The Dickinson press., 1910-04-16

Melrose, Mass, April 12.-Dan Rus
sell Of Dickinson. N. D., loses his seven
months identity in the decision handed
down this afternoon by Judge George
Lawton of the Middlesex probate
court.
The ranchman is declared to be
Jim" Rousseau, the French Canadian
from the Adirondacks. who disappeared
years ago.
The court room was in an uproar at
the decision. Thousands gathered out
side and when the verdict was an
nounced it was greeted with Misses and
cat calls. Dan Russell and Senator
Simpson were calm under their terrible
disappointment.
The big ranchman stood up at the
end of Lawton's decision and as the
judge swept out Of the court room, his
sympathizers surged around. He was
carried on their shoulders into the street
and there cheered by the big gathering.
In scathing words Judge Lawton,
branded as an imposler the Dickinson
claimant to half the estate of Daniel
Russell, and dismissed the three pc
titions alleged to have been brought
by Daniel Blake Russell. after record
breaking trial of 1874 days.
Il have just begun to fight, was
the answer of State Senator L. A. Simp-
son, attorney for the claimant to half the
Russell fortune, when asked if an ap-
peal would be taken to higher court.
The reading of Judge Lawton's deci-
ison occupied an hour and half. The
decision was greeted with murmurs of
dissent which caused the officer to clear
the court room. The judge said:
AFTER all these months of evidence
I conclude that this vast conspiracy
which was alleged to have been arrang-
ed. and which embraced the stealing Of
postoffice stamps. the forging of letters,
the subordination of perjury, and other
similar crimes, to be without founda-
tion and it vanishes into air.
1T had it's origin in the romantic
imagination of the counsel for the petit
toner and has no foundation in fact or
allegation. Professional detectives have
collected evidence which must be re-
Rarded as true. The photographs, which
are said to be that of James Rosseau,
of Massena. N. Y, must also be re-
garded as genuine.
Neither the respondents (Messrs.
F. C. Almy and VIM. c. RusselD nor
their counsel have been anything except
honest in their defense of the Russell
estate against an imposter, and dis
honest claimant. And finally find that
none of these petitions now before this
court were brought by Daniel Blake
Russell, but by one who ATTEMPTED to
impersonate him and defraud the Russell
estate, the petitions are therefore dis
missed.
Senator Simpson will have sixty days
to file a petition for an appeal which
if allowed, will bring the case before
the supreme court and trial before a
jury probably next fall. In the mean
time it is expected that the claimant
from Fresno, California, will file his
petition in probate court and it is pos
sible that it may reach a hearing at
the end of six months.
BOSTON. APRIL>7.
Eugene Upton with his soul STEPPED
in his iniquity in the handling of the
trust funds of the Russell estate, will
do anything to escape the consequences
of his acts. May be that Eugene Up
ton. whose face would give him 80
days in any police court west of the
Mississippi river. had reason for OBJ
structing the real Daniel Blake Russell.
This denunciation of the Russell's
lawyer, who. with Ferdinand Almy,
handled the half million estate without
ever giving reckoning caused a tre-
mendous sensation today when Senator
0Auu0OA uAOVC AVIu CdCu WOIu Will
the ferocity of tiger. 1t was an
arraienment never before heard in the
probate, court here of a party not an
actual principal in a case. Simpson
today used the most daring language
and hundreds sat spellbound as he ex-
posed tie iniquity of the men who seek
to defeat Dan Russell. not only of his
riehtful fortune, but Of his birthrieht
as we'll.
Way back in 1908 the plot to de-
fraud Dan Russell was conceived in the
brain Of Eugene Upton. explained
Simpson. Ferdinand Almy was not
the real culprit but was plastic in the
hands of Upton and Sarah Almy. Upton,
Sarah and Ferdinand Almy knew that