The herald., 1913-07-03
A FRAUD
DISCOVERED
Bv DAVID WALTER CHURCH

Rose Thornton ana l were SClIooI-
mates and chums. ] say chums be
cause we were very young and At that
time our friendship had not ripened
into love. Roses mother died when
she was a child, and her father married
again. The love of her mother and her
fathers second marriage made the poor
girls life very unhappy one.
Her stepmother was selfish. crafty
woman who treated her as if she were
in the way. and | am not sure but
that IL she could have got rid OF her
without injury 10 herself she would
have done it. Mr.. Thornton himself
had cause to regret the step he had
taken in marrying the woman. and
there was perpetual quarrel going
on between husband and wife. Rose
would have gone to live somewhere else
had not her father begged her to stay
with him.
Doubtless Roses making a confidant
Of me and my sympathy drew us to-
gsther and made lovers rather than
friends of us Mr.. Thornton was
worth something like hundred thou
sand dollars. a part Of which would
belong TO his daughter after his death.
provided the stepmother didn't beat her
out of II. Rose repeated certain con
yersations she had had with her father
on the subject of the inheritance. from
which inferred that nothing deferred
l. x-in oil n
Rose but the fear that his wife would
break the will. He preferred TO let the
law divide his property since it would
give his widow a third and his daugh-
ter two-thirds. This plan seemed safer
than any other.
When Rose was nineteen and TWEEN
ty-two her stepmother treated her so
inhumanly that she was obliged to
leave the house, which she did with
her fathers reluctant consent. Rose
thought that he would apply for a d.
vorce were 1t not for the fact that he
had no cause which would come within
the law. and his wife took care to give
him no such cause. Any such attempt
on his part would undoubtedly cost him
dear
Rose and | would have been married
but for the fact that l had been IN
lucky in the business positions / had
occupied. Two different firms in whose
service / was rising failed successive
ly. / was now with the third. the
agent Of paper mills. and Just getting
hold on the good will Of my employ
ers. So Rose went to live with an
aunt till could take care of her.
The position she occupied with ref
erence to her stepmother was very ir-
ritating to me since it was so wearing
upon my sweetheart / longed to take
some sort of vengeance on the 'old
cat" as I called her. but could do moth
ing in the premises. l could prepare
myself to give Rose what Mrs. Them
ton deprived her Of, and that was all.
However. Providence, fate or whatever
we choose TO call 1t put me in way
to aid the dear girl far beyond any
thing that could have been accom-
plished by my own efforts.
Mr. Thornton died very suddenly.
believed that his wife helped him out
Of the flesh and expected her to pro-
duce q will leaving her all or the bulk
Of his property. But when no will was
found believed had misjudged her
and concluded that her husband had
adhered to his intention not to make a
will. Several months passed. during
which the courts were engaged in set
Ting the estate, and Rose and ! were
congratulating ourselves that she would
receive two-thirds of the estate or be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000.
Then all Of a sudden the widow pro-
duced a will executed several years be-
fore her husbands death. leaving all
the property to her except some swamp
land of no value to Rose I believed
the moment I heard of this will that
there was fraud in it and advised Rose
to contest It l got lawyer to take
the case, but he said that If it was a
forgery the woman had done 1t 80
cleverly that there was no hope of
proving her guilty. Rose. who dreaded
and feared her stepmother, was op-
posed to taking any legal steps in the
matter. Before giving 1t up was de-
termined to examine the will and went
to the court for the purpose
Persons acquire habits from their
daily business life that they practice
unconsciously outside of It. In the pa
per business on taking up a sample
always rubbed 1t between my thumb
and finger to learn its texture, then
held 1t up to the light to see the water
lines. / had no sooner touched the one
and seen the other than l recognized
the paper on which the will was writ
tent was not on a printed form-as
some that had passed through my
hands In a business way. Then l re-
membered 1t as some paper manufac-
tured by a company which my firm
represented. From this I stepped to a
certainty that It had been consigned
to us as Just manufactured when I had
first handled it The will was dated
three years before. written on paper
made within a year. Fraud was evil
dent.
Accompanied by my lawyer I called
on the forger Of the will and proved to
her that we could send her to state
prison for term Of years. This broke
her down. I had long been hungry for
revenge upon her on Roses behalf and