The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-15
LIKE A NOVEL BY DUMAS.
WILLIAM AUSTIN'S ROMANTIC
STORY OF HIS LIFE.

III rem and Her Property-OlScofS
u Came at Her Death and "A Romance
Il Written by the Woman Furnished
Il the Glue which Has Led TO
4 Most Remarkable Series of Dis
coveries - The story Began in
4 Charleston Nearly 40 Years Ago.
II william Austin, who, with his wife, is
Il stopping at the Marshall House ana IN
\ cidentally putting In two-weeks' engage
I ment in a music hail, has a life story
q with romance enough in it 10 furnish the
Z material for half dozen novels ana
n the strange feature about it is that only
4 within the last three months did Austin
Il get the thread Of this mysterious romance
Il which he is stin unraveling and the begin
+ ming of this thread was furnished by an
!, unpublished novel written by his reputed
4 mother. Mrs Joseph Fernando, Of l62 East
4 Fifty-hfth street, New York city.
4 Not until Mrs. Fernando's death, which
occurred May p last. did Austin discover
4 that she was not HE mother, and this dis
covery was made almost Immediately aft
! er the wonan's death. While aware OF
/ some strange circumstances in HE carly
( youth he had never questioned the fact
. that the woman who claimed 10 be his
mother was such in reality. Now he not
only knows that she is not his mother,
but he believes that she was guilty Of
making away with his real mother, as
Stunning her name and thereby obtained
possession Of large property, which had
been decided to his mother by her father
and other relatives. He believes that this
was accomplished with the aid of an &C
I complete a shrewd and scheming law
yer in Philadelphia Whether his mother
IS dead or whether she is an inmate of
a Iunatic asylum, which there Is some
reason to believe, Austin is in doubt.
Until after his reputed mothers death,
Austin did not know his own name, for,
as a matter of fact, his name is not
Austin, but Davis, which he has discov-
cred to have been the name OF his father
and mother. He had an indistnct remem-
brance of having borne this name but
remembered having been ordered by the
woman whom he believed to be his mother
20 call himself Post, under which name
both he and his sister were baptized in
Philadelphia Austin is the name which
he assumed when he ran away from home
while a youth and began his life upon
the stage. He returned at intervals TO
the homo of his reputed mother in Phia-
delphia, and afterward in New York, and
was present at the time Of her death In
New York.
The secret of Austins birth came out
\ at Mrs Ternando's death. She had told
ct to her daughter by Fernando and also
TO one or two other friends, and the Sc
cret came out when a dispute arose as
TO the division of the property and admin
istration upon the estate, Fernando and
his daughter contending that Austin was
not entitled 10 share in the property, be
cause he was in fact not the son of the
II deceased woman.
my mothers name was Anita c. Da-
Wis" said Austin to a Morning News re-
porter yesterday, and she was the
daughter of Benjamin Davis Ellis and II.
Victoria Ellis, who lived in Charleston in
1850 My father was Charles Solomon Da-
Wis, of Charleston For some reason un-
known to me my father and mother sep
arated shortly after the birth Of myself
and my little sister, and never lived to-
gether afterward. When we were quite
Young about four years of age. re-
member that we left Charleston for New
Orleans, and after remaining there awhile
I. left that city by steamer for Philadel-
phia. remember distinctly that wnen we
left New Orleans the steamer which we
intended to take had pulled out into the
stream and We were forced to take
later steamer. This first steamer sunk on
the voyage with all on board Both YES
sells belonged TO the Morgan line and I
understand that they have the records of
the passenger lists
How or where my mother disappeared
] do not know. I have no recollection of
her death. When we left Philadelphia
woman named Ann Mullins or Mulligan
accompanied US as a servant. 1t is this
woman whom I next recall as living with
sn Philadelphia with my sister and re-
garding her our mother She called
herself Ann c. Davis and we were then
living at 642 North Seventeenth street.
Later we removed to 11s Grard avenue.
and the woman ordered my sister and my
self to tell any one who asked US that our
name was Post. We thought that as she
was our mother that this was all right
and continued TO be known by that name
afterwards. 1 am under the impression
that she married a man by the name OF
Post about this time but of this l have
been unable to find any record. The wo-
man appeared to have ample means Be
sides the two properties mentioned there
were other properties which stood in her
name, and from these and perhaps from
other sources she derived a large revenue.
The lawyer whom I regard as her accom-
plice managed her affairs. He frequently
visited her and paid her over from 50, 900
to 5000 a month revenue from her prop
critics. In 1872 we removed to New York
and resided at No. 81 East Fffty-ninth
street, which property was also in
the womans name. In 1876 she married
Joseph j. Fernando fruit dealer. She
was a woman of brilliant mind, of fine
appearance and apparently with ample
means, living in great style, and with,
an abundance OF jewelry and diamonds
She once figured in $4,000 lawsuit with
Mrs. Lynch of New York, because of
a large quantity of jewelry and valuables.
which she had pawned with Mrs Lynch
and which she endeavored to recover
She frequently speculated in Wall street
and was well known 10 business men
there. AS she had a number of offers from
prominent business men. I could never
understand why she married Fernando
who was simply a fruit dealer with no
property. She continued to receive her
income from Philadelphia for some three
or four years after her marriage to Fer
nando. but her Philadelphia friend caught
on after awhile and cut off the income
Then getting into straights she moved
beck to Philadelphia, and the income was
renewed. After some years there she re-
turned to New York and to Fernando.
with whom she was living at the time Of
her death"
Among the things which ] secured
possession OF at the death of the woman. -
said Mr.. Austin, was an unpublished
novel and play, which she had written.
besides four oil paintings, which she had
expressed a particular desire that I
should have. / paid no DarticuIar aften-