Graham guardian., 1898-03-18

had been removed from the books,
and Others containing the forged
entries in regard to the baptism OF
the Maso twins and the death of
the mother and infant boy had
been lnterpolated. He found
Louis Roubidoux and his wife,
who were alleged to have acted as
godparepts at the baptism of the
twins, and they denied all knowl
edge ofany such occurrence. He
discovered that the depositions
offered IN Reavis's aid to establish
the identity of his wife as the
great.granddaughter of the origin
al grantee of the Peralta grant
were mass of perjury; that the
persons alleged to have formed the
party who took their meals at
Andres SandovaPs restaurant in
San Francisco in 1862, had, with
one exception, never existed.
That one was John A. Treadway, |
the so.called guardian of the infant
baroness. Treadway was one of
the very few realities found in any
way connected with the tale Reavis
had concocted about the Peralta
grant. He was a native of New
York, and the friend Of Alfred f.
Sherwood, for whom Sherwood
Valley was named. He came there
about 1856, and finally went away
TO Sacramento county, where he
died. While in Sherwood Valley
he lived with an Indian woman,
who bore him child, little girl
whom he named Sofa. This was
the child Sherwood gave to Snow
ball, the child who afterward be-
came the wife of Reavis, and
through whom he ATTEMPTED to
steal from the United States a pro.
Iperty worth hundred millions of
dollars. Mr.. Hughes also discover
ed the man who buried Treadway,
and who erected stone over his
grave inscribed with the date of
his death-Nov. 81, l86l-more
than six months prior to the time
when the perjured witnesses had
sworn that he had brought to Sher-
wood Valley the infant daughter of
Maso, The name that Treadway
had given to his illegitimate child
was the name of his youngest sister,
of whom he was evidently very
F fond, and whom he frequently
mentioned in conversation with the
friend who buried him.
On the trial of the case the gov
ernment proved in detail not pos.
sible here to recount the absolute
Righteousness OF the claim, the spur
, iousness of the muniments, and the
falsity of Reavis' depositions.
, He it was who had fabricated
+ the tale of his wife's noble descent,
! In a lawyers office, on Market
, street, San Francisco, he had pre-
pared the story to be told by each
, witness. He had contracted with
/, resident of that city, in oonsidera
, tion of the sum of $4,000 to fur.
i nish him with persons who would
, swear to the various statements he
had formulated. These persons
were produced, and under Reavis'
tuition learned and rehearsed the
parts they were to play IN the
E drama Of crime. Some of them are
to-day fugitives from justice, in
foreign countries. Reavis, at the
time of the trial, occupied the wit
ness stand for a number Of days,
during which time he related a
most remarkable narrative of his
eventful and ill-spent life, His
| wife, well drilled in her part Of the
deception, was also q witness, ba1
under the searching ordeal of cross
? examination, although sklllfully
avoiding for long time the snares
spread for her ENHANCEMENT, final
ly broke down and burst into tears.
while her beautiful twin boys clung
in alright and CONSERVATION to her
skirts. 1t was an affecting and
dramatic scene, but it did not
swerve from their purpose those
whose duty it was to expose the
monumental scheme of robbery.
The court by a unanimous opin-
ion rejected the grant. Reavis was
arrested, indicted for conspiracy to
defraud the United States, was
tried, convicted and sent to the
penitentiary.
Mr.. Reynolds had the manage
ment and control of both the civil
and criminal cases, being specially
selected by the Department Of JUS
tice, after the termination of the
former, to prosecute Reavis for his
attempted fraud against the govern
ment. Much Of the credit for the
success of the case is due to At
torney General Olney's determine
ton to sustain the governments at
torney at any cost in unearthing
the unparalleled swindle.
In the annual report of the De-
partment of Justice, for the year
1895, Attorney General Harmon,
referring to this case, said: "The
case is remarkable as probably the