The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-03-11
CRUEL JOKE MAKES
POOR GIRL HE|RESS
Dies Unwed in West Indies, Leaving
All To Sweetheart of Is
Years Before.

] a
formerly a laundry girl is dazed and
can hardly credit her good fortune. An
old sweetheart. who left her without
a word eighteen years ago and from
whom she never heard In all that IN
terval. has left her an estate worth
! 100000.
| I'm certain the whole thing IL a
dream" said Mrs. Nester yesterday.
I'm sure I'll wake up shortly and
KNOW | have only been asleep. Poor
Ed. just think OF his remembering me
! like that, And To think he was true
! 10 me all that time
! Her old sweetheart was T.. d. Ennis,
who died a wealthy fruit grower ana
/ landowner IN the West indies. When
she knew him he was a poor carpenter
al Birmingham Ala. and fled because
he believed he was murderer.
! Made Her Living at Washtub.
| In those days Mrs Vester was
Claudia Clarke and lived in Birming
ham She was IA smart-looking girl.
with bright. smiling eyes. untamab'e
frizzy hair and merry disposition.
She worked at the washtub In d
Birmingham laundry.
When Ennis proposed marriage 10
her in 1892 she Was the happiest OF
girls al the prospect that opened mp
To her, though Ennis was but poof
CARPENTER. and she started enthusiastic
cally on the making OF her wedding
outfit Then Ennis disappeared.
Ed was my steady TOR years, she
said, continuing her story He was "A
nice fellow and loved him very
much He always treated me good,
and | was sure he loved me. We were
making arrangements for our wedding
when Ed got into some kind ~
trouble and eft the city. II was all
sudden like. and | didn't see him be-
tore he went What the trouble was
! never really knew was too broken
hearted Ia ask People said all sorts
of things
one OF the stories which alleges 10
| give the reason why Ennis fled says
he was mixed up in shooting ARRAY
in a saloon. Another declares il was
all hoax. a practical joke played on
Ennis at a possum- shooting party.
w H. Jones. wellknown horse
man. OF Columbia. Tenn. who resides
a goodly part OF each year in Birmins-
ham, says he was one OF the possun-
hunt party and remembers ii well. A
gun with blank shells was given En-
mis- for fun, because he had never shot
before The party went out to the
/ Red Mountain. which is near the city.
Gruesome Practical Joke.
Ennis was urged TO fire al an imagi-
nary rossum and a man fell The
man pretended 10 be dead and was car.
ried TO Warner q Smiley's undertake
ers' morgue where Ennis was allowed
To look al him. That night Ennis fed
the city. and no one could ever find
what had become OF him.
Some say the joke was engineered
by James h. Smiley. the undertaken,
who was Ennis rival for the hand OF
Claudia but could not win the little
washergirl's love. Curiosly enough,
several letters which Smiley had writ
ten 10 Claudia and which the girl had
handed over TO her lover, were foun
by the executors among Ennis pos
sessions after his death and II was
smiley, now happily married and
father, who helped the authorities TO
locate Claudia TO inform her Of the
wealth that had befallen her.
Ennis fed without even risking a
! final parting with his sweetheart He
went TO Kingston. Jamaica. Eventual
I ly he got some uncultivated land there
cheap. Later he went TO Darien and
/ then TO South Africa. where he mined
and was successful Afterward he re-
turned to Kingston and bought more
| property. He never married Wher-
ever he went the old love letters Of
( the laundrygirl went with him BIT
/ he never dared write to. her. fearing
either 10 let his whereabouts be known
or TO mix up the girls fate with that
Of man who had killed a fellow
creature and might have TO answer for
his crime
In the meantime Claudia had let
her broken heart be soothed by Her.
man Nester, the painter They mar
1 ried and Went to live at Nashville ami
| little children grew up round them. Of
whom the mother was very proud. And
/ Ennis was forgotten.
Il live with my husband and family
: in our little three-roomed house" SAID
( Mrs. Vester, and we are very happy.
We are proud OF our home. and we
have only few more hundred dollars
70 pay and then II will be all our own
| We are so glad now We shall be abe
10 pay OF what we owe on the house
and raise our children without hard
ship
Three years ago. Ennis, away, for
/ gotten. I'm the West Indies. got in
volved I'm a discussion with a Spanard
They fought and Ennis wounds were
serious Then he made his will To
the hospital where he lay long with
the injuries that IN the end proved
fatal he left 10000 The rest OF his
money and property he bequeathel
! to his former sweetheart Claudia
! Clarke The money forming Claudias
share amounted TO $lS5.905. That sum
is in a bank In Jamaica drawing in
teTest. The land is said to yield S32.-
| COO year
Extraordinary efforts were made by
/ the Jamaican government 10 locate
the heiress. They advertised and
offered large rewards Eventually Il
occurred to them To seId to- Birmng-
ham. Ala. the city from which were
dated the girish love letters found
n locked away I'm the dead truit-grower' =
house They dispatched their alcald"
/ Daniel Jones. upon the mission Al
calde Jones found Smiley the unller-
taker Smiley did not know where the
girl had moved to- but he knew an
aunt OF hers. who supplied the in
formation. The alcalde is now obtain
ing the necessary proofs that Mrs.
Nester is vertically the Claudia Clarke
whom Ennis loved so faithfully and
so Economically