Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-09-15


lives was cleared away, and after 1t was all
over Mrs. Smell ami her family gave ND
the contest they had thought was justified
by the facts
Until few days ago Mrs. Hulda Smell
was convinced that she WIS the widow of
the millionaire miner of Montana. In 1865
her husband, a. J. Davis, disappeared
No one knew where he went. No one
heard from him or of him. He was as if
dead to the friends and relatives that knew
of his struggles for wealth in the Golden
State. In 1889 A. J. Davis Of Butte,
Mon, died, leaving an estate the esti-
mated value Of which was between &c.
coo, 600 and 10000, 900. In the accounts
then published of the millionaire there
were many circumstances that seemed to
connect, with convincing proof, the hus-
band of Mrs. Srcll, who had disappeared
In 1855, and the wealthy miner of tho
northwest. A. j. Davis of Butte had work
ed in the early iiftics on the Tuolumne
river. He had suffered reverscs and in the
washing away of II dam saw his hopes of
golden wealth vanish.
Among the old letters that Mrs Smell
treasured from her first husband, A. j.
Davis, was one in which he told of his
fight for Il fortune and of the despair that
ovcrcamc him when his dam on the Tuo-
lumne river was washed away. There was
| no question that y. J. Davis, the miner of
Montana, and a. J. Davis, the wandering
husband of Mrs. Smell, were on the Tue
| lumnc river at the same time. 1t seemed
| almost impossible that there should be two
| men of the same name, both ut the same
place, at the same time and owning inter
| csts in the same property.
| But the revelation OF condolences had
only begun. A. J. Davis of Montana had
never married, and there was some hidden
episode of his early life that he never cared
to discuss. a. j. Davis, the husband of
Mrs. Smell, had told her moro than once
that his first name was assumed to hide
his identity and connection with an carly
| indiscrction that separated him from his
| friends and drove him from his Illinois
home.
Still further investigation showed that
A. J. Davis, the millionaire of Montana,
and A. j. Davis, the first husband of Mrs
Smell, were in many places always to-
gethcr, 1t seemed, and always in pursuit
of the same object. Both were men Of
mystery, with dark years in their career
Both were fortune hunters, and when Mrs.
Smell remembered the parting with her
frs: husband and recalled his promise that
! he would never make another woman his
wife she seemed to understand why it was
that \. J. Davis of Montana had never
married in his later career, when he had
almost incxhaustiblc wealth The proof
of identity became almost absolute when
Mrs. Smell learned something of the phys-
ical characteristics of A j. Davis. She
discovered that the millionaire had a pccul.
lar mole upon his neck, and she recalled
that her husband had the same curious
mark.
With these facts in her possession Mrs.
Smell wished to make her claim for the
millions that had been accumulated in
| Montana, but her husband, Ansel Smell.
would not listen to such a proposal. A
year later, in 1890, he died, and the friends
Of Mrs. Smell persuaded her to pursue her
inquiries
The investigation was intrus.ed to the
care of c. J. Stilwell. and fer three years
he has been engaged upon it. When he
had finished, he had proved that, in the
face Of n series OF remarkable condolences
of identity, A. J. Davis Of Montana and
\. ]. Davis, the first husband of Mrs. Smell,
We're two different men The history o.
that investigation is of exceptional inter
est, fer it reveals o singularly romantic
NE history
The history of Abraham J. Davis, the
first husband of Mrs smell, begins in 1911
when he was born in Kentucky. In 1925
his parents moved TO Illinois, and there
the family lived for many years. In 1898.
when Abraham Davis was % years Of age,
he eloped with Lcaner Chapman, the
daughter Of a neighboring farmer The
young people were married and moved to
Iowa, where the husband engaged in farm
ing. The married life of the couple was
not happy one, ard in 1899 Abraham de
serted his young wife and three sons the
youngest of whom is still living in Edgar
county, Ills.
Davis went at once TO Carroll county,
Ark. In his wandorings he stopped at the
home of Hulda Queen, who lived about q
miles from Carrollton. Hulta Queen aft
erwar,l became his wife and is now ths
aged woman, Mrs Hulda Smell who until
few days ago believed that the A. J. Da