Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-03-16
- RopERr LErrNsor.s STORY.

only brother. Henry Levinson, when she
married and had never been reconciled
TO him; that her husband had forsaken
her before my birth, whereupon she had
renounced his name, and that he had
afterward died.
Irepeat that do not know whether
that was true or not. am inclined to
think that my father was such man as
/ am, and that my mother was his vic
tim. / care nothing about it one way or
the other, as my mother never displayed
any affection for me that l remember
and never inspired me with any for her.
l was interested in only one clause in
her letter, and that was the mention of
my uncle, Henry Levinson, of whom
had never heard before. That interested
me because / thought I could get money
from him.
did not. On the contrary, 1 discov-
cred that he had long been dead and
had left all his fortune BY will to his
only son, Arthur, who was then travel
ing on the continent somewhere. con-
suited a lawyer as to the possibility of
breaking the will, and on his advice
abandoned the idea.
Twas then working the cardrooms on
some Of the crack ocean steamers, and
early in the following October 1 took
passage from Queenstown to New York.
The vessel had not been en- hour under
way when one of the under stewards
whom had tipped very literally on q
previous trip, and who was very saga
cious fellow, came to me and said:
"Mr. Levinson, did you know that
your brother was on boardr'
my brother?" l said carelessly. mo,
I didn't know had brother"
"Well, SIR" said the steward, "his
name is Levinson, and he looks exactly
like you"
The thought struck me at once that il
was my cousin Arthur whom I had
never seen. gave the fellow sover.
eign and told him to find out all he could
about the other Mr.. Levinson, and ther
shut and locked my door and sat down
to think it over.
Irevolved probably fifty plans in my
head and was satisfied with none oi
them. Still more was I inclined to bt
cautious after had heard the stewards
report. He said that my cousin seemed
to be very reserved, quiet man, who
apparently had no acquaintance OF
board, and he declared over again tha
the resemblance between US was won
derful.
This set me thinking harder, and
finally decided to study my cousin care
fully before letting him know of m!
existence, and then trust to the chapte
of accidents and the devils luck gen
orally had for some chance of putting
him out of the way and impersonatinl
him. III could do that l stood to win
fortune, whereas I couldn't hope TO
more than few hundreds or possibl,
thousands in any other way.
therefore kept my room through tn
voyage, excepting when with the aid o
my pal, the steward, ventured out t.
watch Arthur surreptitiously. 1 di'
more than that. Ipaid the rascal al
unrighteously large sum to search Al
thurs room and to bring me some spec
linens of his handwriting. And &c
him to have an ''error" in the ships lis
corrected so that it showed that MI
Robert Lewis occupied the staterooT
that had been supposed to be occupie
by Mr.. Robert Levinson. argued tina
if my cousin should not know of my ez
istence would have SO much the bette
chance.
My pal served me well. He brough
me Arthur's writing desk, and l ez
amined it carefully, taking out two ur
important scraps which happened t
show his signature and sending the res
back. 1t might prove important to m
to be able to initiate that signature.
revolved the notion of getting hiI
overheard in some way during the voJ
age and stepping into his stateroom q
Arthur Levinson, but I dismissed tina
It was too dangerous. Ocean steamship
are too well policed to make such thin
very feasible, and besides the steward
although he served me well in small ma
ters, was not the kind Of man to trust
large ones, and he would know what ha
happened even if no one else did.
Arriving at New York l looked up
man who had been useful to me moI
than once before and toldshim to fin
out all he could about Mr.. Arthur lie,
inson. He succeeded admirably, and i
a day or two ! knew where my cousi
kept his bank account, as well as wheI
he was living.
My next plan was to forge his name t
check for some large amount and pr
sent and cash it myself. practiced o
his signature until I could initiate it yer
well, and Ihad grown confident of bein
able to impersonate him by reason of th
!, extraordinary resemblance there was b,
tween us. This, reasoned, would /
enough to!mislead his bankers, who ha
: only seen him once, and, as the resu
showed, ! reasoned correctly.
It was necessary to proceed with gres
|, caution, however, in trying the forger
game, and I had to know somethin
! about the condition Of his account. Ho
|. I found out about this decline to sa,
/ do not propose to incriminate any or
but myself, and would not even 4
that if the inspector did not know all IL
main facts already. It is enough to sa
|, that gambling house is a wonderfl
, place to learn secrets, and that SOC
!, learned on good authority that. althoue
my cousin had only small balance
, cash at his bank, he had a large sum
!, securities deposited there.
Then l heard Of his accident and {
, the fact that he was suffering from I'll
effects Of it, and resolved upon a Dol
stroke. Icalled at the bank and tol
the two pompous old gentlemen who r
ceived me that wanted to realize on a
/ L - L. - T.