The Grit-advocate., 1905-01-27
The phantom
oPIainGU
A Strange Story OF Oemeotia and
Oevtitry.

h"'h ambitious and adventurous. so Thai
| heir relatives wcr" more scandailzed
| than surprised. when the orphan twins.
| now being Of age. announced their In
| tontiun of starting for the diamond fields
! of South America To seek their fortunes.
| Father came home first bringing -
| wife ana myself. as wsN fortune
| large enough to disnpppint those VIII"
| had said that his bird in the hand was
WORT. more than any h- would snare lh
| Africh's bushes.
Aunt Jane, having fallen Violently IN
| 'oyc with and married the Cecil Rhodes
| OF those days. did no, return with
father. This point is OF importance
and sadly changed by her grief Sh"
was to" wiilul woman to accept "v"n
Her VIII power and her won't power had
ever been in her own way. as we'll as
making others unhappy. Yet. for som.
wears she went On investing her vast
! wealth she chose. and improving this
| East estit. with NOR" taste and skill
man might have been expected OF on"
| IN her state.
But her Judgment In matters Of art
| and architecture was the last to fail
Having invested million in this h"uSc
lease or sell Manorial hail. and com"
here to live, To insur. ',s assent. hcr
ihwycr showed him II will giving Hedge
| park TO him during his life and entail
| to share equally with Uncle Johns chill
nf"n n" having gone where money is
| not needed. ! must have been about
| eighteen when Aunt James malady he
| came dangerous as well AZ uncndurlhi":
You may imagine our horror when We
| round that under the gus- Of s'l1ing
| 10 Paris as usual for her summer out
fit, the poor demrntch creature had pro
butler
lie was kicked out Of the house and
| shc was taken for safety to an insane
| asylum AT this retreat she had her own
|
man. hut she was to he d"harred from
any further juliet and Romeo cxpc-
ri"nccs. The doctors said that she was
| loVe-Tick
After, fathers death became acting
master here. and looked upon myself rs
tn" owner Of lIehgcpark whenever Aunt
Jane should die. as she was cnnsidrreh
NJ more than eccentric at tn" time h"r
stances 1t was proper for me to live here
| az father had been doing
In his place | was appointed trustee
person. This is the whole Of the story
un to the date Of the mysteries. shortly
mt"r ,thr father's death ! was notified by
Aunt Lane was missing.
For weeks the doctors had been m
moved by woman who persistenty do
inandrd an Interview with her aunt. Free
love Payne. who she insisted was unjust
~ confined there, under the name of Jane
pnton They refused the impostor's re-
thinking that she was an ordinary crank.
one of the thousands that roam around
and infest the world failing to do any
! thing quite wicked enough to justify their
arrest.
So Aunt Jane followed her usual rou-
tns of living. on the pihzZas OF about the
grounds, until cuc day sh" wasn't there,
Care? They all claim that patients nrr
protected constantly, and never out Of
sight nor off the mind Of trained nure"
and yet from private as well as public re
treats, patients do disappear for days or
weeks. do walk the roofs ind jump Ur,
do wander to tn" ponds or lakes and jump
in. OR. they get access TO the nursr's y
medicine closet and ill up according to
their preference, with narcotics or sunni
iants. or If despondent., they have par,
tanen of the rats potion. Now. about
Aunt Jane; they solcmnly assert that sh"
had not been left unguarded a numcni.
and yet while her maid was absent and
the nurse in attendance. she had b"ci'
spirited away. Can We b"lI"v. 1t? Hribcd?
1t looks badly, but they claim that tin"
nurse was no, in fault, yet do not explain
'DctcctlVrs were s,on at work but lost
the trail almost before they were out ni
sight OF the estate. The brightest on.
quietly returned to tn. town, and soon
was on the trail again; they had never
left the city, but were at = hotel within
sight of Mnp"w'od. 4 mighty shrcwd
dodge. The female ahductor was on the
alert. and escaped before the detective
could b" shown 10 their suite
Poor. gibb"rinE Aunt Jane prattlcd OF
liked this new hstel better than lii" on"
she had recently left. Yet she quietly
wen, with us to another hotel. where they
promised better care. Since then.
nave been served with writs of all kinds.
even one Of habcas corpus. to pro'lue"
Aunt Jane in court, to prove that she
wasn't our aunt and had never been our
aunt! This Phantom I'lhintin. through
her lawyers. demanded that our family
portraits should be brought into court.
that the jury miSht compare our aunt's
features and poisr with those on the Hud-
long CanVaSts and So" that Aunt Jane had
not a drop OF ELdions blood in her veins.
This Phantom 's IS N hi n'gn 20 n Er,"t ,hss,
Payne. falsely called Jane Patton. false
! ly pronounced insane by Incompetent
au,horiii.s. and Illegally incarcsratrd at
one tine in the asylum known rs Ma
! picWood, and now III som. place to IN"
| complainant unknown
'Blackmail? What else can it be? Up
TO Aunt James death. this tGlnal" devil,
or insane criminal continued her attacks
upOn us. seeking poHstssion OF the person
and estate Of FT"e.nve Payne. She had
AZ many and AZ oosclre hiding places
as any foul animal of the wood. and no
. sooner did we almost close in upun her
. tnan shc doubled and was lost To hght
these phaniom-ikc a"cusati"ns fas cost
. rs enough t" "Hduw II san!t1rnm to ear"
for such cranks, If she has paid her law
, S.rs She must hav" spent "n,,ngh TO INV"
| well furnished the klrh:,us that We might
] hav" erected
'.Whcn Aunt Jane died lawyers In u.
! nam. of This neXt-of-k.n demanded tn"
body for blrial. and later opposed tn" pro-
batting Of the viii that | spoke Of, We
. . buried Huil. bN Ih' court y consent,
though We hav" only fpi"d this CHOU by
I having the vault guardeI. The probate
! court sustained the VIII. and TIA" PhDu-
! TOMS lawyers, as usual. appealed. think
| it was about this tine that ~c learned
! that she called herself Miss D.tnar, She
! may have others.
THE case mat comes up tn-mnr-nw
! Seems to h.. her last card: surely iI she
had held trumps she would have played
] them. This last gam" Is based UDnn the
| assertion that Jan. Patton died and was
buried in Sulith Africa. and that it was
| Fre.inVe Payne who returnnd and who
| bought H"dGop1rk and pcrsCnat"d Aunt
! Jane with fathers approval. Was ever
! n cause more henitshIy sugS-Ited? Yet
! while blac mn hing n"r nuuts reputation,
how ingcniously sh" csta hlishes her pre-
! tended claim upon Aunt James millions.
! If her stCry were true. then she would
/ he the hriTcSS: for no one denies that the
wunrn who owned fi"dgepark was the
same who died at the insane asylum. and
who lies in the BIdlOng family vault
What fiction writer would dare create q
tpI, like tlis7''