Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-11-11
DAILY SHORT STORY
How a Fortune Was Saved
tOrlglnal.l

| closed in spacious grounds, and found
| man who had been born a gentle
man, but without much education. l
was engaged and met i'll his house
| publisher to whom | proposed a ven
| ture which was successful and led up
to Il fortune When 1 resigned my sec
retaryship l was speaking TO my en-
ployer of the chance, as / called it,
which had led me to him and conse
quently to prosperity.
"Chancev' he exclaimed. THAT was
no chance. The world is full of such
chances as that. Rather call it the
result of a perfectly rational act-my
advertisement. If you want to hear
the story of a fortune secured by
chance L will tell you one for myself.
when / was boy l was inclined
to be hayward. Instead of being sat
| isfied to remain at school 1 ran away
and went to sea. | had enough of salt
water in one voyage and would have
returned to my father had L not been
too proud. 1 entered the service of
manufacturer of paper who did a very
extensive business. There 1 remained
ten years, but having an inherited dis
like for business-my ancestors got
rich by holding land-I never was pro-
NOTED beyond the position of sales
man. Finally 1 was discharged.
Il made up my mind to go home and
see what had become of my father
My mother had died at my birth, and
1 was the only child. Therefore at my
fathers death the property would all
come to me unless, Disguised with my
action in running away, he should
leave it elsewhere. On reaching home
l found that he had died about two
years before and left the property to
his housekeeper, Mrs. Higgins. l knew
the woman, for she had been in the
family from the time of my bi tn, and
it was her i'll treatment of me that had
largely influenced me to run away
from home.
81 visited the family lawyer, Mr..
Jones, and endeavored to learn if my
father had spoken to him of me and
his intentions regarding me. He told
me that shortly before his death my
father had mentioned the matter of Il
will and said to him that he would
make no will on account of my alb
Sence, relying on the law to settle the
matter in accordance with subsequent
events, including my possible return.
My father died in June. 1895. and no
will was produced till eighteen months
later. Meanwhile | had been hunted
for and not found. In December, 1896
Mrs. Higgins produced the will, which,
she declared, she had found among
other papers in my fathers cabinet
1t was of the simplest form, stating
that he left all his property, real and
personal, to Mrs. Martha Higgins, wild
Ow, in consideration of her kind care
and treatment of him for many years.
l asked the lawyer if there was no
way of breaking the will, and he said
there was none unless | could prove
that Mrs. Higgins had used undue in
f1uence over the testator or that he was
of unsound mind. 1 knew that my
own Obstinacy was inherited from my
father, and not even Mrs. Higgins was
likely to have influenced him. As to
his being of unsound mind, all his af-
fairs had been attended to in man.
ner indicating the healthiest mental
condition till a few days before his
death The will was dated four months
before he was taken with his last ill
ness.
at didn't take me long to discover
that there was no possibility of my
recovering my property through or
binary legal process. l was forced to
give the matter up and go hunting for
a position whereby to live. l found
n small job sufficient to keep me alive,
but my mind remained upon my for
tune and Mrs. Higgins. Finally de-
sire came to me to see with my own
eyes the will by which my father had
diSinherited me. Being ignorant of
such matters, | went to Mr.. Jones,
who took me TO the courthouse, where
the document was filed, and it was
produced by an officer of the court. 1t
was written on half a sheet of note
paper and witnessed by two persons of
whom had no knowledge. l was per
mitted TO take it in my hands and.
yielding to habit acquired in the pa
per business, rubbed it with my thumb
and forefinger, then held it up to the
light.
"'NIr. Jones' I said, that paper was
manufactured by the Bagstock Paper
company with which 1 was connected,
and sold by me when it first came
from the mills last September. L re-
MEMBER the tact because 1t was about
the sale of some of this paper that
got into trouble and lost my position
"'How could that have beenT he re-
piled. This is February, 1897. Last
September was in 1896. The will isl
dated May, 1895
1T doesn't make any difference to
me when the will was dated. That pa
per was not manufactured and sold till
last September
Then the will is a forgery. and
you are heir at law TO the property
'"This is virtually the end of my
story, for l had little trouble in get
ting confession from Mrs. Higgins
and the witnesses who were in league
with her on condition that would not
prosecute any of them, and the proper
ty became mine.