Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-03-05
INNOCENT TWIN
SERvESL0NCTERM
CASE IN SOUTH OF BROTHER BE.
ING WRONGLY ACCUSED rs
MOST PECULIAR ONE.

Americas, Ga, March 3.-One of the
most peculiar stories of double identity
has been furnished the south through
it's criminal history by two brothers
who were twins and who were separ
ated during their early boyhood
! Alfred D. Oliver, eX-banker and ex
social leader, has just stepped out OF
| prison, after serving sentence fol
crime, he alleges, was committed by
! his twin brother, Louis c. Oliver.
| Also Alfred served a four year sen.
tence for bigamy because Louis wife
insisted that he (Alfred) was her hus.
band, Louis.
; The twin brothers look so nearly
alike that their best friends, their
! relatives even, could not tell the one
from the other.
One, twin grew up prosperous, re-
spected. honest-he has just come out
of prison cell.
The other is alleged to have grown
into the BLACK sheep"-and to have
committed the crime for which the
former was punished.
These Oliver twins were born 40
years ago at Climax, Ga. They were
dressed alike, acted alike, and were
playmates did not know the differ
ence.
When years old, they were wad-
ing in puddle near their home. Louis
stepped on a tin can and the big toe
on his left foot was cut off.
Not long after, their parents died
and Louis was taken by family
named Harding. Alfred lived with an
aunt. A year later the Hardings
moved away with Louis, the twin with
the nine toes. He had been legally
adopted and, instead of being Louis c..
Oliver, he became Louis G. Harding.
That was the last the brothers heard
of each other until ten years ago,
when Louis wrote to Alfred from Mis-
sissippi. He was doing well, he said,
and owned three big lumber mills near
Greenwood. Also he had very pretty
wife.
Alfred, in Georgia, also was prosper
ing. He had amassed a fortune, owned
a chain of banks and was social
figure.
Two years later. Louis was arrested
on charges of swindling several lum-
Der dealers, was convicted and SEN
fenced to prison for ten years. He
escaped
His photographs were sent broad
cast. No trace of him was found. He
is now said to be in Honduras, Central
America.
Alfred, the other twin, few weeks
later married Miss Rosebud English, a
Georgia belle. ...' .& 49,. d r.&
Mrs. Louis Harding, wife of the
twin brother in Mississippi, saw a
photograph of Alfred Oliver and his
bride in a newspaper.
That's Louis and he's married
again." she exclaimed.
Alfred, believed to be Louis Hard
ing, the escaped convict, was arrested
as bigamist. His pretty bride stood
firmly by him until Mrs. Harding took
the witness stand.
That's my husband. and he escaped
from the prison at Greenwood,' said
Mrs. Harding, pointing to the accused
Georgia banker. divers witnesses,
who had known him for several years,
testified that he was not Harding, but
the wife's testimony outweighed theirs.
Alfred Oliver was sent to the state
penitentiary for four years for big
amy. His wife, believing herself mar
ried to Harding, who already had had
a wife, was granted absolute divorce.
Police sent Alfred divers picture
broadcast and one fell into the hands
of the sheriff of Greenwood, Miss. He
wired the governor of Georgia that
Harding was wanted in Mississippi to
serve out a ten year term under the
name Of Harding.
So when Alfred divers bigamy term
was ended, sheriff of Mississippi
met him at the door of the Georgia
penitentiary
Oliver continued to fight for liberty,
insisting it was his twin brother they
wanted, but he was placed in the peni-
tent airy and even identified by resi-
dents of Greenwood as Harding.
I'm not him, and I'll prove it to you
some day." he told his iailers.
The other day Alfred Oliver went be-
fore the court to make final, deter
mined fight to prove that he was serv-
ing entence for his twin brother; that
he served four years in Georgia as a
bigamiSt because of the mistaken
identity and lost a wife and fortune,
also.
my twin brother, who now is
known as Harding said the prisoner,
sis the man you want. He has nine
toes; l have ten
Chancellor Jones looked over Ben
tillon measurements of Harding and
those of Oliver. It was true, as the
prisoner said, that Harding has only
nine toes, while Oliver has ten.
The chancellor then granted an or
der freeing Alfred D. Oliver.