The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-09-06

name was i>llH,BNlA NAtlN ReTS, inu b'c
about 1920 SHE married ~ man OF Oh
F., name Of Joseph Thomas III Tennessee
u that this son, Finice, was the fruit {
that marriages that Thomas deserte
her shortly aftcrward; that he was
we'll known character on the lcyccS q
i" St. Lonis and was IL great wrcstl eg---a
athlete-;ind was there known by theS
!, men as Wrestling joe that he subse
qucntly became IL great mountaincer
hunting and trapping i'll the Rorh.
= mountains, again lcturningto the levce
at St Louis. They said they believed h
was living, and that they could tint
? him. They went back to Missouri re
) turned to Oregon with an old man, then
5 according to their theory, more than 81
, years of age, and asserted that he wa
{ the husband of the old woman and "a
such was the sole heir to all tho prop
erty
, by this time the other litigation re
, ferrcd to had been disposed of / hat
J personally become quite intimate witt
the SON Finice Caruthers, before his
death, in 1860, and had talked with him
more or less about his history. was
satisfied that could by talk with the
old man, determine as to whether he
was 4 fraud or not After nearly half !;
day s conversation with him, III which
piled him with all manner of questions,
l became fully convinced that he was
the man he claimed to be; that he was
the husband OF Elizabeth Cainthers.
Il then commenced sult lor the prop
crty based on That theory i'll the circuit
court OF the state q Oregon, the sole
questions involved bong whether this
Old mans nann wa Thomas, whether
he was tic man he platuei 10 he and
whether hc had married the old woman
III Tennessee. I took testimony in soy
eral Of lhc southern and western states !;
some six o. eight witnesses were taken
all the way 20 Oregon from Illinois and
! Missouri. The defense in their answer
simplified the inquiry very much by de-
| claring not only that this man was not
Joseph Thomas, but that he was another
man, whom they named. giving his
birth and part of his early history. For
tunately | was able to prove that this
man was hanged bya vigilance commit
tee for horse stealing III Illinois Besides
the testimony was overwhelming to the
effect that Joe Thomas was the man he
claimed to be-
"Well, the jury brought in a verdict
favorable to my client. They declared
Wrestling Joe Thomas to be the real
Joe Thomas and the husband of the early
settler of Portland. 1t was a famous vic
tory, and the property involved in that
case is now worth more than $40. 000.-
600. "
He Believes Something In Luck.
John L. Wilson has told me in his
own way the story of how he rose from
clerk i'll the pension office at Washing
ton to be United States senator from
the state Of Washington. MY father
was one Of the leading lawyers of Indi- /
ana" said Mr.. Wilson. eve lived next I
door to the VOORHEES, family, and young I
voorhees, and myself grew up as chums
Though my father was a Republican /
senator, Voorhees, procured an appoint
ment as clerk in the pension office for
me. worked there some time, but T
am willing to admit did not like it.
1t was drudcerv. Nv superiors in office
as well as my associates were kind and
pleasant, but somehow | couldn't get
over the feeling that | was n sort Of
horse to be halnessed IN in the morn
ing. and after had turned out certain
lot of work was permitted to 90 and get
nv feed, used TO have lonuinrs to 20
west and start in for myself I talked
about il TO my fellow clerks. They used
to tell me the best thing couId do was
TO LOT we'll rnourh alone and sticl, tomv
and worry regular SALARY. |
replied that any man with brains and
,nerry could max, as much in priyate I
business =, he cuuld in fhe peusian office
md have more indepeudence, Finally I
made M my mind to emf loose from The 1
pension office oltogothpr Nv friends
me was making 4 nrc1t mistake 5
md would soon rennnt IF my choice and !,
,ome back looking for the old iob de- !
Jared that when | returned IN fine mn =
ional canita1 II ,vould no rs - ,rc,,bo,. !;
# congress- That was - blnff n,ro and p
imnle Tbourb had some ,n,bition. 7 c
INST admit had NO ;dea tbav tvo,,1d no Z
ea1ized p
sr con1d soc verv n1ainlv +b,+ IN o~- 1
er to have fair chance in tha uest a
mo p,s+ have - nrofass;op 90 wont (
n Indiana and stndied law with wynn -
10 Wbi1e e,gogod ot tris was elected, I,
,e,,bor of tho indian, 1og;s1a+rro To,. p,
ONO ,,aason didn,t tal,o n,,cb ;n+o,,ovt @