The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1906-02-15
FAKE HEIRESS WRITES UP HER
own FAKE AND FUN SHE HAD
LETTERS BY THE BUSHELS
CAME TO PlTTsBURG GIRL
cRANKs,BEeGARs AND MANY
WOULDBE HUSBANDS WILL
ING TO SHARE HER SORROW
AND HER WEALTH.,

"heiress of a fortune of 100000
left by Senator Grey, of Virginia,
but wealth was just big bunch OF
trouble. | was lucky TO keep out OF
Jail, to boot. | would rather be
poor working girl, like | am, than
get fortune that way, for believe
would have been pestered tc
death with letters-proposals OF
marriage and things like that.
know at least how it feels to be
rich-or. rather, have people be
lieve you are.
came to Pittsburg last Septem-
Der from Philadelphia. My two mar
ried sisters were the only persons
knew. Unable to secure employ
ment as a dressmaker, / became a
servant in the home of Mr.. Baus-
man.
In December | read of a senator
Gray dying in Virginia and leaving
a large fortune. At a gathering of
acquaintances one evening, some
one wondered If l was not Senator
Gray's daughter. l laughingly told
her | was and that l was entitled
TO his fortune.
The next night a reporter called
at Bausman's. Just for fun | told
him l was the heire IS, and made up
a lot of lies about attending Vassar
college and running away from
home because my family wanted
me to marry a man didn't love
that's romantic, you know.
thought that would end it and
] would have some fun; that's all.
But Mr.. Bausman took the matter
up seriously and insisted upon
sending an attorney to Washington,
d. C. to investigate. This was done
and paid the lawyer $50, knowing
at the same time it was going TO
get me into a fix of some kind. The
day he got back l ran away from
the Bausman home and went to my
sisters. My sister told me l must
be crazy.
Soon after the story was printed
about my good fortune" | began
to get letters from all parts of the
United States. They came by the
bushel Many contained proposals
of marriage. Lawyers wanted to
get the fortune and marry me. Poor
people wrote for money and bust
ness men wanted me as a partner.
| answered one from Lawrence
Faust, coachman, and met him
at the railroad station one evening.
He was so enthusiastic that | didn' t
have the heart to tell him it was a
Joke. He gave me $50 to help get
the fortune. Fifty dollars of this |
paid the lawyer to go to Washing
ton. Not knowing how to get out
of the trouble, decided not to see
Faust again. He went to a magis-
trate and made information against
me.
The detectives were hunting for
me believing | was a notorious
crook. Then with a lawyer ! had
the thing fixed up, without being
put in Jail. Everybody then. knew
about the fortune story, but many,
] suppose, yet think am a crook.
Thanks to the newspapers, had
the sensation of feeling rich for a
while. The letters made me feel
like a queen. A man in Philadel.
phia wrote congratulating me on
my good luck, and said:
81 hope you won't think | am an
old duffer after your money. |
would find it real pleasant pase-
time to write and receive letters
from you. once lived at Peeks-
kill on the Hudson, perhaps at the
same time you were at Vassar, |
would like to correspond with you,
for who knows what the end might
be?"
A Baltimore man wrote for a
photograph. saying he hoped I
would not get mad, as he lis a good
fellow at heart
A college man from New York
wrote:
Like yourself, have had a very
hard row to hoe. Taken out of
A CARD.
This is to certify that all drug