The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-02
gi.-What Happened to John
Harmon.

11.---fVHaI f1aPPeHcu 70 DIN
Harmon. H
In London about nifty years ago, there
lived an old man named Harmon, who
had made great fortune by collecting
\, the dust and ashes OF the city and sort
{ ing 1t for whatever 1t contained OF value.
4 He lived In house surrounded by great
mounds OF dust that he had collected.
& He was a hard-heartcd man. and when
his daughter would not marry as he
q wished, he turned her out OF the house
on winters night. The poor girl died
q soon after, and her younger brother "a
boy fof only fourteen). indignant at his
fathers cruelty. ran away to a foreign
country, where for years he was not
4 heard OF. }, u 95 Is
The old man. hard hearted as he, was.,
& and though he never spake OF the son
save with anger and curses. felt this
X keenly. for In his own way he had loved
the boy. q fS }S5 VI
"a. Mr.. Bonn was foreman OF the dust
1 business. and both he and his wife had
& loved the two children. Being kind and
5ust people, they did mot hesitate to let
the father know how wicked they consid-.
z cred his action. and they never ceased to
Ericve for the poor little John who had
run away. SO. though did not guess
IT. the old man made UP his mind they
were an honest and deserving pair. &
One morning the dust-deaier was dis-s
covered dead in his bed, and then IT
was found that he had left very cu-5
& rlous will The Will heaueathcd all his
vast fortune to the son who had run
& away. on one condition: that he marry
Il young lady by the name OF Bella Wil-5
fer the daughter OF a poor London clerk.
4 or course, the son had never seen Bella
U IN his life, and. in fact. the old man
had seen her only a few lines, when she
was d very tile girl.
He was sitting in the park one Sunday
morning. and the baby Bella. because
Is her father would not go the exact way
she wanted. was screaming and stamping
her little foot. Old Mr.. Harmon having
such stubborn temper himself. ad-8
E n1,red 1t in the little child, and came to
4 watch for her. r hen, for some strange.
reason. which nobody ever could guess.
y he had put the baby's nameEin his will,
55sss declaring &t hatshis son John Should get
IS his money onlS. by marrying this little
girl And the VIII declared. moreover
Il that n the son, John Harmon died or
refused TO marry Bella, all the fortune.
y should go o Mr.. Bofiin, 5Es
The lawyers had great trouble In find
4 ing where John Harmon was, but finally
4 they did no. and received word that he
4 would return at once to England, IA
The ship he sailed on reached London.
q but the passenger 1T carried did not ap-s
r.
4 named Hexam found q body floating In
the river Thames. which flows through
the middle OF London; in Its pockets were.
4 the letters the lawyers had written to
John Harmon. and there seemed no
Il doubt that the unfortunate young man
6 hid been murdered and his body thrown
4 into the river. I.
The night the body was found, while
! it2lay at the police station, a young man.
very much excited, came and asked to
see It, IIo would not tell who he was
and his whole appearance was most wild
and strange. The police wondered, but
they saw no reason to dotaIn the
strangY 30 after looking at the body
4 ne went away again very hastily.
3sA grca stir was made about the case
and the police tried their best to dis.
cover the murderer. but they were un-3
successful. Then It occurred TO trenl
8 that there was something suspicious in
the appearance OF the young man that
+ night and they tried to find him. but
he seemed to have compile tely disap-l
peared. 81 s5s Fl.
At last the fortune was turned over to-
\ Mr.. Boffn, and all but a few people
thought no more about the murder
Now 1t was not really true that John
Harmon had been drowned. This was
what happened:
The young man had come back to Eng
land lnwillingly, though he was coming
to such wealth. Having left his father
so long before manager. he hardly liked
to touch the money. And he dreaded
having to marry a girl he had never
seen, with whom all his life he might
be most unhappy.
Il On the ship was a seaman about his
own age, whose face somewhat re-
sen1bled his own. With this man Harmon
+ became friendly, and before the ship
reached England, he had told him his
trouble and his dread Tho other pre-
tended to- enter into the adventure. and
proposed that Harmon disguise himself
in sailors clothes, go intos'the neighbour
hood where lived Miss Bella Wilfer and
h see II. she were one whom he could love-
Now the man whom Harmon was thus
j. trusting was a villain, who, while he
had been listening to the others story.
A had been planning a crime against nlm.
He had made up his mind to kill Har-g
mon, and, as he looked SO much like
himto marry her himself and claim the
fortune, VS. sS 15 5A
A n Near the docks where the ship came
In, was a sailors boarding house, owned
+ BY "a riyernans Of bad reputation, named
"RogueY Riderhood. r iderhood had once
been the partner of FIeXanl, the man VINO
found the floating body, but when he
was discovered trying to rob a live man..
4 JIexam had cast him off, The seminar.
took Harmonic this house and there he
4 secretly got from Riderhood some POISON
Il Last he persuaded Harmon to change
A CLOTHES with him. l
RI All tina t remained now was to get rid
Of the real Harmon. To do this lie nut
i the poison In q cup Of coffee and Harmon
Il drinking this became insensibe. M
The lodging house hung out over tho,
8 river and the wicked man had intended
4 throwing the others body, dressed now
4 in seaman'a clothes. into i he water, nut!
fate was quickly to spoil his plan He
and some others fell to luarreling Slyeri
x the money found In the clothing Of The
unconscious man ..S The result was q dess-!
perate fight, and when At was over, there
were two bodies thrown from the WIN
dow into the black river-Tthe drugged
!, man and the seaman who had planned
4 IFS murder. "a N q
v ,rhe shock . Of the cold water brought
the drugged Harmon to his senses He
M 81 tei,ille Cgi1