Amador ledger., 1906-11-30
LIKE A ROMANCE.
A Storyssof Desertion and Long Hunt
for Missing Father.

/ IL - ACo1A u OdCh5Uu, dmauOr
county has been in Nevada City this
week for the twentieth time within
the past nine years. Mr. Heath says
he is the legitimate son of the pioneer
prospector Of Meadow Lake district
in Nevada county, who died suddenly
fourteen. years ago under circum-
stances that some people 3 thought
afterwards indicated foul play. The
old man was commonly known here
about as Henry II. Hartley, but Heath
says his true name was l.. L. Heath.
The purpose of the former visits of
Mr. Heath OF jackson, was to gather
evidence to establish his identity as
the prospcetor's son, and thus get
possession of the property that was
left when ne died. This week he
came to appear before the grand jury,
and on Wednesday last at two O'Clock
in the afternoon he worked his way
into the presence OF that august
tribunal. He presented to the grand
jury a type-wr1tten document of three
pages wherein he practically charged
that his father had been murdered,
and he set forth in his communl-
cation and by word OF mouth a re-
quest for an investigation into the
alleged mystery. He said the grand
jury could get at the bottom of the
affair II 1t would summon certain
witnesses including Robert Camp
bell. retired man OF wealth living
at the city of Oakland, John Clark
who Is Meadow Lake mine owner
and prospector, and certain other
individuals living in Nevada county
and elsewhere.
The grand jury sent for Henry
Daniels Of Grass Valley, who was
coroner at the time of HartIey's death
and subsequently, presided at an
autopsy and asked him some ques-
tions. Having done this faith in
Heath's statements apparently van
ished, for he was politely passed up
to sheriff Walker and district attor.
ney Jones with the suggestion that he
tell his troubles to them.
Heath's statement was substantially
as follows: L. L. Heath, the Meadow
Lake prospector. was born in New
York In 1918, and in lS43 married
Sarah Doud. To them three children
were born, one of them being Il. L. |
Heath. The father came to California
in 1851. settling first at Ousley Bar on
the Yuba river below Smartsville, |
where he became justice of the peace
and was known as Judge Heath. He
wandered around In Amador county |
and other sections, coming to Nevada
county in 1857 and living In Grass
Valley and Nevada City, where he
was also known as Judge Heath tot
). II. Ollie of Grass Valley, James J. |
Lweis of the Bryan ranch near Grass
Valley, and various other men who
are still alive. Then he lett for
awhile returning in 1861 and settling
at Meadow Lake, where he was the
'ather of the boom that struck that
camp and lasted one summer. From
'he beginning of his Meadow Lake
experience or little earlier, he gave
MS name as Henry Ii. Hartley. In
'he meantime he had without divorv-
ing himself from his first wife, l
a California woman named
Lucy Webster, who died in a few
years. In 1887 he married a woman
Who came out from England, and
who at his death came into possession
II his property consisting of 24Ot
acres of patented mineral land that
he owned under the name of Hartley.
Sne had returned to England shortly
before his death. His wife in the east
lid not die till 1889. Mr. Heath of
Jackson, told the grand jury he is
The only genuine surviving heir of
Hartley, and he proposes to fight to q
dnish the claims of widow Hartley,
who Is now known as Mrs Maude Alice
Bonnitield, she having been, after
The death of Hartley, married to
Reno lawyer, who Is dead. Mrs
Hartley Bonnlfield had various trou-
bles after her removal from Meadow
Lake to the State of Nevada, where
she shot to death one lawyer for a
moral wrong which abe claimed he
had inflicted upon her. She went to |
Denver after the death of Bonnifield,
and Is said to be now In San Fran
cisco or Los Angeles.
Heath told the grand jury that he
hoped some time to establish the fact |
that his father was murdered. He
said the old man awoke SICK one
morning in October, 1892, and at
noon he died. There was. then no
suspicion OF foul play, and he was
quietly buried. Mrs Hartley upon
her return from England, to which
country she had gone a short time
before his death, had the body dis
Inferred and an autopsy was held by
Coroner Daniels. 1t is claimed by
The son that evidences of arsenic poi
'oning we're found, and the conclusion
arrived as result Of sthe autopsy
was that Hartley committed suicide
with rat poison. The son scouts the
suicide theory, and says that when
the time comes he will spring "a lot
Of testimony he has accumulated