Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-11-03

places in New York and Vermont
from Ogdensbusg to Milwaukee b.
steamer, on which he worked his pas
sage, and from thence to st. Pau
and Wabasha, Mimi, where he lief
''the road" and found employment
about three months after his depar
ture from Melrose.
Subsequently he became ranch
man in North Dakota, his present res
idence. According to his story tt
Detective Fielding of st. Paul, he
kept up secret correspondence with
his brother, through the cooperation
of his cousin, Susie Reed Willis Of
Auburn, Maine, (although Fielding
understood him to say Auburn, N. "
Daniel Russell, ST., advertised fal
and wide to find his son, giving full
description of him and offering large
rewards for information = regarding
him, but Daniel always succeeded In
escaping discovery. At one time in
Malone, N. Y, he heard that some
one was looking for him and he went
to his friend, turnkey: at the Jail and
begged to be locked up and kept
from view.
Again, in Cincinnati, his roommate
informed him that men were there
looking for some one who answered
his description and he Jumped the
town that night" -
Daniel Russell, the eldest, died al
his Melrose home on Jan. %, 1907
without ever having received definite
information from his absent son.
He left will, dated in 1897, in
which he provided for several rela
tives to the total amount of aboui
$4,000, and beQueathedf $4O0, 900 IRE
presenting the major portion OF his
fortune) to his son. William c. Rus.
sell, but containing this priviso: ~
my son, Daniel Blake Russell. left
home some IL years since, and If he
should return and prove his identity
at any time within 20 years after
my decease, 1t is my earnest wish
request and hope that my son, Will
liam, share with Daniel equally and
justly whatever of my estate he may
hold at the time Daniel returns.
. More than two years elapsed before
any direct news was received, con-
corning Daniel Blake Russell, al
though late in 1908 there were vague
rumors Of some one in the west who
claimed to be the man. f{lz5
In April last, however, d guest ap.
peared at Young's hotel, Boston, reg
istered as Daniel Blake Russell, and,
accompanied :. by lawyer named
Traxler, of Minneapolis, set to work
to establish the claim that he was the
real Daniel Blake Russell. He wrote
letters to his brother and to his aunt,
Miss Hannah Lunde, met many men
and women who were friends of Dan
lei Blake Russell in youth, and con-
WINGED majority of the genuineness
of his claim $780,.
His brother and Mr.. Almy, however
denied his identity and denounced
him as an imposter, and a few neigh
bors and early acQuaintances Joined
in the outcry while others were left
in doubt. -
The claimant suffered from the east
winds and was. obliged to return
home for while, returning here
about July !, accompanied by his at
torney, State Senator Leslie A. Simp-
son of Dickinson, N D., and at once
Nelson L. Sheldon of Bos-
ton as associate counsel.
Proceedings were begun in the pro-
bate court on a petition of @" Daniel
Blake RUSSELL" declaring his identity
as the son and heir of Daniel Russell,
deceased, and asking for an account
ing of the estate (Which never had
been filed), the filing of an account
by the receiver Of the estate of his
Mary l.. Russell. 49,.
A preliminary hearing was given
In July and on Sept. 20 the case came
TO-, trial on its merits before Judge
Lawton. The claimant was repre-.
scented In court by Messrs. Simpson
and Sheldon, and the respondent
executors by Robert ". Nasin, Thorn.
as w. Proctor, John X. Berry and
Eugene G. Upton, ~. $ e .t9sss
\. The presentation OF evidence was 4
battle royal from the time the first
witness took the stand until the hear
Ing was suspended Friday night, not
10 be resumed until Nov. 1 and was
j fitting factor IN one OF the most
and spectacular cases In
The history of American practice.
The most sensational features Of the
hearings were. connected with the
:ross-examinations, in which Messrs.
Mason and Proctor (both Of whom
nave been prosecuting attorneys in
he criminal courts lof Massachusetts,
ire past masters, while their matcn
vas found in the why little Simpson,
himself an ex-states attorney OF
North Dakota, ably seconded by the
more stolid, but not less alert, Mr..
Sheldon.
Proctor and Mason .s-e philesophi.
sxacting and trifle authoritative,
While Simpson, the Maine Yankee
With the western training. is suaye.
covering his trap with such
pleasant exterior that the victim