The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-12-23

conQltl0n does not penetrate 1ar De-
low the surface. A silken gown cam
not alter the currents Of a shoddy
soul, and while externally the spurious
heir was all #. f. ", internally he was
negro. After a few years, never hav-
ing discovered the deception practiced
upon him by Roxana, Percy Driscoll
died, penniless, but his brother, the
judge, his prayer for children of his
own denied, adopted the supposititious
Tom, and made the boy his heir. He
sent him to college. He gave him ev-
cry advantage that an affectionate
father could have given boy of his
own, but the raw material which was
the real Tom was poor, and the soil
unfruitful. The boy acquired a taste
for dissipation for which the simple
life of Dawson's Landing offered no
Arrangements. He plunged into the
gay whirl Of st. Louis, garnering MOTH
ing but disgraceful gambling debts.
Worst of all he was at heart a snob
abused the real heir now become his
slave, and acquired a profound detes-
tation for his ancient nurse, Roxana.
of whose real relation to him he was
unaware, until goaded to intense re-
sentiment by his contemptuous and
brutal treatment, she acquainted him
with the terrible facts of his birth
and ancestry, and demanded that he
treat her as a mother on penalty of
exposure.
The revelation Frustrated the i'm
postor for brief period. but failed to
spur him on to better behavior. He
went from bad to worse, STOPPING even
to HOUSEKEEPING in order to obtain
funds to pay his, gambling debts. In
his mothers power, and she not at all
disinclined to blackmail, he was driv-
en- to all sorts Of expedients to satisfy
his own and her demands. But through
ward appearance of superiority that
enabled him to dazzle his interiors
and deceive his equals. The judges
love for the boy blinded him to the
lads evil character, but once he near
~ disinherited him on the score of
ian twins settled at Dawsen's Land
ing. and at a public meeting, Tom
having provoked him to action by his
insolence, Luigi, the stronger of the
two, had kicked the scion Of the
House of Driscoil off the stage into the
audience, the stain of which insult a
real F. F. V. would have wiped out
upon the field of honor, but for which
the cowardice of Tom found ample
satisfaction in the police court, which
proceeding so outraged the good judge
that for the honor of his family he
personally fought duel with the Of
Tending Italian, wounding him, and
thus laying the foundations for much
future trouble.
Came now the supreme touches In
the career of the spurious Tom. For
the payment of newly acquired gam
bling debts, with RoXana's consent,
Tom sold his own mother back into
the slavery from which at Driscoll's
death she had been freed, but In vio-
lation of his promises he sold her
"down the river" crime that reacted
upon his unfilial head when the re-
sourceful Roxana escaped, and under
threat of exposure of his real status
in life, required him to indemnify her
new master lest she be apprehended
and returned to him. Having no other
resources Tom resolved upon the rob
berry of his benefactor, the judge, in
the fulfllment of which venture he
murdered him, his weapon being an
oriental knife Of unusual design, which
he had stolen from Luigi, the italian.
in one of his theft-raids.
The murder of Judge Driscoll
brought great excitement to Dawson's
Landing, and the Italian twins narrow
ly escaped lynching for the crime.
The whole community adjudged them
guilty-all but Pudd'nhead Wilson,
who volunteered to defend them
in court, a poor reliance since they
were his first and only clients. But
Pudd'nhead was unafraid. The evil
dence against them was most convinc-
ing, but
There were fnger-prints upon the
knife handle, and they were not the
finger-prints of the accused!
Whose finger-prints were they?
Tom, secure in his sense of safety
because of the overwhelming evidence
against the twins, ventured to taunt
Pudd'nhead upon his confidence in
winning his case. He entered his
study, and seating himself at Pudd'n
heads side while he studied the prints
in his collection, he picked up one of
the records.
'Why here's old Roxy's label" he
said CONTEMPORARY. "Nigger-paws,
Ell? There's line across her thumb
print Now how comes that?'
Pudd'nhead taking the glass from
Toms hand held it up to the lamp.
The blood sank suddenly out of his
face He gazed at the polished sur
face with the CLASSY stare of corpse.
The mystery was solved!
Toms thumb-print standing clearly
outlined before him on the glass and
that on the handle of the blood
stained knife were identical!
ITO the minutest DETAIL" said the
foreman of the jury, as he returned
verdict of murder against the unhappy
lad.
The twins were acquitted, the de-
frauded heir lifted up out of slavery
and restored to his inheritance, and
Tom forever branded as an impostor
was 'sold down. the river for the
benefit of the creditors of the late
porox- Northumberland DriSeoll