New-York tribune., 1907-12-31
THE END OF THE DRUCE CASE

Th., onening of the Drucc grave will probably
put all end To the Druce claims. \ son OF l.
G Druce had testified that he had lived with
his father. had been with him when ne dled
and had seen his body buried. Against that teS
timony the claimant. a grandson of i. e bruce
had contended that the grave contained only
coffin filled with lead and that T. G Druce had
ceased 10 exist only because the Duke OIL FORT
land determined no longer to masquerade under
that name When the coffin was opened yester-
day ii was found 10 hold ,he body of an aged
bearded man. description which in general
way ooincided with that of the mysterious
Druce Beside this direct testimony of the
son. sustained as fully as possible 10y the evil
dence of the tomb itself all the moonsnlne
about mysterious condolences of appearance
and eccentricity between the duke and the shoi'-
keeper and all the wonderful stories OF the
creat identif1ers who seem to have Hooked 10
London from the ends Of the earth. and even
the remarkable fact that Dickens, who used to
buy handkerchiefs or something of the sort IN
nruce's "baZaar." wrote the Mystery OF I'd
win Drood-Druce. brood. EXTRAORDINARY
wasn't it:-aH these romantic suggestive, coin
cdental bits of evidence which seemed to lit
together SO nicely become utterly unworthy of
further consideration Herbert Druce saw his
father die saw him buried, and the opening OF
the grave discovers bones which must be pre-
sumed 10 be his fathers That seems To make
end of ii.
The case had in il all the qualities OF first
class mystery. In the first place il concerned
a duke and that was enough TO induce great
MANY men and women in England 10 buy shares
in a stock company formed TO explore the Port
land skeleton closet. Moreover, the late duke
seemed TO be just the kind of man 10 have
skeleton closet worth such a scrutiny lie was
eccentric and unconventional He had subtef~
raneau messages constructed from his mansion
one il is said, leading TO Druces bazaar His
friends seem to have had doubts about what the
fifth holder of the title did on his subterranean
excursions. and the victims of curiosity were
interested enough to invest their shillings and
sometimes their pounds in order TO find out
! The late Druce is said To have looked so much
like the late Portland that no one could say
they were not and the same person at oppo-
site ends of the tunnel connecting their respeS-
tive establishments bruce was said to nave
BETRAYED signs of great agitation whenever one
of the nobility entered his shop. FOrsooth. only
a duke running a shop and in danger OF Dc
lection in his double life would have done that !!
Then there was Dickens too, who knew nlyS-
tery. for he was nipped off untimely as he was
unfolding one to the public. Well, Dickens told
a female witness she said that he knew Druce
MAS Portland This confidential disclosure took
place in n certain park. and somebody swOre, or
somebody's journal showed. that Dickens did
talk 10 some girl once in that park This fe-
male witness had a diary about the Dickens
conversation but some one in crowd had
stolen il from her. We summarize a little or
the evidence TO show how natural it was for a
certain order of speculative human mind TO con
clude that there must bc something behind
this DrIice- Portland mystery.
The interest Of those who so dearly love a
lords skeleton closet that they will buy shares
in q stock company formed to explore it is easily
understood But greater 10 than the mys-
terv of the late dukes Subterranpan habits is
the mystery in the attraction which such a case
has for witnesses and dentfers. y host Of
+ reonle were ready TO swear that they saw Druce
/ after his alleged burial. Others knew both
/ Druce and Portland and knew that they were
| one Dickens was dragged into the case. More
than one person, believe. WAS positively sure
| of the burial of lead when the duke finally laid
aside his double existence. One American vol
unteered his evidence 10 that effect and crossed
the water TO testify it, in spite of the prospect
| by some earlier exploits gained the name Of the
| great American identifer." and perhaps il we
| could learn more about the British witnesses
| who eagerly took the stand might find that
| they had figured similarly before. There seems
to exist a class of persons who are ready TO
| swear to anything If for moment they can
thereby participate in sensation.