Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-07

daughters, one of whom died early i'm
| life. Myra, the surviving daugnter, was
taken to Philadelphia after the death Of
her parents, and brought up as the
child OF Colonel Davis. 1t was not till
she became the wife OF William w.
Whitney, that she was made acquainted
with her true origin land the vast estate
her father left, had, nnder the French
laws, still prevailing in Louisiana, es-
cheated to the city OF New Orleans. She
brought witnesses to prove they had
seen the will of Daniel CLARK, in which
he left all his property to his daughter
Myra. The document itself was never
found but the supreme court decided in
her favor.
! But her triumph wags only short
lived, for the city OF New Orleans car
ried the case to the supreme court Of
the United States, which held that un-
der the laws of Louisiana man could
not devise property to an ilegitimate
child. This, however, was overbalanced
again by the testimony of Daniel
Clark e two sisters, to be effect that
their brother had MARI ed Zalirne des'
Oranges in Philadelphia in 1903, and
that they had never sp oxen 10 him
since.y Next came unmis taxable proof
that the Marquis des Grai nge had mar
ried zHlirae Oarriere while he bad . wife
living in France, and his marriage t0
Zuline was nullity. I'll lis gave the
plaintiffs q clean ascendency, bat the city
of New Orleans still held. on TO, the
property. ~
x*x
Mr.. whitney died in 1888, and III the
next year che married Genera Gaines of
the United States army, man Of
some means and vast PERSONAL influence.
After eleven years OF litigation, in which
vast Sums of money were expt nded en-
both sides, General Gaines died but the
pluckyl widow still fought on with in
cessant energy.u Some people o< cupyizg
the disputed property, settled W ith herr
aud that money was ell pnt | nto the
fght. In 1856 she fled bill il equity
in the supreme court at Wash iugto1,
and after eleven years of va xatioua
fighting, she got verdict in he favor
for all the property claimed, ts gethes
with the rents illegally collected oy the
city. The valae of the judgmel It war
said to BERN the neighborhood of thirty
Millions,
XIV
IOlu bk1O NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Vi k4Q E01Ir
till the final payment last week, here
has been q, lapse of fifty EIGHT years, the
exact age OF the man who is wri ting
this article. When the decree irk her
favor was rendered in 1887, Mr.. Se-
ward was the only eurvivor of three
generationsrn of lawyers that bad ba,en
employed in the case. Talk about the
great Jarndyce case, in Bleak House
pales beside it,, because it shows that
truth is stranger than fiction" OF
all the romsnces written by the favorite
authors of this century, there are but
two that approach this marvellous reai-,
ity. These are 'eThe Count cf Monte
Cristo," by Dumas, and "The Term of
His Natural Life," by Marcus Clarke.
~
In 1874 Z! was at the United States
hotel st Saratoga, and was seated on the
dear old porch, that has 30 often shell
tered me inamy bOyh0od. One day the
landlords wife introduced me to Mrs.
Gaines. she was then old and toothlees,
wearing white wig and h0bbling about
with a cane. Every one of her early
friends was gone, but the light Of battle
still flashed out from those cavernouss
eyes.
II do not~care for the MONEY" she
said, in an asthmatic whisper, for the
shrill voice of yore Was all gone, 'but L
am fightingsnow to establish my moth-
er's good name and vindicate her inno-
cence." 1t reminded nae of James Wal-
lacks mastery impersenation Of Mar
ciali, where he is stabbed in the Bastiles
by st. Mars and falls to the floor, ex-
claiming, ~ DIS = beggas, but die king
of France M HIDAIGo.
" aasII'e t'aiis nsE ~p,~-
The wcs,.aia@6 IS h1fe Lszd 10, hay4