestors. Mats children, in the old
homestead, after their fathers death,
began in earnest to try by hook or
crook to get claim upon the coveted
California estate.
A lawyer, J. r. Brown, noted for
his shrewdness and lack of principle,
was called upon, and the case in detail
laid before him. Their fathers name,
Mat F. Gravthorn, and their uncle's,
Nat T. Gravthorn, were in writing very
similar: a mark added in the proper
manner to the n would transform it to
an M; another, ever so small, across
the back of the T would make it an F,
and the name would then be their
fathers.
The crafty attorney quickly saw that
oh do hn al
and in the county records, would give
the Graythorns chance to show a
clear original title to the land in the
meantime, a memorandum, he said,
purporting to have been made by their
father, corresponding with the old deed
in date, amount of money paid, and
number of acres bought, could, after
seeing the California papers, be easily
prepared. The time-worn look, neces-
sarv to make the deception complete,
could easily be managed. A blank leaf
from an old book, written upon with
pale ink, would give dingy indistinct-
ness very hard to disprove. A bargain
between the dishonest legal luminary
and the pretending heirs was soon
made, he agreeing for two-thirds of the
proceeds to take all the risks and pay all
expenses.
A journey to the Pacific slope i'm
mediately followed. There Brown Sc
cured an assistant, who was not only
as crafty as himself, but more expert
enced in corrupt practices. After all
plans were deliberately formed, the
new accomplish promptly proceeded to
execute their unrighteous schemes.
First, Mats widow, at her comfortable
but unpretentious home in the suburbs
of the beautiful city, was found, and
the information gained that the deed
was long before destroyed. Next the
county courthouse was visited, and,
after some difficulty, the musty old re-
cord book of thirty years before brought
out, and the document in question
found. Then, with pencil and blank
card in hand, the page, color of the ink
date, sum paid, and number of acres
were rapidly jotted down, the volume
was again closed, and the cunning
scoundre, with satisfied CLEAN on his