The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-06-25

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COPYRIGHT BY AMERICAN PRESS AssocAron,
''Ine lawyer uld not let this pass
| without remonstrance, but the dying
| merchant refused to alter the testament.
i owe everything to my good Felix
| he said, referring to the Jew. Why
| should you envy him?' But so certain
was the lawyer of the exercise of undue
influence upon the merchants mind
+, that after his death he hunted up dis
tant relative and persuaded him to dis
pute the will The case was tried in
court and resulted in triumph for the
jew. The will held.
''Ansel ForSythe died April 23, 1876.
The court decided in favor of the legal
ity of tho will in October of the follow
ing year, and on that day the jew dis
appeared personally from tho field of
war and transacted such business as it
was necessary to transact with reference
! to the trust property in the hands of
the executors through his solicitor. Mr..
| Forsythe's old lawyer naturally drew
! sigh of relief when matters assumed
! this quiet state, from which they did
| not seem likely to emerge for at least
10 years. But he drew this breath alto
! gether too soon. The moment tho status
of the will was settled by the court
new complication arose. The same i'm
| posters who had before appeared and
new ones who had come into the possess
! sion of the necessary facts began to im-
| personate the lost Ethel and to set up
successive claims to the property. Most
pf that,, or, ril lip,, lar,c l,a fnpa
that they did not merit sober conSidera-
tion. Others were more shrewdly PLAN
| ned and gave the executors much trou-
BILE. If false witnesses could have per-
! jured their way to wealth, the property
would have been wrested from the exec
utors long ago, but fortunately the jews
secret was secret still, locked up in
] the breasts of half dozen people whose
| interests bade them not to speak When
! the left foot Of the claimant was barred,
| the chances of success vanished like
| smoke before high wind.
! "A popularity said one of this
! child's ankle renders your claim defect
| i've. The real child had malformation
! which you do not possess. So they had
brought us crinplcs and joint diseases by
the score. Unfortunately for them, they
| believed what we told them too implic-
| lily. After the examination by our ply
scian and the positive manner in which
lie told them that there was no founda-
| tion for thoir claims, there were few
! who dared risk the penalties for perjury
| by bringing the case to court. Our pri-
vate tribunal generally settled the mat
| ter. The few who dared to risk legal
| trial have had the leisure to repent
| their folly i'll prison. But all this took
/ time and work and was expensive. The
| will expressly stipulated that the costs
! of research and legal protection should
| be taken from the trust property tself,
and i'll 10 years these expenses alone
| have more than eaten up the interest on
| the money, THAT the trust property to-
day does not amount to quite $I00, 600.
$50 matters stood on the 21st day of
J April last past. On that day the slate
was clean. There was not an unsettled
claim pending The last Ethel Forsythe
had been disposed Of and there was
nothing moro to be done Ten years hav-
| ing elapsed since the date of the will
and the lost daughter not being forth
coming, Felix Roscnftl had clear title
| to her property The lawyer expected
/ daily call from his solicitor. The days
/ went by, and he did not come. The pa.
pcrs We're prepared, the property was
! ready, but no jew He did not come.
In fact, there was great hue and cry
raised about this matter, for the jew
had disappeared as suddenly and COM
| pletely from his home and his acquaint-
ances as if, unseen and alone, he had,
/ like Elijah, been translated into heaven.
He had gone ont one night on an errand.
| He had never returned
Meantime what was to become of
the Forsythe property? The will was
clear and explicit on this point. In case
of the Jews death and the nonappear-
ance of the missing heiress the trust
funds reverted, rs before to the charities.
The trustees only awaited proof of the
/ jews death to lift this burden off their
shoulders. Then, like thunderbolt out
/, of clear sky, last and most danger
Gus Ethel Forsythe appeared upon the
scene. This girl had been brought up by
acertain George and Mary Stevenson in
the country as their own daughter They
now declared that in her infancy the
child had been placed i'll their hands by
certain Leander Dye, who had paid
them royalty for her support. An affi-
dayit sworn out by Dye before a justice
of the peace, avelred that he had stolen
the child from Ansel Forsythe's house
in hope Of a ransom, had been terrified
by the results of his deed, and had been
afraid ever since to produce her through
fear Of the jew.
So far the case was simpler and more
ightforward, but not moro plausible.
than some of its predecessors. But the
/ physician test threw the executors into
confusion Miss Steyenson's left foot
met the requirements of the case. The
third toe had been amputated. At once
there arose dispute among the eXeeu-
tors Some We're for admitting her claim
without further inquiry, but the good
sense of the others prevailed, and the
most rigid investigation ensued. A
choice list of the best physicians in the
city was made up. each of whom was
to make separate examination of tho
scar left by the amputation and return
to the executors his opinion as to its
age. The opinions varied greatly, but
the average result was certainly of
character to justify our worst suspicious.
The general verdict placed the date of
the wound within a year, and there was
but one voice to the belief that the am /,
| putation, instead of being the intelli.
gent and careful work of physician,
was the bungling performance of per-
son ignorant of the first principles of
surgery. The physician who had opcrat-
! ed upon the real Ethel was dead, but
his standing and knowledge of his pro
fession Were undoubtedly of the first or
! der Here at the outset was manifest
flaw in the Stevenson case but before it
could III, fnllnnnnl IN ihIf.,1,, ti1.,, .,..,..