The Red Cloud chief., 1898-06-17
ceveral times seen and identified by his

Ceveral times seen and identified by his
former employees
1t is just here tina, the remarkable
story told br this woman meets with
several startling proofs. which have
already made a decided impression up
on the judicial mind in England. 1t Is
we'll known that one of the most diff
fiCnlt things to secure in the United
Kingdom is authorization from a court
to open a grave or coffin. Upon the
mere statement of Mrs. DruCc that the
coffin IN the ~ilighgatc cemetery did
not enclose the body it was alleged to
contain. she never could have secured
the authorization which was granted
last week by the chancellor of the
diocese Of London to open It.
Mrs. bruce applied through her at
torneys to the bishop of London for
permission to open this coffin, alleging
that ii did not contain the body of
bruce. but instead A roll Of lead. The
bishop Of London turned the matter
over to DR.. Tristan. the chancellor OF
the diocese. who. sitting In the ConsiS-
tory court In the Wellington chapel Of
st. Paul's cathedral. heard the argu-
ment.
DR.. Tristan stated that permission to
open the coffin could not he granted
without the written consent Of the
owner of the tomb. This Mrs. Druce's
attorneys admitted had not been Sc
cured. These attorneys, however.
At,,A go, - IA. .l,,AAA1Ilr ti,t .An=
trary TO the law of England and To all
custom and practice, no physician had
ever certified to the death of Druce.
the shopkeeper. The death certificate
produced In court showed that the law
had not been complied with. the space
provided for the signature Of the at
tending physician never having been
filed In. DR.. Tristan at once admit
ted that this was an extraordinary. II
not a suspicious circumstance II was
shown by the attorneys Of Mrs. Druc"
that many other strange facts attended
the strange burial. Upon these facts
the chancellor of the diocese granted
permission to open the coffin. There
upon a wholly unexpected and quite re-
s~11dThdDIp FEATURE vi lllS Ease was I
veloped. The bruce tomb in Highgate
cemetery belongs. it seems. to Herbert
bruce. "A son of the Baker street shop
keeper. and his principal legatee. This
Herbert bruce is a wealthy man. liv-
ing near London. Although 1t might
appear that his interest would be TO
open the grave and in every way to
- lao, Il, ~ hap tIaA aaa, ne NJ hrtnA 20
show that his father was the duke OF
Portland. yet he IL at the present time
~cxhausting every effort in an attempt
to prevent examination of the coffin.
Under English law he Is illegitimate,
and there is nothing for him to gain
by it..
The plan Of Mrs. bruce Is first to SO.
cure the digging open OF the bruce
grave before attempting 10 make good
the claims of her son to the title Of the
duke OF Portland. At the present time
Mrs. bruce, through her attorneys. ha
been authorized to make an examina-
ton of the coffin, but she has been tenn
porarily stopped from doing so by 4
technical objection on the part of the
other side. This required the consent
Of her son. That consent was secured
Icy cable. But the opposing counsel At
once objected to a cabled consent being
accepted in court, and insisted that the
young man himself should either APP
pear in court in person or send his
written consent duly certified from
Australia. The son will arrive in a
few weeks with all his documents. In
the meanwhile the grave Is being
watched, and lawyers on behalf of Mrs.
the grave may be opened as soon az
possible.