Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-09-22
A STRANGE CASE
OF HERED|TY.
BY 7. DE WITT eowMAN.


1 G(ORyAi 6his isWos ny fhiueTiCi-n GTeSS Assoc
cation.I
From my earliest remembrance /
lived with Patrick Coulter. an Irish
man. All knew about him up to the
time was twelve years old was that
be was Mr.. Coulter, and | was George
Bissel. | was given to understand by
| him that he had taken me as an or
phan and was bringing me up. | GER
tainly was not allied to him by blood,
for l was as refined in appearance as
| any gentleman'S son, while Mr.. Coul-
| ter showed unmistakable signs OF
plebeian origin He was short. red
faced. thickset. rotund and with griz-
| ely gray hair, He wore on his face
perpetual sour expression. | confess
that. although l was given to under
stand that | owed him everything, /
hated him.
And | had every reason to hate him,
for he hated me. He was always
surly to me and never even In odd mo-
ments showed any affection for me.
Only in enc way did he manifest any
| interest In me. He would occasionally
have fits OF generosity with me, giving
me money quite freely, but always i'm
pressing it upon me that he was very
good to do so and that l should ap-
preciate his kindness. He also seemed
to be troubled with a continued fear
Of losing me.
The only knowledge he possessed
was that of figures. He wrote good
clerical hand, and remember that
such accounts as l happened on that
were made by him had methodicaI
look.
When I was twelve years old one
with lean, hungry looking man. who,
when l entered, asked. "Is this the
boyr and Mr.. Coulter grumbled low
Yes" The man looked at me curl
ously. and when he went away saw
him putting lot Of bills In his pocket
book. He came after that from time
to time. and on several occasions when
happened to see him depart he had
evidently received something. His Wis
its were always accompanied by bad
humor on the part Of Mr.. Coulter, and
once overheard high words between
them.
The most remarkable bit Of treat
ment I received from Mr.. Coulter was
good education. When came to be
eighteen l longed to 60 to college and
begged very hard to be sent to a uni
versity. He demurred, but at last con-
scented, telling me that should always
remember that he had pinched himself
to send me. At college l formed the
pleasantest associations and often
spent my vacations with my college
chums. Mr.. Coulter was greatly vexed
at this, but as was growing to be
more Of a man every day, and he was
growing old and seemingly trife
afraid of me, usually had my way.
At leaving college l wished to study
the law, but for some reason Mr.. Coul-
ter took strong dislike to my adopt
ing this profession. and in this In
stance. holding the purse strings, he
conquered.
One day while was thinking what
1 would do to make myself independ-
ent had occasion to hunt for a letter
l had mislaid. Mr.. Coulter was not in
the house, and l rummaged all over
it. Finally got into the garnet. There
were several trunks there. all locked,
and an old desk. Protruding from an
under portion Of the desk noticed the
corner Of a paper. pulled it out and
read 1t. There was nothing in it that
l knew anything about, but the hand
writing attracted my attention at once.
Indeed, 1t was so like mine that for a
time supposed l had written 1t and
wondered how it could have come to
be where 1t was. put 1t in my peck
ct and studied it The next time Mr..
Coulter left me alone in the house
went back to the garnet and hunted
till found letter in the same hand
writing. This time l was astonished.
1t appeared to have been signed by
me. At any rate. it was my name and
my handwriting. 1t had been written
to Mr.. Coulter from abroad and gave
instructions in the matter of certain
properties possessed by the writer and
evidently managed by Coulter.
l folded the letter, put it In my
pocket, took it down to my room,
locked the door and never gave over
making theories with regard to the
matter till struck the right one. The
writer of the letter was evidently my
father or near relative. Without
ever having seen his handwriting. he
redity had determined that as l grew
to manhood should adopt It l then
and there determined. maintaining
perfect secrecy between myself and
Mr.. Coulter. to make an investigation.
unearthed a great swindle. The
steps I took to do SO would form a
separate story. The tracks Of the man
who had done the swindling had been
30 adroitly covered that l was obliged
to proceed step by step and very slow
ly. knew In a few months all !
ever came to know, but to untangle my
~ Ahv Av~A<<