Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-04-13
DAILY STORY,
A UNIQUE METHOD OF PROOF.
[Original.l

Inc microscope mas Deen uSeu III eFl-
dence to detect human blood corpus
cles. chemistry has been called upon
to pronounce upon poisons in dead
body, but the senses are not considered
adequate to give reliable testimony In
cases requiring such delicate tests.
Nevertheless there are individuals in
whom certain sense is very acute-in
some instances nearly as acute as In
the lower animals.
The Earl of Pinton had three sons
and two daughters. The estate being
entailed, 1t was necessary for the two
junior sons to shift for themselves and
for the daughters to be married. The
youngest son. Edgar Crafts, realizing
that with two brothers ahead OF him
there was little or no chance of his
coming into the title, left for Australia.
For a time he corresponded with his
family and with Lucy Harmon, to
whom he was attached and who was
attached to him, but since fortune did
not attend his efforts the correspond
ance was finally dropped by reluctant
mutual consent
The earl died about ten years after
Edgar's departure His oldest son sue
ceeded him, married, but had no chill
dren. The second son died before the
first while still a bachelor. Then the
oldest son-the earl-died. Meanwhile
Edgar had not been heard from in
many years He was forty years old
when the title fell to him If he were
alive Advertisements for him We're
put in the Australian papers, but
elected no response. After a two
years fruitless hunt the title was Civ
en- TO another branch of the family.
One day a man purporting to be
Edgar Crafts appeared and claimed
the title and the estates. He said he
was forty-three but looked fifty. He
was swarthy and gray and bald. Arch
ibald Crafts, the incumbent, at once
took the ground that he was an i'm
postOr One of the claimants sisters.
who was still living. did not believe
him to be her brother. The quick eve
of love saw what others could not or
would not see. Lucy Harmon, who
had not married, at once recognized
ullu as htI lONcI. IL sue hsti IOl uoit
so, he would have soon convinced her
There was no way for Edgar Crafts
to come into his rights except by suit
in a court of law. But he had no mon
ey. He claimed that he had gone from
Australia to Brazil, where he had made
a fortune and lost it. There did not
seem to be a ghost of a chance for his
win Inn / HnrTnnn
| who had come into n small fortune
during his absence, offered to risk it
| for his sake. He declined, but they
| finally determined to be married, and
| then suit was begun.
One would suppose that there would
be many ways of proving mans iden-
| tity. So there are. Bat unfortunately
| there are as many ways of proving
| that he is not the man he claims to be.
| There was but one likeness of Edgar
| Crafts eXtant. taken when he was eight
cen years old, and that looked very
little like him. He and the likeness
were brought before disinterested per
sons, who declared that they could moi
be one and the same. His handwrit-
| ing was compared with letters of Ed
| gar Crafts written soon after his de
| parture, but they We're not alike. Out
| of three experts only one pronounced
the two to have been written by the
same person. The preponderance OF
| evidence was against the claimant
| Donald Beardslee, the barrister who
had charge of the claimants case, was
| much interested in it. He believed the
man to be what he purported to be
largely because Lucy Harmon believed
in him. Beardslee had been working
hard on the case one day without sue
cess and was sitting in his smoking
room at home after dinner racking Lis
ingenuity for the morrow when MAJ
was announced, who gave his name a:
Patrick Noonan. He was shown int
the smoking room.
"Well, who are you?" asked the bar
rister. And what can l do for you?"
I'm an old servant in the service o
the Pinton family, sir"
The barrister pricked up his ears.
"And / want to tell you about Mr.
Edgar, sir. The man as has come bacl
Is him."
How do you know"
81 can smell him"
"Smell him? What do you mean
You're not dog"
II know the smell of all the lat
earl's family"
The next morning Noonan visite'
the barrister at his office. A few day
later Beardslee, who had ransacke
: the scientific Libraries. summoned Noe
: nan for a witness, but before takin
his testimony read the following to tn
jury from German Archive Of phys
ology:
Every human being has a specific ode
of his own by which he can be recognize
4 by persons Of sensitive smell. The cas-
: Is mentioned OF man who blindfolde
| could pick out each individual in a con
pany of twenty by his odor The SINE
i is not born with us, but develops graz
6 ually till about the age of fourteen, aftt
p which 1t remains unchanged. Member
of family have kind of common ode
e which exists even when they have live
i g.