The daily morning Alaskan., 1904-01-08
How a Fortune
 Was Saved

my eye fell ou am advertisement of a man who wanted a secretary l called at the address, a handsome house in- closed in spacious grounds, and found man who had been born a gentle man. but without muc5 education was engaged and met in his house a publisher to whom l proposed a ven ture which was successful and led up to a fortune. When ] resigned my sec retaryship l was speaking to my em ployer of the chance, as l called it, which had led me to him and conse Quently to prosperity.
 "Chancer' he exclaimed. "That was no chance. The world is full of such chances as that. Rather call 1t the result of d perfectly rational act-my advertisement If you want to hear the story of fortune secured by chance l will tell you one for myself.
 "When l was a boy l was inclined to be wayward. Instead of being sat isGed to remain at school ! ran away and went to sea. had enough of salt water in one voyage and would have returned to my father had ] not been too proud. l entered the service of a manufacturer of paper who did a very extensive business. There I 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 I was discharged.
 CT made up my mind to go home and see what had become of my father My mother had died at my birth, and l was the only child. Therefore at my fathers death the property would all come to me unless, disgusted with my action in running away, he should leave 1t elsewhere. On reaching home l found that he had died about two years before and left the property to his housekeeper, Mrs. Higgins. knew the woman. for she had been in the family from the time of my birth, and 1t was her ill treatment Of me that had largely influenced me to run away from home.
 "I visited the family lawyer, Mir 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 a 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 nc will was produced tiI eighteen months later Meanwhile l 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 It was of the simplest form, stating that he left an his property, real and personal, to Mrs. Martha Higgins. wid ' ow, In consideration of her kind care and treatment Of him for many years | 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 duence over the testator or that he was of unsound mind l knew that my own obslnacy 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 lf fairs bad been attended to in a man uer indicating the healthiest mental condition tin a few days before his death The will was dated four months before he was taken with his last ill ness.
 "It didn't take me long to discover that there was no possibility of my recovering my property through or dmary legal process. l was forced to give the matter up and go hunting for a position whereby to live ] found a small job sufficient to keep me alive but my mind remained upon my for tune and Mrs Higgins. Finally a de sire came to me Go see with my own eyes the will by which my father had disinherited me. Being ignorant of such matters, ! went to AIr. Jones who took me to the courthouse. where the document was filed, and 1t was produced by an officer of the court. It was written on half a sheet Of note paper and witnessed by. two persons Of whom had no Knowledge. ] was per mitted to take it in my hands and yielding to a habit acquired in the pa per business, rubbed 1t with my thumb and forefnger, then held it up to tho light
 NIr. Jones' ! said, that paper was manufactured by the Bagstock Paper company, with which was connected and sold by me when it first camo from the mills last September. re. member the fact because it was about the sale of some of this paper that ] got into trouble and lost my position.
 How could that have beenY he re piled. This is February, 1897 Last September was ia 1896. The will is dated May, 1S95.'
 Tt doesn't make any difference tc ne when the win was dated. That pa per was not manufactured and sold tili last September.
 Then the will is a forgery, and you are heir at law to the property.
 "This is virtually the end of my ] storr for l had little trouble in get