The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-15
LIKE A NOVEL BY DUMAS
continued From Twentieth Page.


me- She has been good. tender and true.
but there is an undefnable something
about her which has always made me
wonder who she is
This set me to thinking" said Mr.
Austin. and l decided 10 write to Char
lesion, which I did, addressing the letter
to the owner of lie Meeting street and
signing myself W. O. Post 1t happened
that 1l6 Meeting street had been turned
into a fire station years ago, but CHIEF
Maringenhoff took the matter up and in
formed me that in 1860 this house was oc-
cupied by a James W. Davis The mat
ter was given publicity in the
newspapers there and afterward
in New York. and attracted con-
siderable attention. I then decided to go
to Charleston and make invest gation for
the purpose Of tracing the story from the
beginniug. Not being overfiIsh with means
I secured a place with one of the thea
ters there for a two weeks engagement.
l was richly rewarded by my visit. The
four oil portraits played a promin mt part
there. One was OF myself, the other OF
my sister. Ano her. 1 had been given TO
understand. was that of my father, and
the fourth of my mother. The woman
who died in New York had always claimed
this TO be her portrait, but after her
death I easily discovered that alterations
had been made in the painting to give 1t
a resemblance TO her and that with these
removed it presented an entirely different
appearance"
Briefly stated Mr. Davis or Mr.. Austin,
as he still calls himself, succeeded in ind
ing in Charleston several of the older cit
liens who identified the paintings as those
of Charles Solomon Davis and his wife,
Anita c. Davis, and who gave affidavits
tn tbic affect The former WAS a CITY de-
tective of Charleston and only died three
years ago at the age of 6S, having taken
unto himself another wife. The mystery
as to the separation from his first wife
was not entirely cleared up. Some
trace of Benjamin Davis Ellis and
wife, his mothers parents, was also
secured. They are believed to have left
Charleston in the early sixties, and TO
have moved to Philadelphia The deeds
to the Philadelphia property from which
the reputed mother derived her revenue.
are in the name of Benjamin Davis Ellis
to Anita C. Davis. With this evidence,
and other evidence which he expects to Sc
cure, Mr.. Austin hopes to be able to es-
tablish his right to the Philadelphia
property, and also to piece of properly
In New York, to which Mrs. Fernando
made a deed in the name of Anita C.
Davis. to which, by her own statements
10 various parties, Sne was not entitled.
If Mr.. Austin-Davis succeeds in estab-
fishing the fact of his strange career and
that of his reputed mother, as he has out
lined them, he will lay the foundation for
a most remarkable romance and give a
new confirmation to the old saw that
truth is stranger than fiction He has fire.
quenuy heard Mrs. Fernando speak
of a sister who was confined in a lunatic
asylum in Indiana and he thinks it posi-
BILE that this is his mother. OF his own
sister all he knows is that on his return
from one of his tours he was informed
that she had died during his absence.
There are many links in the chain to be
filed in, which Mr.. Austin hopes to do
with the assistance of members of the
| Davis famly now scattered throughout
| the South. He has already discovered a
| cousin here in Policeman Moses Davis OF
| the Savannah force and has heard of 9TH
| er relatives in this section. His main OBJ
| ject in touring the cities of the South, lie
| says, is with the view to finding these
| relatives and obtaining information from
them needed to establish his claims.