The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-07-31
An instrument
Of Providence
By WILLARD BRAKEMAN

when a bottle was tossed ut my feet
l extracted a paper from it on which
was written:
We are going to pieces. Whoever gets
this 60 to Norman D. Carlisle and tell him
he will find my will in my desk in secret
drawer.
This was all-nO date. no signature,
no address as to where Norman u
Carlisle would be found.
That night l went to bed thinking
about the message. Suppose it was
genuine. Somebody was enjoying prop.
erty that belonged to another. But it
seemed to me that il it were genuine
the writer would have given at least
the city in which the person for whom
it was intended lived. IT the perpe-
traitor was doing the thing for sport or
to pass the time or because he hadn't
any more he would have given it
And yet perhaps that's just what
he wouldn't do. He might not like to
~particularize. On the other hand. 4
man who is about to be dumped into
a roaring ocean might leave something
out that be should have put in.
| was impelled to find Norman u
Carlisle. | didn't wish to engage in
looking for a needle in a haystack. but
! couldn't resist the feeling that II
was my bounden duty to do so. There
were then some 100000 people in
the United States alone. The name
was Anglo-Saxon. and the person
might be somewhere in the great Brit
tsh countries. Nevertheless when !
found that I couldn't let the matter
alone ! went into it methodically. !
put a personal advertisement in one
newspaper In every city in the United
States whose inha bitants numbered
10000 or owe for the said Norman d
Carlisle received several replies
signed Norman D. Carlisle. the middle
name usually differing. l wrote each
of them. asking II he had lost a rela
tive at sea. but they all answered in
the negative-that IL. 80 far as they
knew.
After six months I put in anothe,
advertisement for Mr.. Carlisle and re
ceived a reply from a Norman d. Car
Isle living in a town Of about 5O.OOO
people. He had seen the ad. while in
the city where It had been inserted. I
asked him II he had lost a relative at
sea. and he replied s''No." l dropped
the matter 20 far as he was concern
cd, but later be wrote me that be was
lawyer and had had q client who
had sailed from Rio de .Janeiro in u
vessel that was c~atalogued among
missing ships.
After some correspondence he n
me a check for expenses. and ! went
to zee him. He made an engagement
for me to meet a lady in his ONCE
and was introduced to Miss Edith
Parks. twenty-one years old and come
". She appeared to be a lady. but
was shabbily dressed. ! was Informed
that her uncle had been lost on thu
missing vessel from Rio brought
out the paper l had found. which
had carefully kept. and as soon "a
she saw It she said she believed that
It had been written by her uncle. Some
Of his letters were produced. and all
doubt was removed The message.
though scrawled hastily in q trembling
hand. was found to correspond with
the uncle's writing.
I was then told that Miss Parks bad
been brought mp by this uncle. VII"
wealthy. be being unmarried
without children. After be had been
declared legally dead. the courts had
set about administering his estate and
had already found forty persons who
we're heirs at law.
Since Mr.. Weatherby. the man VII"
had been shipwrecked, had given Miss
Parks to understand that she was to be
his heir It was likely that the will men
toned in the message gave his proper
ty to her. But the desk where was
III Mr.. Weatherby's furniture had
been sold a year before. Who had
bought the desk? No could tell.
Since l had gone 90 far In the matter
| did not propose to be beaten now
Advertising having availed. adver
Used for the person who had bought
n desk at q sale of the effects Of Cyrus
Weatherby. In due time ! received y
reply from the purchaser. wrote him
that q niece of the deceased wished to
redeem it and asked him to 6x a price
He said he would sell it for 500. Miss
Parks had no money to pay for It. SO
I mailed the man a check for the
amount. The desk was sent to me.
and, taking it into a cellar. ! chopped
It into kindling wood. Among the rub
bish lay the papers In q secret draw
er, and. taking this up. | found one
marked Last Will and Testament Of
Cyrus Blake Weatherby." read It
and found that he left all bis property
to his beloved niece Edith Parks.
That same evening ! called on Miss
Parks with the will that changed her
condition from poverty to wealth. She
Sat like a statue staring at the paper
though abe were looking through II
rather than Mt it. ! asked her what
she was thinking about. but she did
not hear me. repeated the question.
and. apparently awakening from y