The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-29

who died in the Palace Hotel on the morn
ing of the 9Th Of July, 1884.
Mr.. Cheeny is the individual who few
days since wrote to the authorities of this
city asking for information as to the prop
erty and money which after ten years he
was informed his mother had left. Since
the death there has been change after
change in official circles, and those of to-
day are ignorant of the acts of their pre-
decessors. The records of the Coroner's
office threw but little light on the case.
Mr.. Cheeny will probably cease dream.
ing of golden treasures and sparkling gems
when he becomes aware that by order OF
the Judge of the Probate Department OF
the Superior Court there was sold by pub
lie auction as part of the estate of Mrs.
Van Zandt pair OF diamond soitaires for
$165, diamond breastpin for $152 80, a
three-stone diamond ring for $25, another
for $24, a pair of diamond earrings for
$50 and a diamond and garnet ring for SIS.
Then there was piano that went for $3.50,
and in addition to these things there was
a great deal of wearing apparel, some of
very rich quality, pictures and bric-a- brac
such as the fair sex love to accumulate.
The sale realized in the aggregate 1892 90,
against which the auctioneer'S charges
were SIG IS.
This briefly tells of what became of the
property, concerning which the son, after
many years, is now seeking information.
These plain facts recall the history of a
woman who lived a dual lie. En-
b1ttered in early life by disappoint-
ment in a man in whom she re-
posed every confidence, one who after
ward became her husband and the father
of the claimant OF the diamonds, she de-
termined to be reyenged on men. Her
love which she gave to the one who broke
the VOWS be uttered at the altar turned to
hatred. Her heart never warmed again
for men, but her artfulness was such that
she made them believe IN her. She, like
Marco in "The Marble Heart" with
Raphael Duchalet, turned the head. won
the heart and made a plaything of the one
who attracted her fancy as long as it
pleased her whim.
Early in the eos family by the name
of Blakley lived in Honey Lake Valley, in
Lassen County, this State. The pride of
the family, Maud Emma, girl still in her
teens, remarkable for her beauty, fell in
love with Z. NJ. Cheeny, a young man,
the somewhat wild son of respectable and
well-to-do family in the State of New York
He was delighted with her pretty face,
which was pyriform with delicately
pointed chin, her dark eyes, which were
shaded by long lashes and surmounted by
heavy arched browS that seemed more the
work of an artist in crayon than of nature
and with wealth of chestnut-brown hair
that graced a small, wellformed head
They were married, but it was not long
after the honeymoon in Honey Lake Val
ley that the young wife found cause to
regret the step she had taken.
From the scene of her youth, she, with
her husband, left the old home and settled
in Vallejo, where she was forced to become
self-supporting. She there learned the art
of dressmaking In order to make living
for herself and baby boy Her home be-
came one of torture and abuse, till at last,
being no longer able to endure the
conduct of her husband, she took her child
and went to Haywards, where for a while
she led quiet life, earning fair living
with her needle. In the meantime she OBJ
tanned a divorce on the ground of cruelty
and inidelity.
Free from the thralldom of wedlock, she
began TO formulate plans for the future.
TO those she met daily she was the same
modest, unassuming woman she had al
wavs been. Her boy, then about years of
age, she idolized, but he proved an incGm-
brance, so she sent him to his fathers
folks in the East, after which she went to
San Francisco with view OF residing.
She secured quiet rooms IN lodging
house on Howard street, and while there
received information that her son had been
taken with typhoid fever and after few
days illness had died.
1t was after this that she took the first
step in her plan to make men sutfer. She
formed the acquaintance of fne-looking
man, who was the head salesman in one of
the largest jeWelry firms of this city. By