The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-28
HIS TWIN BROTHER
Strange Career of Crime Revealed by
Papers the Owner Ordered Destroyed,
A VERY sHREWD CRIMINAL
While His wife Thought Him In
Europe the Man Was in
Prison The wife
Undeceived.
From the New York News.

The tragedies of real life sometimes
eclipse the dreams of fiction, and the
story revealed by a widows search of
her husbands papers has opened her
eyes to a life of deceit and crime, be-
sides casting a deep shadow over the
future of herself and children. This
grief is great enough without too fully
Identifying the husband. and such facts
that are here given will very likely be
all that the public will ever learn
about the matter unless il becomes
necessary for the widow to go to the
surrogate's court to secure some money
which her husband had on deposit I'm
bank and il Is more than probable
that she will forfeit the money rather
than go TO that extreme, for such par
ticuIars as she would have to give
would enable the curious to trace out
the story of death and disgrace.
A few weeks ago a convict died In an
Ohio penitentiary who had requested
that in the event of his death a tele-
gram should be sent to distant rela-
tives who lived at an address In the
Yorkville district of this city. The mes
sage was sent by the prison authorit-
les but IT conveyed no meaning to the
woman who received IL. She had never
heard of the name given i'm the tele-
gram, but she felt an instructive fear
that something dreadful had happened.
Her husband was away. II was true,
but he had gone to Europe. and, while
ne had not returned as soon as he
usually did from his trips. there was no
cause for worry on his account.
rs there not some mistage? she
telegraphed back to the warden of the
prison.
Convict requested you be notified to
bury him i'm case of DEATH" was the
warden's prompt answer.
THE WIFE UNDECEIVED.
Completely mystified, the woman
sought the advice of one OF the few
friends her husband had. The latter
was equally puzzled. 1t could not be
the absent husband, for he was in Eu-
rope, and he was not criminal any
way. He did not even dare venture to
speaks his suspicion, and felt ashamed
of himself for daring to think of II at
all.
There can be no harm in getting a
description of the convict" he said,
and a telegram was sent at once. The
answer was a very good description Of
the absent husband. Then the wife
recollected that her husband had told
her years ago about a twin brother
who was a black sheep in the family.
and had been lost track of. The mys-
terry was now clear to her. The con-
victs name must be the alias OF her
husbands bad twin brother, but then
the doubt entered her mind: Why
should the telegram be addressed to
her instead of her husband? She read
lily thought a dozen answers that salts
fed her. and she went on to conjecture
what her husband would do in the
matter II he were at home.
1t was so long since she had heard
her husband speak of the bad twin
brother that she had really forgotten
whether he had spoken harshly or for
givingly. Acting for herself she would
not want TO have her husbands broth
er's body buried in a prison cemetery,
for she had read that such burials
were made in an unfeeling manner
She promptly sent a telegram to the
warden to employ an undertaken and
got her husbands friend TO go West to
look after the transfer of the body to
this city. Her husband owned a lot in
a Long Island cemetery. and she could
have the body kept I'm the vault there
until he returned from Europe. when
he could bury IL in his lot or elsewhere
as he pleased.
BURIED FROM THE PRISON.
At the prison the dead conVicts eff
fects were turned over To the messen-
ger from New York, and at the under
takers he saw the body. The corpse
was a perfect likeness of his friend,
except that the beard and mustache
memoranda i'm the convict's clothes
and a letter addressed to MY dear
wife" were I'm his friends handwrit-
ing. He went again TO see the corpse
and made up his mind that the dead
convict was his friend and not "A twin
brother. Two men OF IS or 80 years
of age rarely write exactly alike, If
they ever do. even though they may
be twins.
The undertaken secured the proper
papers under the dead mans supposed
real name. giving the street and num-
Der only of the place of death, not men,
tioning the name of the prison, and so
the body was shipped to this city and
sent TO the cemetery. where IL was
placed in the receiving vault awaiting
the return of the absent husband.
The friend. Of course, took the pa
pers and clothes TO the wife. She said
the handwriting certainly was that OF
her husband. but how the brother had
obtained possession Of IL she could not
tell. Then she examined the clothes
and a despairing shrek told her hus-
bands friend that his suspicious wer,
true. When she had recovered from
the shock she insisted on being taken
at once to the cemetery. and when the
casket was opened and she saw her
husbands body there was a heartrend.
ing scene The body was his. and not
MS INln bfOlneI =. ne letter was WITH
ten by him. the clothes We're his. IL
was all too terrible for belief and the
poor woman had TO be led away.
Dead, dead y convicts widow"
she moaned as she was taken home
Her husbands friend tried as best he
could 10 quiet her. and succeeded I'm q
measure. a doctor was called in and
the poor woman was treated by him
Until she became rational her children
were not allowed to see her, and ther
only after a story had been agreed
upon TO the effect that she had beer
taken i'll while down town shopping
There was just slight chance. the
friend thought, that IL was really the
twin and only a hideous dream. after
all.
A SHREWD CRIMINAL.
The husband had really sailed fol
Europe in June. and letter had beer
received from him. mailed in Liverpool
which said he might be home in
month or two or he might remain long