Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-02-04

gers, and let the vessel proceed on her
voyage. The ladies were compelled,
on peril of their lives, to surrender all
their Jewelry, and among the articles
taken from Lady Dunmore was pair
OF superb pearl bracelets, the pearls
being set in somewhat peculiar fash
ion. Another pair, an exact duplicate
OF those possessed by Lady Dunmore
had been purchased by Lord Dunmore
as wedding gift to his sister. and the
story OF the two pairs of bracelets, and
the loss of Lady Dunmore's pearls,
which were of great value, and of her
pleading for her life to Captain Kidd,
| is matter of history, as well as one
of the cherished family traditions In
1901, Roderick Streeter writes to Mr.
Aston that the then Lady Dunmore, in
looking over some gems which he was
| offering her, had seen a pair of exquiS-
| lite pearl bracelets which were part
of the Astor consignment, and had at
once recognized them as the identical
pair taken by Kidd nearly one hundred
years before. She returned the follow
ing day, with the family solicitor,
bringing the duplicate bracelets; told
and verified the story of the loss of
one pair by Lady Dunmore; compared
the two pairs, showing their almost
perfect Identity, showing certain pri-
vate marks upon each, and demon
strating beyond question that the
pearls offered her by Mr.. Streeter were
the identical gems seized by Captain
Kidd. The solicitor demanded their
surrender to Lady Dunmore on the
ground that, having been stolen, no
property in them could pass even to an
innocent purchaser Mr.. Streeter then
stated that he had asked for delay I'M
til he could communicate with the
owner of the gems, and asked Mr.. As
tor for instructions. MIR. Astor re-
piled, authorizing the delivery of the
bracelets to Lady Dunmore and ask
ing Mr.. Streeter to assure her that the
supposed owner was guiltless of wrong
in the matter, and was an entirely inno-
cent holder. He repeated the caution,
given also in sundry other letters, that
to no one was the. ownership of the
gems sold by Mr. ,Streeter to be re-
vealed. They were to be sold as if
the property of Streeter acquired in
| the regular course of business. Lady
Dunmore afterward sat to Sir Thomas
! Lawrence for her portrait, and was
| petlheSu NSeil lHEo uPoli iiSl al 1llo lllO
pearl bracelets thus curiously reclaim
ed This portrait is considered one of
| the masterpieces of Lawrence, and is
now in the collection of Mr.. Hall Nc
Cormick, of Chicago.
BY the discovery of the hole in a
cave in Maine, after lapse of nearly
two hundred years, was thus curiously
brought to light the apparent origin of
the colossal Aston fortune. Prior to
the acquisition of the Kidd treasures
by the first American Astor, he was
simply a modest trader, earning each
year, by frugality and thrift, two or
| three hundred dollars above his living
expenses, with fair prospect of ac-
cumulating, by an Industrious life, a
fortune of twenty or thirty thousand
dollars. When he became possessed
of the Kidd plumber, he handled it with
the skill of great general. He ex-
banded his fur trade until it embraced
the continent. The record of his
cheques given during the three years
when he received the one Million three
hundred thousand dollars shows that
| he expended over seven thousand dol
lars of the amount in the purchase of
real estate in the city of New York.
The entries of the various cheques are
recorded as Payment for the Wall
street property" the Bond street
land" the Broadway corner" ETC., the
descriptions being sufficiently accur-
ate, when verified by comparison with
the titles of record. to locate at this
date every parcel of land bought, and
all of which is still in the possession
of the Astor family. Some twenty diff
ferent tracts of land in what is now
the very heart of the business and res
|idence portion of New York were thus
purchased, each one of which is now
Iprobably of more value than the price
originally paid for the whole. In OBJ
tanning knowledge of the various de-
tails already given, over two years had
been spent by Mr.. Olmsted and his
agents. The results seemingly reached
may be summarized as follows:
/. Captain Kidd had sailed along
the Maine coast shortly before his ar
rest, and an iron box, marked with
his initials, was afterward taken from
the cave upon the land of Mr. Olmsted
and this box afterward came into Mr.,
Astor's possession.
2. Jacques Cartier had camped for
many years, while employed by Mr.
Astor, Immediately adjoining the cave
where the box was concealed, and his
rapid increase in wealth and that OF
Mr.. Astor were simultaneous.
8. Mr.. Astor's great wealth came
from the sale, through Mr.. Streeter, OF
ancient Spanish and French gold, and
of gems, some of which were proved
| to have been a part Of the spoils OF
Captain Kidd, which made it reason
able presumption that all of such prop